Package Design | packagedesignmag.com

(May 2010) posted on Fri Jun 11, 2010

By Lynn Dornblaser

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Today’s consumers, especially those who are younger, face a difficult dilemma when it comes to mealtime. The recession has doubtless required them to eat more at home—and to entertain more at home. And, although they watch Top Chef, Iron Chef, and various programs on The Food Channel, many simply do not know how to cook.
How to help consumers? McCormick appears to have found a way. For consumers who do not know how to cook, or simply do not want to bother with assembling all of the ingredients to make a meal, there are now Recipe Inspirations seasoning combinations.
McCormick quite cleverly packaged premeasured amounts of the ingredients needed on a hanging card. Consumers add the perishables and follow the recipe card on the back of the package.
The company has six varieties in the line, and all six are on the same structure featuring six seasoning compartments. On the Rosemary Roasted Chicken with Potatoes variety shown here, two of the compartments contain paprika, two contain rosemary, one has minced garlic and one has coarse-ground black pepper. The standardized format of the recipe cards simplifies packaging production and presents a consistent look to consumers.
Other varieties include Quesadilla Casserole; Apple Sage Pork Chops; Garlic Lime Chicken Fajitas; Spanish Chicken Skillet; and Shrimp and Pasta Primavera. The cards retail for $1.50, making it very affordable for the consumer and likely quite profitable for McCormick. Also, the recipe card on the back is designed to encourage consumers to remove and save the well-organized card. In turn, consumers are encouraged to buy the full-size versions of the McCormick spices to make the dish again at a later date.

Portion control made simple
Single-serve products appear in every category and provide important convenience for consumers. However, there are often perceived negatives associated with single-serve products and packaging. Quite often, single-serve options are more costly, which may cause some consumers to make different choices these days. Also, some consumers focus on the environmental negatives of the additional packaging in single-serve products.
For consumers who may have objections to single-serve choices, a unique product has come on the market in Australia from Yoplait. It is, quite simply, a multi-serving tub of yogurt that provides consumers the ability to spoon out just a single serving at a time.
The polypropylene tub has an in-mold label with a translucent strip on one side. That strip also has tick marks that indicates the level of each portion size (150 grams). The entire tub contains seven servings, appropriate for one serving each day of the week.
Consumers can then quite easily spoon out just the amount of yogurt needed for their cereal or fruit, reclose the tub, and repeat the next day. The price is clearly an advantage. Yoplait offers its Elivae yogurt in a four-pack of single-serve 150-gram tubs for AU $4.49 (US $3.67), or about AU $1.12 (US $0.92) for each serving. This new multi-serve tub retails for AUD $3.68 (US $3.00) for 1,050 grams (seven 250-gram servings), or about AU $0.53 (US $0.43) for each serving—less than half the price of the single-serve packaging!

Lynn Dornblaser is the director of the Custom Solutions Group at Mintel International. She can be reached at 312-932-0400 or lynnd@mintel.com.