Packaging is crucial for your food business because you can prevent food poisoning by minimizing safety issues like contamination. Properly packaging items can avoid damaging your reputation from frequent product recalls. Aside from that, you can prolong the shelf life of each product since you’ll be able to sustain its freshness.
On the other hand, poor packaging will significantly impact your new food business, which might lead to a loss of customers and low sales. For example, if you regularly deliver damaged packaged items to distributors, you might ruin the credibility of their stores.
As a result, they’ll stop ordering from you and notify other retailers to avoid partnering with your brand. To avoid this costly incident, here are some tips on how to choose quality packaging for your small food business.
- Know What You Can Afford
Before looking for packaging manufacturers, it would be better to assess your budget to avoid surprises in design costs. This strategy will help you identify the resources you can use while evaluating how much you can spend on making an enticing design.
When managing your food packaging budget, it’s essential to identify your packaging needs and the average volume of stocks you consume. This is to help you anticipate the costs while properly managing your par stock level.
Aside from that, it’s also a good idea to allocate an emergency fund to have an extra budget for last-minute sales opportunities. For example, you may allocate this budget for influencer endorsements, corporate events, or other co-branded partnerships like trade fairs to boost brand awareness.
- Look For A Food Packaging Designer
Food packaging basically protects the product inside. However, don’t forget that your food packaging design attracts your customers. Therefore, pay attention when you choose your food packaging design as it helps your branding efforts. After budget planning, you can now source local packaging designers to help make your food products look more attractive to your target buyers. These experts will add essential design elements like your brand logo, organizational colours, and slogan that can reinforce your branding.
Once you’ve established a community of loyal customers, they’ll always associate your company with your packaged food products. In turn, you can easily persuade them to choose your offers over your competitors.
When choosing a food packaging design company, it’s best to check the quality of their offers to ensure that your buyers will notice your products. Next, you should assess if they clearly understand the packaging details like nutritional facts, ingredients, and product consumption insights.
After that, you need to ensure that they have years of experience in structural and graphic design so your products will stand out when placed on store shelves. Once you’ve found the right packaging designer, you can establish effective communication channels with them.
That said, you can also communicate through digital platforms. This way, you can answer relevant questions during every stage of package development, including production and delivery. As a result, they can quickly respond to significant changes in design and have a smooth workflow to meet all deadlines.
Considering the importance of quality packaging for your food business, it’s essential to explore options for paper converting. Paper converting involves transforming paper materials into various packaging formats, such as bags, cartons, or corrugated boards. By utilizing paper converting techniques, you can customize packaging solutions that align with your branding and product requirements. Additionally, when selecting a paper converting partner, ensure they offer a paper converting adhesive solution that meets your specific needs for adhesion and durability. This ensures that your packaging not only looks appealing but also remains secure and intact throughout the product’s lifecycle.
- Examine The Logistics
After designing your food packages, it’s time to consider how to deliver the products to your retailers and end consumers. Without doing so, your consumers might receive damaged items and motivate them to write bad reviews about your food items.
When choosing quality packaging for delicate and bulky items, considering durable materials such as corrugated plastic boxes that are designed to support strength is best. Alternatively, you may consider unique food products with a long shelf life to prevent them from spoiling while in transit.
For instance, you may select a superior print finish like an ultraviolet (UV) treated liquid-dependent coating. Once you do so, you can minimize replacing damaged goods later while satisfying the demands of your customers and retailers.
- Consider Convenience
Nowadays, consumers who have busy lives are always demanding convenience, which affects the market share of your small food business. Therefore, your delivery packaging needs to offer comfort by adding easy-to-carry, lightweight, eco-friendly, and resealable features.
Meanwhile, suppose you can provide this comfortability as they carry their orders on their way home. In that case, they’ll always choose your brand, especially if you’re the only manufacturer considering their convenience.
Moreover, an outer container could be provided as part of the food packaging design to shield products from excessive heat and rough handling. For instance, if you offer a hot beverage like coffee, you have to add a convenient handle at the top to prevent the customers from burns or other accidents. In turn, they can enjoy your items regardless of where they bring them.
Key Takeaway
As an entrepreneur, it would help if you were more careful in presenting your brand to your ideal customers to encourage them to purchase your products. Therefore, following these four strategies can help you choose the most suitable food packaging for your business.
By having proper and safe packaging, you can entice prospective buyers to buy your offers while nurturing your relationship with your distributors.