Appearing on store shelves in April, the inverted squeezable bottle is fitted with a closure wide enough to allow consumers to store the container with the dispensing end down, thus improving product flow and minimizing trapped product. The inverted container is a first for the category, Van den Bergh claims. "The package was engineered to the product," says Randy Andonian, director of purchasing, "particularly with respect to the resin blend in the bottle and the way it's shaped." No product reformulation was necessary, he adds. The bottle, supplied by Continental Plastic Container (Norwalk, CT), is extrusion blown into a slight convex profile using a blend of resins-which the packager declines to identify-to give it the right degree of squeezability. The custom closure is sourced through Anchor Hocking Packaging (Cincinnati, OH) and is injection-molded of polypropylene by sister company Zeller Plastik (Libertyville, IL). It's a flip-top lid with wide-swinging hinge that keeps the lid well away from the orifice during use. The 28/400 closure contains an extra-wide 2" outer dia for bottle stability.
