Granola Packaging

Granola.  Once considered fruits and nuts eaten by...well, people that would eat fruits and nuts, granola is now a favorite conventional breakfast food.   www.wikipedia.org says "the names Granula and Granola were trademarked terms in the late nineteenth century United States for foods consisting of whole grain products crumbled and then baked until crisp."  Today, fruits, nuts, even chocolate are added to create many varieties.

Of course, increasing popularity and more varieties means greater competition.  A sluggish economy yields more cost-conscious consumers looking for value.  Building your brand of granola is, therefore, more challenging than ever before.

Building your brand of granola requires much more than simply offering a quality product.  You need effective marketing that tells a story which makes your brand distinctive.  Of course, marketing dollars are often a scarce resource and for many companies, extensive advertising is out of the question.  An alternative is readily available:  Innovative packaging.

While your primary focus may be to ensure the 'granola shopper' buys your brand, remember that your packaging may persuade someone just looking for any old breakfast cereal to buy your granola instead.  Fewer than half of all shoppers know which brand or product they are going to buy when they get to the store shelf.  The cereal aisle at any store is a prime example of just how many choices a consumer can have for one type of product.  Granola competes with adult cereal, cereal for kids, cereal with fruit and without fruit and made from a wide range of grains.  Your packaging must stand out.

Stand up pouches are the height of innovative packaging.  Multiple layers of specially-formulated film are laminated together, creating a barrier that is durable, puncture-resistant and protects the contents from vapor, odor, moisture and pests while locking in freshness, flavor and aroma.

Also called stand up bags and Mylar® barrier bags, stand up pouches have wide front and back panels that offer a blank canvas upon which to affix your labels or order custom printing of your product info, graphics, even a QR code or links to websites.  Transparent film is available to better showcase your brand.

Stand up bags stand on the shelf and apart from the competition.  Available round and sombrero-style hang holes offer an additional display option which increases your brand's visibility.

Stand up pouch granola packaging to build your sales and your brand:  Not a nutty idea and one sure to bear fruit.
 

We live in a me too society, and cereal packaging is no different.  Unlike certain types of segments of the breakfast food industry such as granola or even oatmeal, cereal packaging tends to be stuck in its ways.  Since the beginning of time, let's say when cave men ate cereal (joking) they had a paper box with an inner liner inside.  For some reason Kelloggs and Post, etc have continued down this road.

The minumum run for a custom printed cereal box with inner liners is in the 100,000 range.  This doesn't include the printing plates required and that corresponding artwork creation expense.  The carton itself offers little or no protection and the inner liner offers minimal protection, as it is usually very thin high density plastic.

A stand up pouch is made from multiple layers of heavy duty barrier film in order to keep the cereal fresher for longer.  The stand bag is made to stand erect on a store shelf along with a zipper and tear notch for easy access to the contents.  The wide face and back of the stand up pouch provides room on the cereal packaging to show the company logo and quite possibly tell the company story.  Cereal packaging using a stand up pouch can be made using clear film in order to have a window to see the contents, or can be completely opaque to protect from sunlight or any other negative element.  Most importantly, custom printed stand up pouches for cereal packaging can be made in quantities as few as 5000 pieces...roughly 95% LESS quantity required to print with better quality than the cereal boxes from the big boys.  Cereal boxes are printed Flexographically, which is very "old school" while stand up pouches are Rotogravure printed, the bold, dynamic, photographic quality retailers want and consumers love.  Finally, the printing is trapped between different layers of the barrier film so it cannot be scratched or damaged in any way.

My point is this...at a time when being unique and different is a good thing, why not be different?  Why not be the IKEA of the cereal industry?  With stand up pouches, your cereal packaging can protect and also be one of your main selling features when building your brand.

As anyone can tell, we are obsessed with all things stand up bags!  We are determined to keep telling the world about this unique style of flexible packaging.  Stand up bags, also known as stand up pouches or stand pouches are made from multiple layers of highly engineered film laminated together that allow the package to stand effectively on a store shelf while providing barrier properties to keep the contents fresher for longer. 

Stand bags are available from stock as well as custom printed in any possible size.  The natural wide face and back provide ample room for graphics and logos as well as the company story and what makes the product so great, awesome, yummy, long lasting, etc.

We have created a series of eBooks, which we'll continue to add to, that show how stand up bags can:

• Build Your Brand
• Protect Your Product
• Lower Your Packaging Cost
• Increase Your Sales

Products packaged effectively using stand up bags include

• Snacks
• Cookies
• Dry Food Products
• Liquids and Beverages
• Granola
• Many, many more

We have the unique ability to custom print as few as 5000 stand up bags with quality as good as (we think better than) anyone else in the industry.  Bold, dynamic printed stand bags that scream LOOK AT ME...or better yet BUY ME so in the long run you can compete with the "Big Boys" in your industry and WIN!

Dry food packaging is a broad stroke of the packaging industry that includes everything from cereal and trail mix to granola and flour and everything in between.  The point of this post is to explain in a little detail how using stand up pouches can save money over other types of packaging. 

Let's assume we are dealing with dry food packaging for flour.  Some options to package flour include

• Folding Cartons
• Corrugated Boxes
• Heavy Duty Plastic Bags
• Paper Sacks
• Stand Up Pouches

Folding cartons are made from paperboard (either recycled or virgin grade).  Dry food products packaged using this type of container are limited to the amount of weight, most likely less than 1.5 pounds and folding cartons offer little or no barrier protection, meaning in order to protect the flour another type of packaging is required, most likely a plastic bag.  In a nutshell, dry food packaging using folding cartons would need not only the carton but an inner barrier bag as well.  Estimated cost for a custom printed folding carton that would hold 1 pound of flour $.25 cents + $.02 cents for an inner liner.  $.27 cents

Corrugated cartons are another style using paper but this dry food packaging is much more durable than folding cartons...and in many instances...cheaper too.  Same as folding cartons, corrugated cartons offer no barrier protection for the flour, so an inner liner, most likely a plastic bag, will be needed to not only contain the flour but offer some barrier protection.  This style of dry food packaging will cost $.20 cents + $.02 for an inner liner.  $.22 cents

Tomorrow...in Part Two, we'll discuss other types of dry food packaging.

Cereal and for that matter granola could be termed staples at breakfast.  Industry leaders continue to be excited about ready to eat cereals, of which granola falls into that category.  However, I'm going to write this post from the perspective of consumer walking into a Whole Foods or even a Trader Joe's with a clean slate in my noggin over what type of granola I'm going to take home with me...in the hopes of proving my point that granola packaging with stand up pouches does matter and will increase sales.

Granola packaging historically has tried to model its packaging after the natural look of granola itself.  Most likely this means that they'll buy paper packaging for their granola.  Or, another option is a bulk plastic bag, similar to what you would get in the produce aisle of a
supermarket with a twist tie and a label slapped on indicating the flavor.  I've also seen metal tins used with a plastic bag on the inside...here the manufacturer is paying for two types of packaging.

Then, there is granola packaging using stand up pouches.  Also known as stand bags or stand up bags, these pouches made from flexible film are available stock where you can apply a label or custom printed with vivid, bold, photographic images that hit the consumer right between the eyes...POW!  While stock stand bags for granola packaging is very acceptable, I'm going to imagine we are talking about custom printed stand up pouches.

I wander to the store, the sights and sounds and smells of Whole Foods or Trader Joes consumes me, past the produce and checkout lines, it's granola I'm in the mood for.  I see granola A in a paper bag with a clear window, similar to what the bakery gives me when I order a few cookies for our kids.  Sure looks good, very natural looking, not a whole lot of graphics but a nice label that says its cinnamon apple flavor but the label isn't straight and in fact there is an air bubble trapped under the sticker.  That's OK, I think, the granola looks tasty so I look at the clear window of the bag only to see that it's glued on the inside of the paper bag...that really thin cellophane plastic that is clear as a bell but very flimsy.  The twist tie at the top of the granola packaging looks handy.  Will it work? 

I grab another granola brand, this really looks good, much more expensive than all the others, the printed label says its the best but that's all there is, a printed label applied to a metal in.  I cannot see or touch and feel granola at all.  Hmmm, expensive doesn't always mean the best, but whoever made this is using very expensive granola packaging.

Then, I see granola packaging using a printed stand up pouch.  Bold, dynamic printing, lots of cool graphics and a clear window on the front and bottom of the pouch so I can see the clusters of granola, I can see the coating of honey and cinnamon, this looks really tasty.  Wow, this printed stand bag has the granola company story, I never knew it was made from an old family recipe from Vermont.  Plus, it has a ziplock so I don't have to eat the entire bag or use one of those silly chip clips to try to keep the contents fresh.  Its not the cheapest granola, but it's not the most expensive either...very interesting.  Plus, the pouch itself is made from layers of film, I can feel them, this is a very sturdy bag that will stand on my cupboard when I get home and even withstand a fall if my daughter drops it or it gets bumped off the table.  Yeah...I like the granola using a stand up pouch...I feel smarter for having looked at them all too.  I'm going to buy this brand in the stand up pouch.

See, granola packaging makes a difference.  Stand up pouches will protect granola, keep it fresher for longer, and help build not only your brand but your sales too!

Granola continues to be a hot retail product.  Granola packaging historically has tried to use packaging that reflected the all natural nature of granola itself.  However, that granola packaging failed miserably when it came to protecting the contents.  Paper pouches and paper packaging are about as natural looking as granola but they have no barrier protection.  Granola packaging using paper  must be lined with another substrate such as a layer of plastic to provide any type of protection from moisture and outside odor.  Further, many small granola manufacturers purchase stock paper pouches with a clear window from stocking distributors who service bakeries and convenience stores only to find out that not only is their granola packaging weak and flimsy, their product goes stale within a matter of days.

Granola packaging using paper is not nearly as strong and durable as other types of packaging such as stand up pouches made from flexible film, also known as stand up bags.  Paper pouches do not have the puncture resistance or the shelf stability on their own to withstand the handling and abuse dealt on retail store shelves.  If granola packaging using paper gets wet, it loses strength and the packaging is compromised. In a nutshell, granola packaging using paper must have additional layers or even additional types of packaging (like a bag in a box) in order to confidently protect and ship the granola.

Stand up pouches are made from multiple layers of barrier film laminated together to create  a pouch that can stand erect on a store shelf while handling the abuse of the retail environment.  Further, the film itself flexes...meaning if a pouch is folded, bent, tipped over, or even stepped on, the film will spring back to its original shape.  Stand up pouches for granola packaging will keep the contents fresher for longer and protect from moisture, vapor, and odor that can negatively affect the taste.  These layers of laminated film create a bottom gusset or base that allows the pouch to stand effectively on a store shelf.  Further, these layers are available in clear film to see the granola or metalized and even foil structures, each providing puncture resistance and strength without needing additional and more expensive types of packaging for a manufacturer to ship with confidence.

Stand up pouches are available with ziplocks and tear notches, even hang holes and pour spouts to increase the level of convenience for the consumer.  Paper granola packaging cannot make the same claim.

While paper has that "natural" look, it doesn't come with the strength, durability, and barrier protection of stand up pouches.  Without question, using stand up bags instead of paper will save money.  Either in the packaging itself, the convenience and consumer appeal, or the ability to keep the granola fresher for longer, using stand up bags will save money.

Granola continues to be hugely popular with the older generation (like me) but did you know low sugar alternatives are successful with kids too?  Granola packaging is critical to the success of granola sales.  There, I said it.  I don't care that anyone feels its the taste and the ingredients and love that has gone into baking and creating the granola, I KNOW all those things are important, but if the granola packaging isn't right, it won't sell as effectively as it could.  Sure, granola will sell at farmer's markets or little kiosks at the mall, but if a
granola manufacturer really wants to succeed, they need packaging that protects as well as performs.

Stand up pouches, also known as stand bags or stand up bags, are the perfect solution for granola packaging.  There are stock stand up pouches available in any number of sizes and colors that a small manufacturer can use and apply a label to and quickly be in business. Custom printed stand bags are the ultimate granola packaging in that they really can build a company's image and brand awareness with eye catching graphics and images that shout LOOK AT ME or better yet, BUY ME!

Stand up bags are made from multiple layers of barrier film laminated together that create the strength for the pouch to stand effectively on as store shelf, instead of needing to lay down flat, but even more importantly these multiple layers create the barrier protection to keep the granola fresh, lock in the flavors, and eliminate odor,moisture or even ultra-violet light which could damage the product itself. 

Granola packaging using stand up pouches perform the task of creating a "billboard" where the usable space on the pouch front and pouch back can have printing, images, or both that describe the contents and what makes the granola so special.  Further, using stand bags eliminates the need for multiple types of packaging such as a bag in a box or a bag inside of another bag that manufacturers tend to think is needed.  Better yet, stand up pouches for granola packaging are easily made with ziplocks and tear notches as well as hang holes and even pour spouts if necessary.  All of these options add up to consumer convenience and consumer confidence in your granola.

Granola taste is certainly key, however granola packaging that protects and performs in conjunction with your product's great taste could be the knockout punch for your competitors.

Using stand up bags for granola packaging isn't necessarily new for the big boys in the industry like Quaker Oats, but recent advances in technology have made custom stand up bags available to the small and medium size manufacturers as well.  Certainly stock stand up pouches with an applied label have been an approved style for small boutique stores, farmer's markets, and maybe through the internet.  However, if a company really wants to get on a store shelf, really wants to get their product noticed, really wants to build their brand, they need packaging that looks like they've arrived.  Without question, custom printed stand up pouches can vault a company's brand awareness and brand value like never before.  FYI, brand awareness = brand value which positively affects the bottom line.

• Custom printed stand bags for granola packaging provide a stable base so the product can stand on a store shelf versus laying flat.  Here the product pouch can be seen and encourages the consumer to "touch me" and feel how full I am, which does equate to value in a consumer's mind. 
• Custom printed stand up pouches are just that...they are custom printed, meaning that a manufacturer can match their existing logo and colors or use bold new ones to get attention.
• Granola packaging using printed stand up bags have a wide face and back by design which provides considerable room for the custom printing to describe what makes the product so good, unique, yummy, different, etc.
• Granola packaging using printed stand up bags are available using clear or transparent film so the granola can be seen or completely opaque using metalized film or even foil.  Further, custom printed stand up pouches can be made using one side with clear film and one side with metalized film or foil.  Even laminated paper can be used to create printed stand up pouches for granola packaging that looks "natural" and still protects the contents.  Once again, count on your packaging professional for guidance and direction.
• Custom printed stand bags for packaging granola are made from multiple layers of barrier film laminated together which keeps the product fresh and assures that the consumer tastes the flavors and ingredients the manufacturer intended.  Further, these film layers protect the contents from moisture, vapor, UV rays, and even odor if needed.
• Stand up bags can be made with ziplocks and tear notches as well as hang holes and even pour spouts increasing consumer convenience which ultimately helps build brand value.

It's true, there are lots of choices when it comes to types of granola.  However, as far as granola packaging, only custom printed stand up bags can protect the contents and build awareness and value at the same time.

It's often thought that granola packaging was the first to use stand up pouches, also known as stand bags or stand up bags.  While I have no proof of this, personally it is the first product I remember.  Bear Naked blasted onto the scene and soon I noticed not only the granola but interestingly I even noticed the packaging.  While the granola looked delicious, and I can now say with fresh fruit and 1% milk it was delicious, it was the granola packaging that interested me.  Trust me, at the end of the day taste is going to be the deciding factor, but packaging is critcal.

Granula (as it was originally spelled) was invented by Dr. James Caleb Jackson in 1894 for his prominent health spa, known as The Jackson Sanitarium.  A similar cereal was invented by John Harvey Kellogg (that's correct, from Kellogg cereal family) and the name was changed to granola to avoid legal problems.  But I digress.  Back to my consumer shopping and facination with granola packaging.

Here, the product was standing on a store shelf, not lying down flat, and I could actually see the granola.  I could see the time and effort the manufacturers took to make sure the granola fit into the stand up bag and filled the pouch so it stood erect on a store shelf and better yet filled the clear window of the stand bag so the granola was the star of the show.  I could actually see the rolled oats coated with honey and whatever yummy stuff they use that made my mouth water!

I could actually imagine myself grabbing a handful out of the bag for a snack or pouring a bowl for breakfast the next morning.  Yikes...what is happening to me?  It's true, packaging made a difference in my eyes as a consumer way back then.  To a larger extent, stand up pouches make a difference for granola packaging in so many ways.  Stand up bags can:

• *  Help Companies Build Their Brand
• *  Protect Granola and Keep It Fresher For Longer
• *  Save Granola Companies Money Over Other Types of Packaging
• *  Increase Sales

Look no further than coming posts to see each of these bullet points.  Stand up pouches changed granola packaging forever.  I believe using stand up pouches for your granola can change your product's future as well.