Online transactions and deliveries are in demand today. For food products, the convenience it offers has driven the demand for takeaway food to even greater heights. For business owners, this means a need for innovative packaging materials that can keep up with the trend without compromising.
Food packaging isn’t only about practicality, but also safety. Packaging food properly helps to ensure that it’s safe against spoilage and contamination. If you’re a food business owner trying to figure out your way around this, here are some tips for choosing the right takeaway packaging for your products:
1. Look For Materials That Can Protect Your Product
The ultimate goal of product protection is to keep the food safe during transportation and distribution. As much as possible, your products should reach their destination without any damage. To achieve this, your product has to be packaged securely and can be easily picked up, carried, and transported.
Protecting your products will require close consideration of the primary and secondary packaging that’ll hold your products for displays and shipments. The goal is to retain the freshness of your product and make sure it remains safe for consumption even after hours or days in storage.
The recommended food packaging materials will vary depending on the kind of food products you offer. Some of them will require specific types of packaging materials to protect them against mishandling and temperature. For example, steel is ideal for canning foods as its durability and opacity are helpful in both protection and preservation. For mostly the same reasons, milk products are best packaged in thick, opaque materials to prevent light passage, which can cause oxidation and nutrient loss.
But regardless of the material you use, what’s important is you choose a packaging that won’t only look good on your product but can also withstand the extreme temperatures it may be subjected to during transportation, as well as reduce the risks of contamination.
2. Choose A Design That’ll Reinforce Your Brand Identity
Another consideration you have to take into account when choosing the right takeaway packaging is the design. Before you promote your products in the market, think about how your customers will respond to your packaging’s design. For example, if you’re selling baked goods, using neatly designed boxes with prints that hint about pastries may help entice customers to try out your products.
The packaging of your product will say a lot about your brand identity. It’s an essential part of marketing that brands use not just to display product information but also to communicate with their consumers. Take advantage of this opportunity to make a statement about your product by using packaging designs that’ll attract your target consumers’ attention. It’s ideal to have your brand custom printed on your packaging to achieve this, typically through a unique logo. A great packaging design won’t only attract more customers but will also improve your brand image.
3. Go For Reusable Bags And Containers
You don’t have to sacrifice sustainability for product safety and hygiene. When you’re looking for the best food packaging possible, consider its environmental impact as well. Besides, while it’s important to consider the right shape, size, color, and design in your packaging, aesthetics alone isn’t enough to make your packaging stand out in the competition. Consumers these days are becoming more environmentally conscious, which makes eco-friendly products a popular choice.
Put simply, sustainability is now an important aspect in choosing the right takeaway food packaging. While plastic packaging offers convenience, it takes up to 1,000 years or more for such materials to decompose. If you don’t want to contribute to the pile-up of plastic waste, go for biodegradable and eco-friendly materials to help save the environment. Also, aside from being sustainable, reusable containers with your logo can be helpful in marketing too as it gives your brand more exposure the more often the containers are reused.
4. Use Multi-Purpose, Versatile Packaging
To save on cost and storage space, it helps to use flexible packaging designs that can hold a variety of items from your menu. This also makes packaging simpler and easier for your staff as it reduces the number of types of packaging they need to use.
Conclusion
Choosing the right takeaway food packaging can take time as well as a few trials and errors. But with some research, creativity, and innovation, you can get it right, and your business will benefit in the long term. Treat it as an investment that can help your food business succeed financially and ethically. Consider the ideas mentioned here as you plan and prepare.