More than a Pretty Package: The Importance of Form and Function

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By Anne-Marie Hardie

In a market saturated with specialty tea and coffee, packaging has never been more important. Consumers expect a consistent experience from first sight to last sip with their hot beverages. Manufacturer’s require the assurance that containers will preserve the product from the date it’s packaged until consumed. This seamless experience can only be accomplished with the right packaging.

Ensuring that products remain fresh and retain the look of quality takes center stage in presenting coffee and tea. It may look simple but there are multiple layers to this packaging phenomena, with consumer perception often dictating the best packaging options.

One interesting thing about packaging is that the perception of quality is heavily regionalized.  In North America, for example, the block bottom bag or stand up pouch with a degassing valve is preferred.  Consumers associate these bags with specialty roasters, anticipating better quality coffee.

The neat, upright stance engages the consumer. The package, according to Chicago-based HAVI global headquarters, conveys multi-sensory messages signaling quality, freshness, quality, and luxury.

Format is important. In the Middle East and parts of Europe, a vacuum-packed brick pack is perceived as superior. “There is a perception that vacuum-sealed packaging provides a fresher product,” said Phillip Angus, director of business development, ICA USA, automatic packaging solution. “These packages are extremely durable; the film is very thick and it transports well,” he said.

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Anaerobic Packaging

To move their products off the shelf, roasters and manufacturers fare better if they understand the needs of their consumers. Packaging communicates not only the quality of the product, but the brand message, a message that will help to develop a relationship with their end user.

Advances in digital printing enabled companies to experiment with packaging and labels that engage consumers.   With so many competing products on shelves, manufacturers need to set themselves apart. Useful techniques include laser-etching, embossing, textured coatings, and specialty materials.

Coffee houses and food service locations rely on packaging to deliver their brand message, but it does not stop there. This extends to the color and style of vessel chosen to serve the beans or tea leaves, the cup for in-house café drinkers, and the takeaway container, for consumers who want beverages on the go.

Twenty years ago, LBP Manufacturing developed a large quantity pop-and-go container for use in catering and foodservice. The design has continued to evolve. With the original version the inner bag was inflated by hand, explains LBP director of marketing Lauren Mikos.  “We were called to action to challenge our own thinking on how to manufacture the product, where the inner bag would automatically inflate,” she said. “The result is extremely easy to assemble and provides a hygienic and clean solution for the end user,” she said.

When it comes to single-serve the driver is form and function, shared Dave Foster, global business development manager at Print Pack. But the first consideration is format: Nespresso, Keurig or pods, drive selection. “On the flexible side, the main drivers are print quality and product protection to guarantee coffee freshness, ideally in small quantities,” said Rudolf Schaich, market development manager, Print Pack.

Innovation in coffee and tea packaging is largely about continuous improvement, fine-tuning aspects of the package to respond to the consumer’s need in an aesthetically appealing package, a quality product.

Automation

A large impact in the efficiency of packaging comes from the effect robotics and automation will have on tea packaging, says Klaus Peters, herb and tea group general manager at IMA MAISA. In 2017 IMA acquired majority shares of Mai S.A. creating the IMA MAISA brand. "Merging the strengths of the two leading names in the teabag packaging sector opens the door to a host of new business opportunities, strategic marketing initiatives, and important industrial synergies," said Peters. The combined venture has a truly global presence, he said, holding 70% of the market for single serve solutions in tea. This has enabled IMA MAISA to launch several new machines including the C59 tea bag filling machine and the C27 and C24 automated carton making machines. These machines fill, tag, seal, and pack hundreds of tea bags a minute, increasing production and performance.

Sustainability is here to stay

When it comes to packaging, there is one conversation that continues to prevail-what will happen to the waste?  Whether it’s single serve, frac pac, gusset bag, or block bottom bags, there is increasing concern about how to dispose with the vessel that contains this product.

Once seen as trendy, the word, sustainable is now a part of almost every conversation. It is in almost every business plan and strategy and becomes particularly relevant when it comes to choosing the “right” disposable packaging.

“We are seeing more questions regarding sustainability, brand owners and independents alike are asking about all of their packaging materials, the cups, lids, bulk sleeves and even the bulk beverage containers," said Mikos.  Hot cups, stated Mikos, continues to be a long-standing challenge for the industry from the material used in the lid to the hot sleeve.  To respond to this concern LBP’s Eco Clutch was developed using the minimal amount of material needed to protect the consumer from the hot beverage.

“Sustainability is not even a trend anymore, it’s a business necessity for beverage packaging today,” said Mikos.   Packaging companies across all channels are seeking out ways to do more with less, while, governments and hospitality industry alike are stepping in with solutions.  “Instead of being the 10th bullet in the agenda, it has leaped to the 3rd,” said Mikos. “Sustainability is becoming increasingly more important.” Companies can set themselves apart by providing not only sustainable packaging but the tools and materials that can serve to educate the consumer.

CORRECTION: A photo caption in the original post incorrectly identified Klaus Peters as Alberto Vacchi, chairman, IMA Group. STiR regrets the error.

EN13432 Requirements

Compostable products must degrade biologically with other organic waste in an individual or industrial compost without releasing toxic byproducts.

To be certified all of the following must occur:

Biodegradation: 90% biodegradation in less than two months to be achieved

Disintegration: fragmentation and complete loss of visibility in the final compost

Composition: A maximum rate defined volatile solids, heavy metals must be respected

Ecotoxicity: The quality of the compost should not be changed and the residue should not be toxic to the environment

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