Archive for June, 2012

Food Packaging And Container Needs For Coffee Shops And Cafes

June 27th, 2012

[This is a continuation of our "Starting A Food Business" Series]

People who have the drive to open or acquire their own coffee shop or cafe come from many backgrounds. Some have a passion for coffee, others love to make baked goods, while others enjoy greeting locals and commuters each and every morning. They love the core aspects of a cafe – the drink, food and people. What they don’t necessarily have a desire to do is get into the nitty gritty of which type of food packaging would work best to serve in house or takeout. That’s where this article comes in.

Here are some great tips on what to think about when placing your initial order of food packaging and containers.

Coffee Cups – Since you are a coffee shop, the plan is probably to sell a lot of coffee. This will be seen by more people than any other item in your shop. Be sure to think through how you want to be portrayed when choosing the best cups to serve your hot drinks in.

Innovative Bakery Containers – There are fantastic containers made specifically for baked goods in all shapes and sizes. This includes disposable bakery containers that can go from the oven, to the customer, and then back to the microwave for a quick heat up. This is any baker’s dream. A no hassle way to get food from your oven to the customer.

Paper or Plastic (or Foam) – What will you serve your food in or on? Will it be plastic, foam or biodegradable plates? What works best with your food offerings? What will your customers expect? Be consistent.  Staying with one material provides customers with a better experience.  Each material has its own set of benefits including strength, color options, appearance (with your specific food options) and versatility.  We can help you make the choice that is best for your particular scenario.

Utility Bowls (with lids) – You’ll want to have on hand some bowls that can be the solution in multiple situations. Utility bowls offer a medium for you to serve hot or cold, liquid or solid, group or individual servings. And by ordering bowls with pairing lids you instantly make them more useful by turning a dine-in packaging option to a take-out package.  Utilizing food packaging that have multiple uses is a huge money saver!

Plates – Having the right plates on hand is critical, especially if you are serving both baked goods (smaller sized plates) and meals. This allows your artistic talents to shine as you can better control how your food is presented. Not only will the configuration of the plate (round or square) play a role in your food appearance, but the color plays a big role as well.  Food operators are switching to a black plate option as many foods really pop against a dark background.

Takeout Containers – You’ll want to have takeout containers on hand for carryout or delivery orders. Sturdy hinged containers can now stand up to the most demanding foods, and many have compartments to keep sauces and dressings separate. As you place your takeout container order, you’ll want to think about which of your food items customers are most likely to take home with them or want delivered (if that is a service you offer).  Again, we can help guide you through the many choices available to the right package for you.

Eco Friendly – If your business is located in an area where legislation limits your choice of materials or your customer base prefers a biodegradable option Genpak can fill those needs as well with our Harvest® line of products.  We offer a full range of food packaging options that are third party certified compostable, source reduced and those that container post consumer recycled content.

Utensils – You’ll need to consider if you want to offer metal utensils or single use utensils. What would the customers expect, based on the type of business you are and the food they are ordering? Don’t be worried about choosing single use utensils. There are eco friendly options now available made from natural, annually renewable starches from our Harvest Starch line.

In addition to the above basics, some other items you may want to consider initially are:

  • Plastic cups with lids to hold desserts
  • Clear cups for serving water
  • Portion cups for condiments
  • Napkins
  • Straws
  • Presentation accents (likes doilies or toothpicks)

For operations looking to build a strong brand, flexible packaging and custom printing make perfect sense. Adding your logo to cups, branding your takeout bags and offering to go items in sharp looking packaging is just the start. Be sure to keep this in mind as you move forward with your cafe.

Remember, for all your food service packaging needs, Genpak is here make this process easy for you. Are you opening a coffee shop and would like some guidance? Have you found any of our other containers to be extremely useful in your business? Please let us know. We’re happy to assist you in any way we can, and are always open to any feedback you may have.

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Compostable Paper Products

June 25th, 2012

As companies push the envelope to find new sustainable materials to utilize (including Genpak), we sometimes forget about upgrading and improving upon the traditional materials already in use.  Sometimes huge gains may be made with a little persistence and ingenuity.  Sure anybody can find the obvious avenues to decrease an environmental footprint like simply taking part weight out of their items.  But that doesn’t always translate into a good quality food packaging item that consumers demand.  What I’m talking about is taking an existing material and working with suppliers in tandem with our own manufacturing folks to produce an upgraded…new and improved if you will, substrate that provides an additional benefit…and here’s the best part, at absolutely no extra cost.  With that we are very pleased to announce that all of our paper cones, souffles and water cups are now 100% BPI certified compostable.

Believe it or not, not all paper products can be composted.  In fact, most can’t.  The main reason is, most foodservice paper products have some sort of coating on them that precludes compostability.  Previously the wax we used to help our products hold water, would not break down in an industrial compost facility.  But as mentioned earlier, a little leg work goes a long way.  We overcame that hurdle with a different supply source that our production facilities could work with and, low and behold, we obtained a BPI certification.  In fact, I think we are the only company who now offers a BPI certified compostable line of paper cones, portion and pleated water cups.  The best part is, there is no need for the typical up charge that comes along with a compostable product.

This is actually the first public announcement regarding our Harvest Paper products.  So you, my throngs and throngs of loyal blog readers are the first to learn of this new breakthrough.

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Bans Bans Bans: We are ban happy

June 20th, 2012

I tried.  I really tried to stay away from this whole banning of large sodas to save us from ourselves topic.  But I just read this morning that Cambridge, MA has also jumped into the mix along with New York City.   Some of you might remember my “No More Toys” post which covered a municipality out west that decided to ban toys from kids meals at quick serve restaurants to solve childhood obesity.  I put this newest ban right up there with that one.  If the government feels it must get involved, instead of banning these products, wouldn’t it be a much better option to simply make public the number of calories in those drinks?  From there let the consumer decide if they still want that much.  My guess is if some folks new there are around 380 calories in a 32 ounce, non-diet fountain drink, they might think twice.  Even better, post how many minutes of walking it would take to burn off those calories.  Personally, I think it’s always better to educate rather than take something away.  Think about a parent teaching their kids stuff.  They didn’t take away the scissors never to be used again.  Instead they would say “little Johnny, you should not run with scissors because you might fall on them and hurt yourself”.    If they simply took the scissors away, think of all the paper cut out snowflakes that we’d never get to enjoy.

I guess the scarier thought is, if they do ban large sodas, what’s next?  Donuts, large popcorn, desserts…the list of high calorie items goes on and on.  It is a dangerous path being taken here.  Yes, there is an obesity issue, but there must be a better way to deal with it than taking away our scissors.  Educate, promote healthier options and list the calories come to mind.  Okay, enough said on this topic.  I promise the next post will be what you come here for which is to learn all about food packaging.

Until next time…

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