In the modern era of fast food and fast food, convenience foods are gaining incredible popularity. Quick and fast breakfasts, office lunches, and business trips are practically no longer without convenience foods. For the modern consumer, time and convenience are much more valuable than a full meal.
That is why this segment of the market tends to constantly grow market players and increase demand for products. In the conditions of fierce competition, manufacturers put the main emphasis on the complex composition of products, as well as on original and convenient packaging design.
Fast food products are products that take the consumer only a few minutes to prepare and require a small outlay of money.
The following groups of fast food products are distinguished:
- Instant porridge;
- Pasta and noodles;
- Soups and bouillon cubes;
- Mashed potatoes;
- Muesli and breakfast cereals.
In addition, convenience foods also include condiments, jellies and sours.
Packaging of convenience foods
For instant products, there are three types of containers most commonly used by manufacturers:
- Cardboard packaging;
- Flexible packaging;
- Plastic packaging.
Cardboard packaging
Cardboard is one of the most rigid materials with a high ability to retain its shape.
In addition, cardboard is a natural material and lightweight, with the most convenient production process, the material is flexible and pliable.
It can be shaped to almost any shape. It is easy to dispose of and is considered one of the most environmentally friendly types of packaging.
Modern carton packs coated with special films are highly resistant to wetting and airtight.
The only disadvantage of cardboard packaging is its rather high cost, compared to polymeric materials.
Cartons are usually used for instant porridge, breakfast cereals, cereals of various kinds, flakes and muesli.
Flexible packaging
Flexible packaging is a container for packing foodstuffs whose internal atmospheric pressure is the same as that of the surrounding external environment.
Due to its properties, this type of packaging is highly flexible and can easily adapt to changes in environmental pressure, depending on fluctuations in the environment – flexible packaging changes its dimensions.
The main advantages of flexible packaging are: lightness, airtightness and safety, high strength, convenience and cost-effectiveness.
Various polymer films based on paper, foil, polyolefins are used as starting materials for flexible packaging, which makes it possible to pack goods of almost any purpose into flexible packaging.
Plastic packaging
Plastic packaging is the most advantageous and economical compared to cardboard and flexible packaging. As a rule, two types of plastic packaging are used for convenience foods:
– Plastic containers with tight lids;
– Plastic jars sealed with a lid made of aluminum foil.
In the first case, the lid is additionally decorated with a label, in the second case, the aluminum foil lid itself acts as a label.
In addition to low production costs, plastic packaging is also characterized by high durability and safety.
From the disadvantages it is necessary to allocate somewhat underestimated in comparison with other types of containers barrier properties.
How convenience food packaging affects the consumer
Flexible packaging is extremely popular among the segment’s manufacturers, and this is primarily due to the convenience of this type of packaging for the target audience. In flexible packaging today you can find instant porridge, pasta, soups, potatoes, seasonings, jellies and kisses. Fast food in flexible packaging is convenient to take with you to work, on a trip. This packaging is very lightweight and takes up a minimum of space.
Cardboard containers are most often used for packing breakfast cereals – various kinds of cereals (oatmeal, buckwheat, corn, wheat, etc.), porridge and cereals, large portions of mashed potatoes, muesli. As a rule, such goods are purchased by the consumer for consumption at home. Cardboard packaging is optimal for long-term storage.
Plastic packaging is used as a container for pasta, noodles, soups and mashed potatoes. As a rule, the consumer buys products in such packaging in those cases when the packaging is to replace utensils, when it is not possible to use a plate or other containers when eating food.
When making a purchase, the consumer pays attention not only to the look and convenience of the packaging, weighty factors of choice are also:
– Product flavor;
– Product range;
– Cost;
– Brand awareness;
– Package design;
– Advertising.
Fast food packaging design
The development of packaging and its non-standard design – have become indispensable conditions for the successful activity of the manufacturer in the conditions of high market competition. Today, fast food manufacturers try to come up with not only brightly colored packaging that attracts attention, but also pay great attention to its design and ergonomics.
In this regard, before starting to work on packaging design, it is necessary to conduct a number of marketing researches, study the market and competitors, draw up a portrait of the consumer and analyze his expectations. Having such information it is much easier to choose the form of packaging, its type, material, color scheme, graphic and text design.
In the design of fast food packaging, it is possible to identify common techniques and trends used by manufacturers quite often:
1. The packaging design for instant porridge usually uses brightly colored images of fruits, grains and berries; as well as an appetizing image of already cooked porridge. Often the packaging also depicts a tantalizing spoon filled with steaming porridge, against a background of flowing milk or amber streams of honey. Creating a “tasty” product is one of the top trends in porridge packaging design. Another common trend is the use of images of grains and ears, against a background of lush wheat fields. A similar technique is used in cereal packaging design.
2. Breakfast cereals are characterized by the use of an interesting, usually cartoon or fairy tale character, the design is aimed mostly at children and their parents.
3. As for muesli, the main trend is to display pictures of healthy, energetic and slim girls on the packaging. Basically, these products are aimed at women who follow the rules of healthy eating and watch their figure. Such packaging offers them most often not only the product itself, but also a unique diet program.
4. Pasta packaging design uses most often the image of cooked hot noodles and juicy pieces of meat, mushrooms, chicken, etc. depending on the flavors. In addition, in the design of packaging manufacturers tend to use bright colors of yellow, red, blue and green to maximize attention. The same techniques are used for mashed potatoes.
5. On the packaging of soups almost all manufacturers use images of hot, just cooked soup in a plate or mug, with pictures of vegetables in the background. Cereals and other ingredients, thus emphasizing the naturalness of the product. Most manufacturers decorate the packaging in green colors, thus complementing the theme of nature and naturalness, creating an image of a “home” product.
As for label design, the features of flexible and cardboard packaging give manufacturers the opportunity not to produce a separate label, but to create a complete image of the product only at the expense of the space of the packaging itself. For plastic containers welded with a lid – the label is the lid itself made of aluminum foil. For plastic containers with a separate lid it is necessary to produce a label, as a rule, manufacturers use a simple paper label-insert.
Flexible packaging offers a wide range of design possibilities due to the use of polymer films as part of the packaging. This makes it possible to create a matte or metallized effect, to produce packaging with transparent windows.
You can order the development of unique and non-standard design of packaging for instant food products from the branding agency KOLORO.
