Bagels receive the slider treatment

International baked goods and refrigerated dough manufacturer Earthgrains Co., St. Louis, has convenience for its line of bagels zipped up with a new bag featuring the Hefty Slide-Ritew advanced slide-closure system from Pactiv. The exclusive secure-close slider zipper, which recently got the nod for shredded cheese products from Sargento Foods (see PD, Dec., 2000, p. 4), began appearing on the tops of Earthgrains' six-count bags for bagels in five varieties.

A top producer of fresh packaged bread and bakery items, as well as refrigerated dough, Earthgrains began test marketing the new packaging in Little Rock, AR, Evansville, IN, Memphis and Lexington, KY, in mid-October. Easy to open and close by all age groups, the clear polyethlyene film bags are converted and supplied by Pactiv's Jacksonville, IL, plant, with the closure preapplied. Earthgrains packages the bagels on its Foremost baggers and bottom-seals the pre-top-sealed bags on existing APM sealers. The Slide-Rite closure promotes reuse of the bag and is claimed to help maintain bagel freshness as it effectively reseals completely.

The company is promoting the new reclosable feature on the top of the bags, just below the zipper and tamper-evident heat seal. The slider closure moves along the zipper track to an open position, which provides access to the bagels after a sealed fluted membrane below the zipper track is broken. Earthgrains' director of communications Matt Hall says though it's too early to have many specifics, consumers in the test market areas like the new package.

"We examined consumer attitudes toward this kind of packaging and saw various opening devices. We evaluated them in terms of the packaging challenges and their ramifications to our production process and found that the Slide-Rite reclosable package worked well. We're still evaluating sales results, but certainly, the consumer feedback has been very positive. The ease of use outscores some of the other resealable options out there. " "Bread marketers have shown a lot of interest in the closure because of the convenience and reclosability aspects," Pactiv's marketing manager Larry Rebodos tells PD, "and extends to Slide-Rite's added or prolonged freshness attributes. Slide-Rite isn't a system that provides an airtight or modified atmosphere, but does promote secure reclosability. We're seeing interest from packagers of tortillas, baked goods, breads and similar products."