Koch Foods, Park Ridge, IL, has introduced a new line of frozen chicken breast chunks under Aldi’s Kirkwood brand with innovative “spinning” packaging. The new Koch Foods package, partnering withHuhtamaki, Inc.incorporates an innovative oriented polypropylene (OPP) label, supplied byMPI Label Systems, that is placed over a specially designed round-shaped paperboard Huhtamaki Ultrakan® container. 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. In addition to the extra space, David Mehlman, Koch Foods director of retail marketing, 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,” he says, noting that the new Kirkwood brand products are currently found in freezer bunkers at Aldi, Mehlman indicated the package merchandises really well in an upright freezer. “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.
“This also helps highlight our new product offerings as shoppers walk the aisles…The new package gives our products a way to stand out from the rest, and to open shoppers’ eyes and minds to trialing something else.”
In recent weeks, four Kirkwood recipes from Koch - Asian Style Zyng, Buffalo (medium and spicy), and Garlic Parmesan - have arrived in freezer cases at more than 1,100 Aldi outlets nationwide.
Containers formed in-house at Koch
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. This dramatically reduces transportation costs, which will give support to the growing concerns of rising fuel prices, as well as on-site warehousing requirements, all contributing to making a much smaller carbon footprint.
Ron Leskiw, who heads Koch’s product development/sales for retail indicated the Huhtamaki package and in-plant system is a key contributor to the best news of all. “The entire package - container and spin label - costs no more than traditional plastic bags.”
