Innovations dans les emballages de plats à emporter

Depuis le jour où le Fish-and-chips était enveloppé dans des vieux journaux et que la nourriture chinoise était conditionnée dans un plateau plastique peu attrayantes, beaucoup de choses ont changé.

Une récente étude de marché réalisée par Technomic a conclu que les consommateurs s'approvisionnent  en repas préparés à partir d'un large éventail de restaurants au détail, au détriment des restaurants traditionnels.

Les consommateurs choisissent de plus les plats à emporter comme une option de la restauration, plus pratique et souvent moins cher. L'enquête a révélé que 57% des consommateurs prennent désormais cette option au moins une fois par semaine, comparativement à seulement 49% des consommateurs interrogés il ya trois ans.

Pour maintenir leurs ventes, de nombreux restaurants traditionnels se tournent vers le secteur à emporter pour des nouvelles sources de revenus. Ces quasi-repas gastronomiques aident à compenser les ventes en baisse des restaurants. L’emballage à un rôle essentiel dans ce secteur puisqu’il doit transmettre les idées de qualité et de gastronomie .

Je ne parle pas ici de l'emballage pour la malbouffe dans les fast-food, ni des repas (industriellement) préparés à mettre dans un micro-ondes. Je tiens à souligner les possibilités d'emballage pour les repas gourmets offerts par les épiceries fines et les restaurants.

Le Sushi  danois

Le Sushi, fameux plat japonais de poisson frais, ne doit pas seulement être bon, mais doit être beaucoup plus. Il doit faire appel aussi bien à l'œil qu'au palais. Il doit être frais, goûtu mais avant tout donner envie. L’emballage est donc prépondérant.

"Sticks 'n' Sushi", un restaurant à Copenhague, emballe ses plats dans les plateaux noirs décoratifs, empilables dans un paquet à emporter, fait de carton blanc de haute qualité (verso blanc couché, imprimé en noir)

Les découpes en forme de poisson sur la poignée et  les cotés sont en harmonie avec le produit. Le rainage sur le côté de la boîte permet d’insérer et retirer le plateau de sushis facilement. L'intérieur noir de l'emballage et du plateau  permettent de faire ressortir les sushis colorés.

Indonésie – La boite à double tiroir

Nous restons avec la cuisine japonaise, mais maintenant en Indonésie. Dans ce pays, les plats à emporter sont généralement conditionnés dans des emballages à base de polystyrène.

PT. Bentoel Prima a créé une boîte à double tiroir, plus ou moins dans le même style que l'emballage sushi danois. Il s'agit d'un emballage à base de papier fabriqué à partir de carton imprimé ivoire de 260 gr/m2 et vernis à base d'eau.

Singapour - La Boîte « boulette de riz »

La boîte est conçue pour ressembler à une boulette de riz. L'emballage inculque la valeur des traditions de conservation. La conception graphique de la boîte montre  des activités relatives aux fêtes traditionnelles, comme la course de bateau-dragon et la fabrication de boulettes de riz. La boîte est en mesure d'emballer six boulettes .

Ce produit est fabriqué avec du carton sulfate non blanchi. L'impression se fait sur la surface non revêtue pour donner la boîte un regard nostalgique. La palette de couleurs utilisée a également été limitée au noir accentuer ce regard. Le paquet est attaché juste avec une ficelle, comme une boulette de riz.

Comme l'emballage n'est pas enfermé pleinement, il permet un échange d'air qui est important pour maintenir la fraîcheur de la boulette de riz. La surface intérieure de la boîte est laminé avec une couche de film OPP pour empêcher l'infiltration de l'huile de la boulette de riz dans le carton, permettant ainsi à l'emballage afin de maintenir un aspect propre.

Philippines -  la boite durable inspirée de l’origami

En utilisant une seule pièce de carton, comme la conception d'origami simple, l’emballage ressemble à un bourgeon  qui se mue en fleur.

Le matériau utilisé est le papier, sans colle ou plastifiants, ce qui rend l’emballage biodégradable et plus facile à recycler.

Le fabricant va encore plus loin en encourageant vivement leurs clients à retourner les emballages contre un repas gratuit. L'emballage retourné est  alors envoyé vers les canaux appropriés de recyclage. De cette façon, le fabricant a créé non seulement une sensibilisation des consommateurs sur les questions de durabilité et le recyclabilité, mais aussi il a permis de cultiver une habitude de consommation responsable.

  

Innovations in Food Take-Out Packaging

Since the days of the fish-and-chips wrapped in old newspapers and the Chinese food scooped into unappealing plastic trays, quite some has change.

Traditionally supermarkets and convenience stores have expanded their foodservice platform and built upon consumer desire for convenient and quality ready-to-eat meals. But a recent market survey conducted by Technomic concluded that consumers are sourcing prepared meals from a wider range of retail foodservice operations than they were two years ago, many times at the expense of restaurants. Eating-out is transformed into taking-out.

Consumers increasingly choose take-out as a faster, more convenient and often less expensive foodservice option. The survey by Technomic revealed that 57% of consumers now order take-out at least once a week, compared to just 49% of consumers polled just three years ago.

To keep sales afloat, many restaurants turned to the take-out sector for new revenue streams. An influx of take-home meals from both chain and independent restaurant brands has hit the market place. These value-driven, quasi gourmet-meals help offset lagging restaurant sales, but, of course, all under one condition. The ‘gourmet-meal’ has to be packed in a packaging at a same level as the gourmet-meal itself.

I am not talking here about the packaging for junk-food from the fast-food restaurants, nor the (industrially) prepared meals to put into a microwave. I want to highlight the possibilities of packaging for hand-crafted take-away gourmet-meals offered by delicatessen shops and restaurants, which as an alternative to eating-out, supply a quality meal to take home and enjoy.

As said the era of food wrapped in old newspapers and scooped into cheap plastic trays doesn’t fit in this market segment. Quality and gourmet are the keywords and consequently the packaging has to transmit these keywords. At the other hand the junk-food or fast-food sector has long year experience with packaging its products for take-out, unattractive as the packaging might be.

Sushi with Danish design

Sushi, the famous Japanese dish from decorative fresh fish products, has not only to be superb of taste, but it has to be much more. It has to appeal as much to the eye as to the palate. It has to be fresh, perfect of taste and please the eye. In other words the packaging complements the perfection.

“Sticks ‘n’ Sushi”, a restaurant in Copenhagen, packs its dishes in decorative black trays, stackable in the take-away package made from high quality white paperboard. The design is from Pais Design and the material is converted by Jens Johanson A/S both in Denmark.

The paperboard material is Frövi White from Korsnäs with a coated white reverse side. As the total surface of the reverse side is printed in black the white coating of the paperboard gives it even a deeper black. The packaging comes in four dimensions. The largest one is made from 410 gr/m2 and can handle a weight up till 3 kg.

The fish cut-outs on the handle and stackability of the thermoformed trays are in harmonious symbiosis with the product. The extra creasing in the side of the box makes it easy to insert and remove the tray of sushi. The black interior of the packaging as well as the black tray are perfectly showing off the colourful sushi.

Indonesia – Double-Drawer Box

We stay with the Japanese kitchen, but now in Indonesia. In Indonesia, (fast-food) take-out Japanese dishes generally are packed in Styrofoam-based packaging. Like Chinese take-out food every box or tray holds one selection of the Japanese meal, such as sushi, bento, sukiyaki, maki, etc.

PT. Bentoel Prima created a Double-Drawer box, more or less in the same style as the Danish sushi packaging. It is a paper-based packaging made from printed ivory paperboard of 260 gr/m2 and water based varnished.

Singapore – Rice Dumpling Box

The box is designed to resemble a rice dumpling, complete with a string. At the same time, its design also brings back memories as the packaging is printed on uncoated kraft simulating paper bags that were used commonly in the seventies and eighties. In addition the packaging also instils the value of conserving traditions. The graphics design of the box shows activities relating to the festival such as dragon boat racing and the making of rice dumplings. The box is able to pack six small rice dumplings.

This product is made with solid unbleached sulphate paperboard. The printing is done on the uncoated kraft surface to give the box a nostalgic look, the colour scheme used had also been limited to black as the dominating colour to simulate the nostalgic look of paper bags. The package is fastened with a string just like a rice dumpling, the string also serves as a handle.

By releasing the string and stretching the side of the packaging, its content can be accessed freely. As the packaging is not enclosed fully, it allows air exchange which is important to maintain freshness of the rice dumpling. The inner surface of the box is laminated with a layer of OPP film to prevent the seepage of oil from the rice dumpling into the board thereby allowing the packaging to maintain a clean look.

Philippines – Sustainable Origami-Inspired Food Box

Often a proper prepared take-out meal has a side-dish. Dump it in an unattractive plastic tray or do it as the Filipinos do. You don’t believe this story, but it’s true.

In August 2011, Guactruckpositioned its design-focused mobile food truck in Manila serving Mexican inspired Filipino rice dishes. Junk-food? The owners wanted the packaging design to focus on creativity and aesthetics, as well as highlight the environmental aspect commonly associated with packaging. Not quite what you expect from the fast-food sector.

They came up with a food packaging that incorporates sustainability in three ways.

Using only one piece of paperboard, the simple origami inspired design resembles a bud blossoming into a flower.

The material they used is paper, no glue or plastic, making it biodegradable and easier to recycle.

And thirdly they believed that they are responsible for everything that comes out of their truck, may it be waste, food or packaging. Therefore, they highly encourage their customers to return the packaging with the incentive of obtaining a free meal in exchange for ten returned packages. The returned packaging will then be sent to the proper channels for recycling. This way, they created not only awareness on the issue of sustainable packaging and recycling, but also cultivated a habit of conscious and conscientious consumerism.

Thanks to Anton M. Steeman who's the creator of this article (bestinpackaging)