Foodservice Solutions

Supermarkets, convenience stores and restaurants all have image problems with their packaging. The trash that lay’s on the side of the road with brand logo’s and vibrant color is not the value add benefit marketers were looking for. While Convenient Meal Participation (CMP) is growing and more profitable than any other sector of the indsutry. I believe we should follow the lead of Frito-Lay and create new compostable packaging. If a chip maker can do it we must follow. Restaurants had been in the lead on social issues in the past. Now as our sales lag we are giving up ground in the consumer relevance area to the likes of a chip maker? To quote recent press article:

“Just in time for Earth Day, PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay Div. is rolling out compostable packaging bit by bit this year, with a fully compostable bag due out on Earth Day in 2010. Applied to bags of its SunChips brand, a popular line of multigrain snacks, the plant-based, biodegradable material is a structure made of NatureWorks’ ( www.   natureworksllc.com  ) polylactic acid (PLA) fi lm, said to decompose over 14 weeks when placed in a hot, active compost bin or pile—at home or at an industrial composting site.
The PLA film is made with NatureWorks Ingeo™ biopolymer resin made from plant sugar.
Frito says it’s the first in the convenience-food industry to introduce such packaging. Reports Thomas Oh, director of the SunChips brand, “Consumers very much want a healthier snack,
and we realized a couple of years ago
that those same consumers have an interest in what’s healthy for the planet,” he says.
“From an organizational standpoint, SunChips is the lead brand for communications around sustainability initiatives.” “

Times they are a changing and the ready to eat, ready to heat niche should focus on food and as importantly the packaging.