Winners of Q awards don?t always get it right first time, as Lucy Clark, meat and poultry product developer for Marks & Spencer, reveals

Product developer Lucy Clark photographed for M&S?s Christmas catalogue

The story of Marks & Spencer?s Jalapeno Chili Beef Quarterpounders, is a rags to riches tale of product development.

Developed in 2004 as part of a brief to inject some interest in the gourmetburger category, the Q award winnerperformed poorly at first.

?They did absolutely terribly,? recalls product developer Lucy Clark, who inherited the flavoured burgers from a previous developer.

?The proposition was not right for the consumer and nobody seemed to notice them.?

Arguably ahead of their time, the burgers had been sold alongside standard burgers in a two-pack.

Last year, with a new recipe featuring a fresh balance of spices including sweet smoked paprika, the burgers were represented in a four pack andrepositioned in store next to M&S?s Cook! range.

?They were put in front of consumers most likely to be interested in them,? says Clark. ?The Cook! consumer is slightly more adventurous and experimental in outlook and they have done phenomenally well,? she says.

The Jalapeno burgers were launched in tandem with a Roquefort burger, and were among the mostsuccessful products in the category last year.

Both burgers use beef specially selected from beef breeds rather than dairy breeds for flavour and from suckler herds, where the animal welfare standards are among the highest.

?We would always go for the absolute best,? says Clark, ?that?s one of our key quality messages.?

Following on from the relaunch, M&S has added lamb burgers to the range and is keen to continue as a trendsetter.

?They say imitation is the best form of flattery and we have seen a lot of flavoured burgers this year,? says Clark. ?I do think there?s room for growth there.

?We?ll make sure we are ahead of the game for next year,? she adds, ?but we will be keeping our plans under wraps.?