French Biscuit Manufacturer IBC Uses Crown to Deliver Packaging for the U.S. Market

Crown collaborated with IBC to create a shaped metal tin with an embossed design and finished in a rich red color, creating a luxurious look and feel that reflected the premium quality of the cookies and maximized shelf impact.

6 Jul 2012 --- Distinctive packaging plays a critical role in the success of the growing, premium snack, biscuit and confection brands that International Biscuit and Confections, Inc. (IBC) distributes in the United States. CROWN Speciality Packaging North America, a business unit of Crown Holdings, Inc., recently partnered with IBC to build unique holiday packaging in the U.S. for Loc Maria, a French biscuit brand, which was sold in club stores across North America during the holiday season.

Crown collaborated with IBC to create a shaped metal tin with an embossed design and finished in a rich red color, creating a luxurious look and feel that reflected the premium quality of the cookies and maximized shelf impact. While the tin represented an entirely new design for IBC, the two companies had worked together in the past and Crown's extensive range of standard toolsets and sizes had already been implemented into its packaging lines, minimizing start-up time and allowing the team to focus on the design and quality of the final package.

Confident in the quality and depth of Crown's support services due to the past relationship, IBC also chose Crown to be its co-packing partner in North America for Loc Maria cookies distributed in the club store channel. As the project moved forward, Crown's flexibility on timing and order volumes enabled IBC to overcome a perennial challenge for seasonal products: ensuring that a sufficient amount of cookies would be available in stores in time for the holidays. In addition, Crown's ability to complete the co-packing process at its tin manufacturing location ensured it could adjust to any change in requirements during the course of the project.

"Retailers are always looking for unique, premium brands that can help boost sales, especially during the holiday season. IBC is uniquely positioned to respond to that need, but it requires solid partnerships to make it happen," says Jill Short, Vice President of Sales, IBC. "Our relationship with Crown was crucial to making sure not only that Loc Maria biscuits stood out on shelves with a high-quality package, but also that we were able to get the product to market in time to meet holiday deadlines." Using metal as the primary package for the Loc Maria brand also enabled IBC to improve its own sustainability scorecard. Metal is 100% and infinitely recyclable, meaning metal can be recycled again and again and again without loss of quality. In addition, once the biscuits have been eaten, the container can be reused for storage or display purposes, extending consumers' exposure to the Loc Maria brand.

"Crown worked closely with IBC to design a package that combined aesthetics and functionality and still achieved economies of scale, setting it up for success in a competitive marketplace," comments Sheila Heath, Director of Marketing, CROWN Speciality Packaging USA. "We paired the creative element with a comprehensive support program at every step in the production process to speed the product to market, build brand loyalty with consumers and fortify IBC's relationships with retailers."

The Loc Maria biscuits have also been exported from the United States and sold in Canada, Mexico and new locations in Taiwan and Japan.