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France embraces the 'box'

Technically speaking, it’s not a box at all, at least not in the packaging parlance of North America. Call it what you will, French consumers are nuts about this packaging concept.

PAPER/PLASTIC COMBO. Product is held in the PP thermoform, and the thermoform goes into a brightly decorated paperboard.
PAPER/PLASTIC COMBO. Product is held in the PP thermoform, and the thermoform goes into a brightly decorated paperboard.

When it comes to ready meals packaging, France is in the grips of a convenience craze. A “box” concept has taken off, and among the newest entries into this category is the Choucroute Box from French food manufacturer Stoeffler. Contents are traditional sauerkraut with cabbage, sausage, bacon, and potatoes. But everything is cut into small pieces so that the consumer doesn’t need a knife or a surface on which to cut. An added convenience bonus is the fork included in the package, which makes the dish ready to eat once it’s been microwaved.

“There’s a huge market in France for these boxes,” says Isabelle Angot, product manager at Stoeffler. The box concept, she explains, goes beyond the ready meals that have grown increasingly popular over the past 10 years or so. What makes the box so different is that it’s shaped differently than the oh-so-familiar tray that most ready meals are in.

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