Upscale glass jars reflect family pride

DelGrosso Foods, Tipton, PA, a third-generation, family-owned producer of Italian sauces, processes and packages its products for distribution throughout a large portion of the U.S. and internationally. Gift boxes of the jarred sauces also are available on-line.

In Summer 2006, with the goal of penetrating more gourmet-type supermarkets and specialty food stores, the company developed its new ultra-premium line of natural sauces for marketing under the "La Famiglia DelGrosso" brand name. Based on the memories and personalities of individual family members, the spaghetti, pizza, salsa, and Sloppy Joe sauce line includes 8 colorfully named flavors:

Uncle Fred's Fireworks Sauce, Uncle Bo's Roasted Red Pepper Tour, Aunt Mary Ann's Sunday Marinara, Chef John's Tomato Basil Masterpiece, Aunt Cindy's Sun-Dried Tomato Sonata, Aunt Linda's Arrabbiata a Memories, Uncle Joe's Vodka Celebration, and Uncle Jim's Late Night Puttanesca.

To launch the line, DelGrosso Foods wanted distinctive, upscale packaging that reflects the high quality and family pride vested in these products. Michael DelGrosso, director of sales and marketing, says, "As our first new major product introduction in several years, it was essential for the packaging to convey the brand's core characteristics, specifically its authenticity, tradition, and premium quality."

The 26-oz glass jars are supplied by Saint Gobain, and the plastisol-lined, 70-mm, metal twist closures with vacuum buttons are supplied by Crown Closures Americas, a business unit of Crown Holdings, Inc.. The metallized, spot-embossed paper labels are offset-printed in 8 colors by Gamse Lithography Co., Inc..

Inspired retro look

Michael DelGrosso says, "The container has a retro look inspired by the home canning jars used to package our first batches of sauce. That nostalgia needed to carry over to the closure as well. Crown worked closely with us on the graphic design for the closures to make sure we reached that goal."

The elegant black twist-off closures are printed with eye-catching, gold-hued lettering. The depressed vacuum button serves as a signal that the oxygen barrier has not been broken and the product shelf life (estimated two years) and nutritive values have not been compromised. After filling the jars with hot-fill equipment from Elmar Industries, DelGrosso uses Crown's Series 4SS straight-line vacuum capping machinery to apply the closures. Capping speeds are approximately 400 jars/minute, and the easy-to-operate equipment allows for fast changeovers and simple maintenance, minimizing downtime.

Joel DelGrosso, vp, notes, "While we opted for a twist closure for the La Famiglia DelGrosso product line, Crown offers a wide range of closure types and sizes, which places no limits on new package designs for DelGrosso Foods. That flexibility, combined with fast delivery time, excellent capping equipment, and outstanding technical support, made choosing Crown as our sole supplier a sound business decision."

Packaging for the new La Famiglia DelGrosso sauces was a recipient of a 2007 Clear Choice Award, a program sponsored by the Glass Packaging Institute to recognize new products that exhibit excellence and innovation in glass packaging design.
-Judy Rice