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Food packaging requires good taste. A customer wants to know that quality, care, and consideration have been sprinkled into every decision before they put a product in their mouth. That’s why attractive, secure packaging is essential for leaving a good impression. Most brands already know that custom packaging sells products. However, food brands have one more big perception-swaying detail to know about. Custom branded food paper is the secret ingredient for a better experience. Take a look at the eight reasons why food brands have everything to gain by using branded food paper.

1. Going Custom Means Getting the Right Size

An awkward eating experience is the last thing you want to create for a customer. However, trying to make butcher paper that’s the wrong size work with a food item causes slipping, sliding, messes, and a general sense of distraction while eating. This puts customers in a position to focus on the “stress” of eating a product instead of the enjoyment of the flavors and textures that should be wowing them.

Paper that’s the wrong size is also a costly waste. Even just a fraction of an inch of extra paper for each product that goes out can equal thousands of dollars scratched from your bottom line each year. Startups with slim margins can find easy ways to save just by auditing paper sizing.

2. Food Paper Protects Your Product’s Reputation

You can’t control how your food product is handled and stored after it leaves your hands. It’s very easy for customers to store foods in ways that actually diminish flavor and freshness. This can leave them with a self-inflicted negative impression. What’s more, a person who is having a secondhand experience with your food when being hosted by a customer will only taste your food based on what happens to it with suboptimal storage. Custom food paper allows brands to retain more control over the quality of their products once they’re home in a customer’s hands. When brands provide custom paper, they are creating a built-in method for preserving freshness and texture based on brand standards.

3. Branded Food Paper Is Your “Tabletop” Billboard

There’s a second benefit for branding your food paper when it comes to “secondhand” experiences with your product. If you sell a product that can be served at parties, gatherings, and dinners, having branded wrapping creates an instant brand connection for guests who are experiencing your product for the first time. A host will be much more likely to display your product with the paper intact if that paper appears attractive and purposeful.

Yes, there’s a possibility that a guest might take time to ask the host about the brand name of a product they happen to enjoy at a party. However, it’s not guaranteed. It’s also not necessarily guaranteed that a guest will be able to remember the name after the host shares it. Branded paper wrapping takes care of the brand announcement with the added reinforcement of a visible logo.

4. Branded Food Wrapping Is the “Grease Protection” Your Customers Deserve

If you serve hot, greasy foods, one of the biggest risks for customer dissatisfaction is destroyed clothing. Unfortunately, drips happen. However, there’s often a sense of resentment when customers drip grease on coats, clothing, scarves, purses, or accessories. Greasy foods can even bleed from the bag to the car seat if a customer is transporting food home without that all-important paper buffer in place. A simple sheet of food paper is essential for preserving customer perceptions to ensure a second visit.

5. Food Paper Is a Promotional Feature That Will Always Be Seen

Custom food paper can be used to promote seasonal specials, deals, and other menu items. The truth is that it’s hard to get customers to pick up a flyer or menu when they’re rushing through your store or restaurant with the singular goal of getting food. Using branded paper to advertise promotions ensures that your message will be seen. That means you can “kill two birds with one stone” as far as budgeting for promotional printing because your food paper is both functional and informational.

6. Custom Branded Food Paper Can Be Responsible

The biggest benefit of taking control by switching from generic food paper to custom food paper is that you can align your choice with your brand’s commitment to environmental sustainability. This is an opportunity to shop around for high-quality, responsible packaging materials that create the smallest impact on the environment. Eco-friendly food and deli wraps are available in recycled, recyclable, and compostable varieties.

Brands shouldn’t assume that customers aren’t paying attention to the environmental impact of “small details” like food wrapping. Customers are very tuned into the impact that their purchasing choices have on the planet. What’s more, customers are increasingly aligning their loyalty to brands that follow eco-friendly practices. A study released in 2021 on customer perspectives on sustainable paper-based packaging revealed the following:

• Study participants were overwhelmingly aware of the environmental impacts of food packages.
• They were also concerned about the negative impact of unsustainable packages on the environment.
• Study participants often relied on visual information from packaging to assess sustainability.
• Finally, study participants desired a change in the type and amount of materials used in food packaging.

It’s important for brands to remember that customers are ultimately the “end users” when it comes to disposing of the waste created by a product. That means that disposing of food wrappers is ultimately the final interaction that a customer has for forming an impression of a product. Most food brands today don’t use eco-friendly food paper. This creates an opportunity for brands that want to be set apart in the sustainable, eco-friendly, and organic spheres to make the switch. There’s one last benefit to using custom food paper with sustainable qualities. Paper wrapping made from recycled paper often weighs considerably less than other types of food wrapping. As a result, shipping and storage can be more affordable.

7. Custom Food Paper Is More Affordable Than Most Brands Realize

Many brands shy away from custom food paper before they even dive in to investigate because they assume that “custom” means expensive. Unfortunately, this is a missed opportunity for enhancing brand value while also saving money. Costs for custom food paper are often equal to costs of plain, generic wrapping purchased in bulk. In some cases, costs savings happen when brands are able to reduce the amount of excess paper used per unit by getting precise sizing. The bottom line is that it’s worth getting a cost estimate to see where making the swap to custom food paper leaves your brand if you’ve been purchasing unbranded wrap paper in bulk.

8. Custom Food Paper Can Awaken the Appetite

White or beige paper splattered in grease isn’t the most appealing vision in the world. When you switch to custom paper, there’s an opportunity to use colors in your messaging and graphics that actually prompt the appetite. As a result, your food product is instantly more appetizing! You can also use colors that create specific impressions about the quality of the food inside. Here’s a look at how colors impact human appetite:

• Red: Feelings of hunger, cravings and impulsiveness.
• Yellow: Feelings of comfort.
• Green: Impressions of something being natural, healthy and organic.
• Orange: Feelings of being comforted and welcomed accompanied by mental stimulation that revs up hunger cues.

It’s also helpful to know which colors to keep off food paper if you want to drum up appetites. While black lettering is known for creating an aura of prestige and exclusiveness, the color notoriously kills hunger cues. Brown, gray, and purple are also notoriously unappetizing. This is why you almost never see these colors used by popular food brands and restaurant chains.

Final Thoughts: Custom Food Paper Builds Trust, Recognition and Value

Customers want to know that the food product they’re getting has been crafted with expertise, care, and quality. Using unbranded, generic food wrapping chips away at the professional, polished impression that a newer brand may be trying to establish. It can create doubts about quality control on a subconscious level for customers. By contrast, custom paper sends the message that every detail has been carefully curated for an amazing customer experience. Are you ready to call a wrap on using bland paper that brings nothing to the table for your brand? Mid-Atlantic Packaging is here to help you discover affordable, functional custom food paper wrapping to enhance your brand experience. Request a free custom packaging quote from us in minutes!