Food and drink transit packaging answers to two customers: the retailer's depot, which has written requirements, and the shopper, who sees it on a shelf. Add chilled handling, liquid weight and shelf life, and the constraints are tighter than almost any other sector.
- Two customers, one pack
- The retailer specification is the starting document
- Chilled, frozen and the problem with board
- Liquids, weight and stacking
- Shelf life is a packaging variable
- Direct-to-consumer food is a separate problem
- What to send us
- A first step for food and drink producers
- The short version
- Frequently asked questions
Two customers, one pack
A retail case has to arrive square on a pallet configured the way the depot handles, be labelled where their scanners expect, and open in one movement so a colleague can merchandise it. It then has to look deliberate on a shelf. Those requirements pull in different directions and the compromise has to be made consciously.
The usual resolution is to specify the outer for the journey and put presentation into an inner, a tray or a printed face that is not carrying load. A case that is both structural and beautiful is usually neither.
The retailer specification is the starting document
Retailer packaging specifications are explicit and non-negotiable: case dimensions, pallet configuration and overhang, barcode type and placement, date-code position, board requirements. Designing a pack and then reading the specification is an expensive sequence that happens constantly.
| Element | Why it is fixed |
|---|---|
| Case dimensions | Depot automation and shelf modularity |
| Pallet configuration | Depot handling and vehicle fill |
| Barcode type and placement | Scanner position in their process |
| Date code position | Rotation and compliance checks |
| Board specification | Stack strength through their network |
| Shelf ready format | Merchandising time in store |
What a retailer specification typically fixes.
Chilled, frozen and the problem with board
Corrugated board loses a significant proportion of its strength when damp, and chilled handling is damp by definition. A grade that performs perfectly in a dry warehouse can fail in a cold store, and the failure looks like a packaging fault when it is actually a specification that never accounted for the conditions.
Adhesives are affected too - a tape that holds at ambient can let go in a chill, which is why sealing specifications should state the temperature the case will see. See Packing Tape: Grades, Widths and When Each Works.
Liquids, weight and stacking
- Weight concentrates low in a case of liquids, which feels stable and does not make it stackable.
- The bottom layer still carries everything above it, so compression performance matters more than the low centre of gravity suggests.
- Dividers or fitted inserts stop unit-to-unit impact, which is where glass fails.
- A board base spreads the load onto the pallet rather than into the bottom case corners.
- Column stacking carries considerably more than interlocking - see Corner Boards, Edge Protection and Pallet Stability.
Shelf life is a packaging variable
Packaging decisions interact with shelf life in ways that are easy to miss. Insulation that slows chilling costs product life; a pack that adds a day to the journey costs the same; ventilation that helps fresh produce may be irrelevant to a dry good and essential to a bakery line.
That makes the specification a conversation with production rather than only with despatch, which is unusual - in most sectors packaging can be specified entirely downstream of the product.
Direct-to-consumer food is a separate problem
Selling food directly introduces a pack that must hold temperature through a courier network nobody controls, and then be disposable by a household. Insulated liners work to their specification when filled as tested - an under-filled insulated box performs nothing like a full one.
Single-material packs matter more here than in retail supply, because the customer is the one separating it. See sustainable packaging and ecommerce packaging.
What to send us
The retailer specification if there is one, the product and its format, whether the route is ambient, chilled or frozen, your case and pallet configuration, and anything arriving damaged or rejected. Rejections at a depot are particularly informative because the reason is usually stated.
See retail packaging for shelf ready and retail formats, and packaging supplies for the wider range.
A first step for food and drink producers
Most of the available improvement in this sector is found in two documents and one physical check.
- The retailer specification, read line by line against what you actually send.
- Any rejection notices, which state their reason and are therefore unusually direct evidence.
- A case from the cold store, handled as it would be in the depot - board that performs dry can behave very differently damp.
- The perforation on your shelf ready cases, tested by hand rather than approved on a drawing.
- Your pallet configuration against overhang, which causes more crushing than board grade does - see Corner Boards, Edge Protection and Pallet Stability.
The short version
- The pack answers to a depot and to a shopper, and the compromise must be deliberate.
- The retailer specification is the starting document, not something to reconcile later.
- Board loses strength when damp, so chilled routes need their own specification.
- Liquid weight low in a case does not make the case stackable.
- Direct-to-consumer food is a separate specification with its own disposal requirement.
Frequently asked questions
Do you supply food-contact packaging?
We specify and supply the transit and retail packaging around food products - cases, trays, outers, dividers and pallet consumables. Where a material is in direct contact with food, that requirement has to be stated up front so the specification is written to it.
Why do our cases fail in the cold store?
Corrugated board loses strength when damp, and chilled handling is damp. A grade specified for a dry warehouse can underperform significantly in a chill, and the adhesive on the tape may be affected too.
What is shelf ready packaging?
A case designed to be opened and put straight onto a shelf as a tray. Whether it works comes down to the perforation - a clean tear leaves a tidy tray, a ragged one gets unpacked by hand. See retail packaging.
Can one specification cover ambient and chilled?
It can, and it is usually worth checking whether it should. A grade that handles a cold store is doing work the ambient line does not need and paying for it on every case.
How should bottles and jars be packed?
With dividers or fitted inserts so units cannot contact each other, a board base to spread load onto the pallet, and a controlled stack height. Impact between units is where glass fails.