Supermarket Perimeter - November 2021 - 58

PACKAGING
SINGLE-SERVE
PACKAGING
by Emily Park
WHEN COVID-19 FIRST HIT a
year and a half ago, demand for
bakery food packaging went
down for most product types
within the instore bakery. Singleserve
bakery packaging, however,
held steady and even saw a little
bit of growth as the pandemic
waged war on retail bakeries.
Since, many grocery bakeries
have become reliant on
commissaries and third-party
kitchens to produce fresh bakery
products. The demand for singleserve
has been growing across
bakery categories - and getting
the packaging right for those
single-serve products is crucial.
" Everyone's awareness of
cleanliness and clean practices
is up and single-serve containers
have really been a huge hit with
that, " said Garrett Haglin, director
of marketing and product
development for Baxter, Minn.based
LINDAR Corporation.
Single-serve containers
allow for increased food safety
measures. Haglin pointed out
that many bakery items that
may not have been served in
a single-serve version before
the pandemic are now being
served in single-serve packaging
to prevent customers from
accidentally touching a product
they're not going to consume.
LINDAR has received more
requests for single-serve
packaging designed for cupcakes,
muffins, cookies, smaller pies,
and even cinnamon rolls over the
last year-and-a-half.
Meanwhile, Richmond,
Calif.-based Novacart has also
seen an uptick in the variety of
packaging retailers and suppliers
are requesting for singleserve
bakery.
Marc McGregor, the company's
national sales manager over
North America, has noticed more
requests for packaging that holds
single-serve cheesecakes, fruit
cakes and crumbles, cinnamon
rolls and cornbread.
" Because of COVID our
customers need packaging more
for safety reasons and needing to
have products wrapped up, " said
McGregor. " They're looking for
more protective packaging that
doesn't leave the product out in
the open. Now, our customers
are looking for ways they can still
have that safety aspect, but still
show value in the product. "
Sustainably minded
customers
Now more than ever, consumers
are sustainably minded and
want to know the packaging
keeping their food safe has
as little of an environmental
impact as possible. Both LINDAR
and Novacart offer sustainable
packaging options.
As packaging has evolved over
the last few years, consumers are
more interested in the materials
used to manufacture the
packaging.
" People are thinking green,
about being conservative and
wanting to push for clean
products, " said Haglin. " All of our
materials are highly recyclable
and any waste that's generated
from the manufacturing process
is turned back around and put
back into the material stream. "
The company offers four
LINDAR offers four different material types that all offer different
sustainable advantages.
58 - NOVEMBER 2021
different material types that
all offer different sustainable
advantages:
* Virgin PET - Offers excellent
recyclability.
supermarketperimeter.com
* Recycled PET - Made with
25-100% post-industrial
content with excellent
recyclability.
* Post Consumer Recycled -
Made with up to 100% postconsumer
curbside content
* Plant-Based Plastics - Made
from annually renewable
plant-based sources that are
biodegradable and can be
reused by consumers.
The paper Novacart uses
in its packaging is sourced
from 100% fiber drawn from
renewable forests. The company
uses the recyclable paper to
make the most of its packaging,
and the company is testing
a compostable line in its
European market.
" We've launched a fully
compostable product that can be
sealed with a compostable film
to be fully home-compostable, "
said McGregor, adding on
that Novacart is looking at
introducing the product to the
North American market.
Straight from the
oven to the shelf
Novacart's freestanding paper
baking molds allow for bake-andsell
convenience so that products
can go straight from the oven to
the shelf in the same container.
" The benefit of our items is at
a large commissary they could
par bake it to a certain percent
and then send it off frozen to
the stores where they can finish
off the product in the mold and
then snap on a label and put it
on the shelf, " said McGregor. " It
saves a step from using metal
pans and washing, cleaning and
storing them. "
For single-serve products,
Novacart's newest product line,
Ecos Series, is the most popular
choice for retailers. Offered in
a variety of sizes-both circular
and rectangular- Ecos Series
LINDAR
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Supermarket Perimeter - November 2021

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