Some time ago, we at the Center for Culinary Development were approached by a major packaged-foods manufacturer with a vexing problem: how to translate an all-American snack-food staple into products that would resonate with consumers in Asia, Europe, and elsewhere around the globe.

As we typically do when faced with such quandaries, we called upon several members of our 80-member Chefs’ Council, a veritable Who’s Who of culinary wunderkinds from across the fine-dining and foodservice spectra, and charged them with developing signature dishes from their particular ethnic specialties that would marry well with the flavor profile of our client’s core product.

One chef well versed in the cuisine of Thailand developed a Pad Thai noodle dish that proved a perfect match; another with decades of experience in Chinese foods offered up a spicy Hunan chicken plate; a third devised a pesto sauce so piquant and flavorful that it barely lasted through the initial ideation session. Using these original creations as a point of departure, we were able to work with flavor companies to distill the essence of each authentic dish into powders comprising seasoning combinations that effectively simulated the chefs’ unique concoctions.

The subsequent success of these snacks in each market where they were launched offers some practical hints for U.S.-based companies working to determine how best to reformulate their products or position their brands for consumers in overseas markets.

Lesson #1 Get the lowdown from those who really know the landscape: It goes without saying that quick-serve chains and other companies interested in marketing their wares abroad need to size up the cultural norms, traditions, demographics and unique marketing environments that shape the consumer mindset in nations where they intend to do business. The experts who can often be most helpful in this regard are those with bicultural backgrounds—French restaurateurs who are longtime United States residents, for example, or U.S. expatriates who have lived overseas for a period of several years. No matter how exacting their methodology or how extensive their research efforts, no marketing firm working thousands of miles away from your target consumer will ever be able to offer the nuanced picture of those populations you will need to succeed. And no matter how knowledgeable your tour guide might be, one, two or even ten short visits to the area won’t do the job, either.