Carton for Salad-Dressing Singles Offers a Clear Advantage

Like the new bottle, which uses a clear label, the carton was selected to reinforce the “Pure Kraft” theme of the relaunch, which included new, artificial preservative-free product recipes for Kraft’s 50+ dressing varieties.

25/08/08 Packed in a clear PET carton decorated with images of fresh vegetable slices, single-serve portion packs for three reduced-fat varieties of Kraft Food’s reformulated salad dressings offer a visible complement to the brand’s new bottle design, unveiled in March (see Krafting a better bottle, published May 2008). Like the new bottle, which uses a clear label, the carton was selected to reinforce the “Pure Kraft” theme of the relaunch, which included new, artificial preservative-free product recipes for Kraft’s 50+ dressing varieties.

Northfield, IL-based Kraft says it introduced the 1-oz pouch packs (formerly for foodservice only) to retail to bring new innovation to the category. It’s also likely the launch was Kraft’s response to the development by several competitors, such as Unilever and Ken’s Foods, of portable spritzer bottles for low-fat dressing indulgence (see Functional packaging flies at FMI, published July 2006). The Kraft pouches are packed eight to a carton and are converted by a proprietary supplier using a construction of oriented polypropylene/foil-laminated low-density polyethylene.

Carton provides clean look

The carton, also from a proprietary supplier, is offset-printed on the back and side panels with images of avocados, onions, cucumber, tomato, and other fresh vegetables. These images overlap translucently on the package, emphasizing the carton’s clear properties. On the back panel, against a white background, are Nutrition Facts, ingredient information, and other product details. The carton is constructed so that the left hand side of the back panel extends to create a partition inside the box that separates two sets of four pouches, packed side-by-side. The top of the carton is perforated with a pull-tab that provides access to the product.

Together, the portion-packs and carton were designed, says Grace Kim, program leader for Kraft Enhancers Packaging, to communicate “freshness, convenience, pure taste, and portion control.”

According to Kraft Pourables associate brand manager Akosua Asamoah, challenges of the carton design included the need for a special glue system to glue the flaps and for a redesign of the tear-away pull-tab to make it easy to open.