Supermarket Perimeter - January 2021 - 60

TRENDS
by Andy Nelson
More and more retailers are
turning to commissaries,
central kitchens and other
off-site facilities that make
value-added and other foods,
and packaging suppliers are
meeting the demand with tailormade solutions for that speciﬁc
segment of the market.
Virtually all of the food
packaging made by Shelton,
Conn.-based Inline Plastics is
suitable for use in commissaries
and other, similar facilities, said
Sarah Korwek, product manager.
Inline's tamper-evident
products in particular are in
high demand given retailers' and
consumers' concerns about food
safety and food safety standards
overall, she added. Inline's
patented Safe-T-Fresh tamper
evident line includes well over
100 food container options.
" Many retailers are looking
to the Safe-T-Fresh brand for a
myriad of fresh food applications,
including cut fruit, fruit mixes,
salads, and deli offerings, "
Korwek said.

Food safety concerns
are driving demand for
products like Inline's
tamper-evident packaging.

60 - JANUARY 2021

Inline has products that
are designed speciﬁcally for
sandwiches, hoagies, individual
wraps or whatever other needs
commissaries and central
kitchens need to be met.
The company's Surelock line,
for instance, offers a diversiﬁed
brand of bakery options for
cakes, cookies, muffins and pies
fashioned for dessert displays.
And given the increase in
consumer snacking, Inline has
several tamper evident brands
to serve those needs with
SnackWare, SnackCups and
most recently the smallest of the
SquareWare products known as
Snackers which are offered in 2,
4, 6 and 8 oz sizes.
Baxter, Minn.-based Lindar
Corp.'s packaging strength
has been in supplying bakery
facilities, but the company also
excels in the deli space, said Dave
Fosse, director of marketing, key
accounts.
Commissaries, central kitchens
and other similar facilities are a
key part of Lindar's business.

" This market has been an
emphasis of ours and continues
to drive growth, " Fosse said.
" Consistency is key for a facility
to make product for a retailer. A
central location that can make
something day in and day out
and have it arrive fresh to the
store very frequently " is a huge
asset for grocery retailers, he said.

Prepacked sandwich,
bakery solutions
Hartsville, S.C.-based Novolex
provides a variety of packaging
solutions tailored to the speciﬁc
needs of its customers, including
commissaries, central kitchens
and other offsite facilities
supplying value-added and other
foods to retail grocers, said Maria
Hernandez, Novolex's marketing
director.
Novolex's line of Dubl View
bags, for instance, is perfect
for prepacked sandwiches and
bakery snacks, Hernandez said.
" We also provide rollstock (with
or without die cut windows)
that is ﬁlled and converted at
the commissary to deliver fresh,
packaged goods to the stores. "
And, with its NovoVue
Rollstock laser die cut capability,
Novolex can create windows in
almost any shape. This capability
provides an innovative yet
turnkey packaging design that
allows commissaries to showcase

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freshly prepacked sandwiches
and bakery snacks.
The company also offers a
full line of hot and cold food
containers designed for meals on
the go, which include products
large enough to serve familystyle portions while reducing the
number of disposable containers
needed for large portions of
entrees, pastas and salads,
Hernandez said.
More and more retailers are
seeking out offsite facilities
to meet their value-added
needs, and Inline is ramping
up its packaging solutions for
those products accordingly,
Korwek said.
" Overall we've witnessed a
signiﬁcant increase in this area,
and that trend will continue to
be the case. Commissaries in
general will become a continued
resource to deliver safe, secure
food options, " she said.
Concerns about food safety
are paramount with consumers
during this pandemic. As bulk
food merchandising and selfserve buffets have been shut
down at grocery stores and at
colleges and universities, the
desire for pre-packaged foods
have changed how food will be
sold, perhaps for the long term
- and commissaries and central
kitchens will play a central role
in whatever that " new normal "
looks like.
" The concern for the health
and wellness of consumers
is being addressed, resulting
in pre-packaged meals, for
example, " Korwek said. " The
fewer hands that touch the food,
the better. We continue to be
committed to provide consistent
high performing food-grade
packaging to these industries. "
Inline, she added, has
consistently planned and
launched new products to
provide solutions to the market

INLINE, NOVOLEX

PACKAGING
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Supermarket Perimeter - January 2021

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