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With continuous innovation in the cheese market and a growing range of products and consumer demands, finding the right packaging solution for your product is crucial to growing your brand. From ensuring freshness to standing out on store shelves, packaging plays a vital role in maintaining the quality and appeal of cheese products.
However, packaging cheese can pose unique challenges. Susceptible to mold and spoilage and sensitive to oxygen and moisture, cheese products require highly functional packaging — while consumers also demand convenience and sustainability. With these often competing priorities, it can be difficult to design cheese packaging that balances function with other features. Here are three features you’ll want to prioritize if you want packaging to meet consumer needs and cultivate loyalty.
🧀 1. Ensuring Freshness with Cheese Packaging
The cheese industry (and cheese packaging) has come a long way, particularly over the last two decades. While previous packaging solutions focused on chunk and shredded cheese, the evolution of cheese products to include sliced, cubed, snack products and spreads have spearheaded innovation in the packaging space.
While visual design and convenience features are among those innovations, freshness and shelf quality remain top priority. Cheese is highly prone to mold or spoilage, even with the smallest packaging design flaw. For shredded or sliced products, shelf quality is even more of a consideration, as consumers expect packaging to preserve freshness over multiple uses. High-quality oxygen barriers, resealable closures and solutions such as peelable and resealable packaging can all help ensure freshness and preserve product integrity.
🧀 2. Prioritizing the Consumer Experience
In addition to freshness and shelf quality, the consumer experience is paramount. While freshness is one of consumers’ main expectations, you’ll also want to consider features that create an experience while reinforcing product quality and your brand. The following guidelines can inform your packaging decisions when considering the consumer experience:
- Guide consumers’ choices. Use packaging design, visuals and functional features to help consumers identify which product fits their needs — or spark their interest in products they didn’t know about.
- Differentiate “everyday” and premium products. Packaging for everyday options, for example, should highlight consistency and value through clear branding and practical features, such as resealability. Packaging for premium products should emphasize luxury with tactile finishes and refined details to signal quality and exceptionality.
- Align packaging with your brand. Ensure packaging fits your brand messaging — or elevates it. Packaging is the perfect way to illustrate your brand values or story. For example, if you have a small, specialty brand, you can use high-quality labels and visual design to highlight your product’s unique features or story. If your brand values sustainability, you could choose packaging solutions with recyclable features or materials made with PCR content.
🧀 3. Don’t Forget About Sustainable Cheese Packaging Solutions
Brands across sectors are facing pressure to move to more sustainable packaging, and cheese and dairy products are no exception. Since freshness and shelf quality are such major factors for cheese products, it’s crucial to balance sustainability with practicality.
Packaging solutions that incorporate PCR content can provide both sustainability and function. These solutions incorporate up to 40% recycled materials and reduce reliance on virgin plastics, signaling your commitment to reducing plastic use and contributing to the circular economy.
Grow Your Cheese Brand with Belmark
Regardless of your cheese product, Belmark can guide you toward a solution that not only protects your product, but wins over consumers. With over two decades of experience providing innovative, high-quality cheese packaging, Belmark is a trusted packaging provider for manufacturers of all sizes. Whether you’re looking for chunk, sliced, or shredded cheese packaging, we’re here to provide you with the expertise you need to find the right packaging for your product and consumer.
Ready to take your cheese packaging to the next level? Contact Belmark today to learn more about how our customizable solutions can meet your unique needs.
