Bake-Me-at-Home Packaging Facelift
By Tom Kerchiss, RK Print Coat Instruments
It’s been a tough time for many of the goods that fall within the category of bake-me-at-home products. Core products such as cake, scone and bread mixes until comparatively recently were regarded as staid and rather dull items. Product launches, changes to ingredients and to the packaging were few and far between. Brand owners and marketing personnel concurred that consumers were by and large stay at home moms and retired ladies who chose to bake because they had time on their hands. Branded cake mixes such as Betty Crocker, J Lyons and Green’s had an established packaging image, a recognisable logo and graphics – there was little reason to make radical changes. Time changes everything though.
Changes in lifestyle and demographics gradually affected the bake-me-at-home sector. Fewer stay at home moms, smaller family units, marriage in decline and a broadening of interests and attitudes in those past middle age impacted on sales. As sales flat lined the bake-me-at-home aisle in the supermarket began to look dated and the area given over to these goods shrunk.
Brand owners, marketers, food groups and other interested parties have looked to halt the slide in sales by updating existing products, and by bringing out new and innovative products that are designed to appeal to a broader customer base. Leading food retail chains, supermarkets and shopping clubs have bought out their own label range of traditional products, which includes items that are gluten free, nut free, contain reduced sugar, are organic or are generally thought to contribute to well being. In short, consumers are being offered more choice.
One cannot avoid the fact that television programs such as the long running ‘Bake off,’ now shown in many countries around the world have undoubtedly fostered increased interest in home baking. The realisation that baking at home can be fun has widened the appeal amongst children, millennial and indeed people of all ages to try baking at home.
Alternatives to self-raising or plain flour mixes for example now include products made from ancient grains such as millet and teff. Apple, banana, coconut and even coffee flavoured flours are available in some places. Items that can be found in most supermarket aisles now includes artisan breads, pizza bases, cooking kits, custard, ethnic speciality goods, marzipan, maple syrups, jams, vanilla pods, essence and cooking chocolate.
Presentation is everything and packaging, either involving existing formats but with enhanced graphics and colour or products packed in different and often more appropriate and often highly decorative formats has helped to reinvigorate the bake-at-home sector.
Substrates selected for mixes, dried fruits (raisins, sultanas, currants, figs and dates), baking powders, starch and rising agents, as well as for many other products and ingredients must not only attract, interest and provide the consumer with instruction they must be puncture, tear resistant and meet a number of other requirements. For instance, moisture, humidity and fluctuations in temperature can cause clumping of flour, cake mixes and baking powder, etc.
Products must be effectively sealed to avoid problems that may arise such as insect infestation (once common with flour that was packed in paper bags), rancidity and leakage (especially with oils and flavourings). For these reasons flexible packaging, pouches and bags have gained favour. However, given the broad range of products sold and that the ‘bake-me-at-home’ category is open to a wide range of interpretation – numerous packaging materials and configurations may be considered appropriate and are therefore used. Material choice include but are not limited too: paper based baking trays, cake discs or bases, metallised and/or coated for non-stick purposes; metallic boxes and containers; composite cardboard tubes; plastic thermoformed tubs and containers; poly-bags; decorative folding cartons, gable ended cartons (custard, etc.) and glass.
Pouches are seen by many to be a contemporary packaging solution that lends itself to a number of the ‘bake-me-at-home’ products and ingredients. Reduced material usage, space saving stackability and the fact that products are often available in smaller individual portion packs is a plus for many consumers.
Stand up pouches allow for a visually different approach with regards to graphics, decoration and shaping. For retail display they can be provided in cut away cardboard/corrugated containers, which fits in with ‘Retail Ready’ packaging strategies. When placed on the retail shelf the front ‘easy tear’ carton flap is removed and products sit snugly without slipping. The front of the carton/corrugated pack provides additional graphic and colour presentation.
As with other products colour and design must work together to encourage consumers to look at the item on display. Because colour, if and when misinterpreted can be so damaging to product image, pre-press technologists work hard to enable printers and converters to hit targets and communicate colour effectively.
Communicating colour includes subjective description and opinions formulated by the viewer as well as mathematical theories. In essence it is possible to approach and manage colour in many ways. Computer technologists and software suppliers have attempted to close the colour communication loop, but they not without problems. Various digital sampling technologies provide the means whereby colour can be created digitally, but difficulties continue. Digitised information and the way it appears on monitors are dependent upon careful calibration. Moreover, the print processes itself; the way, in which ink interacts with the material, the type of ink, and much more affects the way colour appears.
Specialist in colour communication, proofing and pilot coating/print and laminating systems RK Print Coat Instruments have designed and developed a range of product development, quality control and trialling systems that can be used not only by printers and converters but by others in the processing/production supply chain. For instance, the FlexiProof family of devices, the FlexiProof 100, FlexiProof UV and FlexiProof LED UV are suitable for users and producers of flexographic inks.
These bench top pre-press devices can be used to provide marketing professionals and brand owners with presentation samples, easily and quickly so that elements of design, colour and typography, etc., can be evaluated to determine what works and what does not. Prior too, during and on re-mounting the printer can check colour and determine printability, gloss, durability, flexibility and scuff, chemical resistance. They can be used for packaging and other product prototyping; and for purposes such as assessing how inks and substrates interact over time.
The compact design means that the FlexiProof can be sited anywhere and for a wide range of applications. They can be used in the ink formulator’s laboratory or in the pre-press department, in a plant manufacturing consumable materials or components. In each case trialling and testing is undertaken under real ‘flexo’ operating conditions.
RK Print Coat Instruments Ltd
Litlington, Royston, Hertfordshire SG8 0QZ
www.rkprint.com sales@rkprint.com
Source: RK Print Coat Instruments Ltd
