It's really about a basic misunderstandingof statistics.
Some people prefer to buy novel products. Most novel products fail to get popular. Therefore, there is a correlation. There was no finding that such customer prefer unpopular new products over popular ones.
I interpret the article as a finding that there exists some "bland/mainstream vs novel/unique" scale that actually is objective - i.e., corresponds to measurable and consistent preferences for groups of customers.
There actually was a finding that the analyzed customers historically preferred novel-flavor products over mainstream ones. This means, that if those customers really like your product, then that's some evidence that it may fall into the same group as the other niche products
Some people prefer to buy novel products. Most novel products fail to get popular. Therefore, there is a correlation. There was no finding that such customer prefer unpopular new products over popular ones.