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Sleeve-labeled milk bottle makes a 'Happy Meal' for McDonald's

McDonald’s doubled its milk sales with last summer’s rollout of 8-oz milks in HDPE bottles. The switch from gable-top cartons prompted significant changes at participating dairies.

Pw 11665 Mc Ds Milk Jug Choco

Big packaging changes continue in the single-serve milk category, particularly with McDonald’s switch last summer to 8-oz high-density polyethylene bottles from paperboard gable-top cartons.

Last June, McDonald’s celebrated the 25th anniversary of its Happy Meals by introducing Happy Meal Choices, aimed at offering more healthful meal choices. These included Apple Dippers apple slices as an option to fries (see packworld.com/go/c131), and white and chocolate milk as alternatives to carbonated soft drinks.

The 8-oz HDPE bottles for 1% low-fat white or chocolate milks replaced 8-oz gable-tops that the Oak Brook, IL-based restaurants had sold since 1981. The milk containers are available at more than 13귔 U.S. restaurants. They can be purchased separately or as part of the Happy Meal.

The change, says Lisa Frick, McDonald’s director of U.S. menu management, “has improved customer satisfaction and increased sales. Since introducing the milk bottles, milk sales have more than doubled.” On its Happy Meal Web site, McDonald’s anticipates selling 208 million milk jugs annually.

Synergy also played a role. McDonald’s decision to offer healthful choices came about at the same time that fast foods were receiving negative media attention for their alleged role in obesity in young people.

McDonald’s introduction of the milk bottles followed limited market testing showing that boys did not like to drink out of straws, so a 38-mm widemouth, chug-a-lug bottle became the container of choice. McDonald’s initially sought dairies that could fill the milks at ultra-high temperatures. Its paperboard cartons were ultra high-temperature-packed and yielded a shelf life of up to 30 to 60 days.

The firm determined that the investment in UHT equipment would be cost-prohibitive for dairies, so McDonald’s opted for fresh milk with a 21-day shelf life with most dairies coding the bottle caps with a 15-day “use-thru” date. The exception was a Cumberland, NJ, dairy that had UHT equipment. Its packs are good for 35 days, though the packaging is said to be virtually the same as that of other dairies. Dairies may use either white or unpigmented bottles.

Working with packaging suppliers

Like its food products, McDonald’s strives for consistent quality in packaging. That’s one of the reasons the firm is loyal to its suppliers. And with its volumes, McDonald’s suppliers understandably return that loyalty. Specific volumes were not available, but one of the nine dairies that supplies the chain, a National Dairy Holdings’ plant in Rochester, MN, produces between 60 and 80 million bottles per year.

McDonald’s switch to the bottles proved especially challenging since most of the dairies that had supplied milk in the gable-top cartons weren’t equipped to fill the plastic bottles. To accommodate McDonald’s switch, many of these dairy facilities were renovated or expanded.

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