Licence to Chill
Tucking into yoghurt is now a lot easier than ever before, thanks to an Auckland industrial design and innovation company. Claire Le Couteur discovers how Inveratek Group Ltd took its squeezable plastic food container from concept to commercialisation.
Visit the chiller in your local supermarket and you’ll find yoghurt and other dairy foods in a new kind of packaging. Its design allows you to drink the viscous contents straight from the container, without needing a spoon. Made from standard polystyrene sheets, the containers are taller than standard yoghurt pots and have vertical bellows on opposite sides, which allow you to squeeze out the last drop of contents in a controlled manner.
This revolution in food packaging is branded CrushPak®. The design can be used for hot- and cold-fill applications in quantities ranging from 20 to 200 grams and for products such as condiments, sauces and pastes. This is especially useful for food service applications such as in cafés or situations where small quantities of food are needed out of the home (like picnics), and where standardised measures are required, for example, a tablespoon of tomato paste.
Inveratek has licensed its product to Fonterra for use in dairy applications in New Zealand for a limited time. The feedback to date from Fonterra is that CrushPak® is selling well ahead of forecast and has surpassed its closest competitor in the market, despite the fact that it is more expensive on the shelf.
This case study is reproduced with permission from e.nz magazine. Subscriptions to e.nz are discounted for Schools and TENZ members.
