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Domino sweetens sugar packaging

Sugar is the latest product to turn to a handled high-density polyethylene container.

Pw 11714 Domino

Introduced in six test markets beginning in February, Domino Sugar in a 4-lb canister represents “a first in the sugar industry,” according to Yonkers, NY-based Domino Foods, Inc.

What makes the canister so unusual in this instance is that sugar “is a large-volume, low-profit commodity item,” notes Kevin McElvaney, the company’s marketing manager. Consumer pressure led Domino to the canister as an alternative—not replacement—for its 4- and 5-lb bags.

“It’s quite a drastic packaging change for sugar,” he admits, “but consumers have been asking us for years why can’t we do something about the packaging for sugar. I would get e-mails and phone calls saying we can put men on the moon, but you sugar manufacturers can’t find a better way to package sugar.”

Domino considered lay-flat and stand-up zippered pouches, and gable-top cartons as alternatives to paper bags, “but they can’t be stacked three-, four- or five-high like bags or boxes, which fit like puzzle pieces on the shelf and fill all the space from bottom to top with no wasted air. These other alternatives end up on a second, third, or fourth shelf,” McElvaney says, forcing retailers to have to restock them frequently, adding labor costs.

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