Koch Foods Puts New Spin on Private Label

Private labelers usually don’t lead their industries with package innovations. Chicago-based Koch Foods is introducing new interactive “spin” packaging for Aldi supermarkets. The unique package is being used to introduce a new line of frozen chicken breast chunks under Aldi’s Kirkwood brand.

The new Koch Foods package (partnering with Huhtamaki Inc., in De Soto, KS) incorporates an innovative OPP (oriented polypropylene) label, supplied by MPI Label Systems. The label is placed over a specially designed round-shaped Huhtamaki Ultrakan paperboard container. Inside are breaded chicken breast chunks and a bag with ingredients for each variety’s special enrobing sauce.

The label carries product photos plus nutrition facts, bar codes and other standard required product data, along with a clear section that reveals additional information on the Huhtamaki-printed base container when consumers “spin” the outer label. The resulting combination gives Aldi approximately 75% more label surface for communicating with shoppers. Currently, the “peek-a-boo” panels convey recipe suggestions, sauce-and-serve preparation instructions, and cross-sell a variety of other Kirkwood brand products.

“Consumers want information and this is a convenient as well as intriguing, inventive way to provide it,” says Paul Beckwith, v.p. retail sales and marketing for Koch Foods. Koch Foods also has an exclusivity arrangement with Stephen Key’s Spinformation Company. Even though the “spin label” package concept is new to the food market, The Spinformation company’s package designs have been previously used by several beverage companies and over-the-counter (OTC) pharmaceutical products.

In addition to the extra space for information, Mehlman says the package offers two major advantages from a marketing and retailing standpoint.

“First, it lets you maximize the number of facings you have in a traditional grocery store,” Mehlman says. The new Kirkwood brand products are currently found in freezer bunkers at Aldi, but will merchandise really well in upright freezers. “On a 30-inch shelf, you’re able to get significantly more facings, a big factor in a category with three or four brands versus competitors in gusset bags. In terms of retail space management, it’s a major plus.”

The container is formed in-house by Koch Foods using a Huhtamaki Systems FM-1400 forming machine. Preprinted and die-cut package sidewalls from Huhtamaki are shipped flat, a method that delivers 10 times as much packaging per truckload compared to “shipping air” in preformed containers. All this dramatically reduces transportation costs and reduces the package’s carbon footprint. On-demand, in-plant package forming also gives Koch Foods flexibility to easily change packaging on-the-fly for new Kirkwood recipes, or to switch “peek-a-boo” panel sections for seasonal or other promotions.

Source: Koch Foods