ProAmpac was the packaging partner behind the design and production of a hot box for Flamin’ Hot chicken wings that Circle K convenience stores launched this summer in partnership with PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay.
It’s just one example of growing demand in North America and Europe for hot-hold solutions, said Adam Grose, executive vice president at ProAmpac, as prepared food sales rise at convenience and grocery stores.
ProAmpac spent several months developing the fiber-based container to meet the challenges of grab-and-go hot food, ensuring grease resistance, heat retention and that it could maintain food moisture. And the packaging supplier developed the box around Circle K’s new wings recipe.
“They had very strict and defined targets they wanted on appearance and performance of the packaging relative to their food recipes,” said Grose.
Food safety requirements are also an essential factor. Convenience stores follow FDA guidance for maintaining hot food temperatures and for allowable hold time.
“In this case, it’s chicken, and we had to demonstrate that the food in the hot cabinet maintained a minimum level of temperature without degrading the quality of the protein,” Grose said. “You don’t want it to dry out, but you want it to maintain its crispiness.”
The design team kept in mind the various technologies now used for heating grab-and-go food. While traditional hot plates have been around for a long time, emerging equipment includes convection cabinets that surround the food with heat.
“That's where the packaging comes into play, because there’s a microclimate around that food,” Grose said. “Hot cabinets have introduced a whole different challenge to packaging that we're addressing and we're continuing to learn.”
The box does not have intentionally added PFAS. The food-grade fiber container has a polypropylene liner. The material choice came back to temperature requirements, Grose explained, as PP performs well in hot-hold packs. The company also had to ensure that the film for the transparent window maintained performance in hot cabinets.
ProAmpac’s fog-resistant coatings help to prevent the transparent window from fogging in the warmth. Allowing consumers to clearly see the chicken wings through the package is important for product marketing, Grose said. A waterfall window also provides clear viewing from two sides of the box instead of just the standard top window.
“People buy with their eyes,” Grose said. “If the consumer sees the food, you're more likely to sell the food. And that was a design criteria that was defined by the team at Circle K right up front.”
This factor is especially relevant to impulse purchases and grab-and-go purchases, he said. The visibility consideration isn’t as important in other areas of food service, such as quick-service restaurants, where consumers are buying off a menu.
Convenience stores and grocers are experiencing surging consumer demand for prepared foods, which is driving business for related packaging innovations.
Circle K’s parent company, Alimentation Couche-Tard, has charted five consecutive quarters of same-store merchandise sales growth, largely driven by momentum with prepared foods. From the time of the Flamin’ Hot Wings launch in July through early September, that new product sold at a rate of more than 40,000 units per week, said CEO Alex Miller during a recent earnings call.
At ProAmpac, demand for hot-hold solutions is outpacing demand for chilled, prepared food solutions.
“If you’re in hot hold today, or thinking about pursuing a hot-cabinet food strategy, packaging is very important to your food's performance,” Grose said, advising customers to engage packaging suppliers early in the process.
