Apple sauce in a bowl

When National Fruit Product Co., Winchester, VA, launched a 16-oz White House Quick & Easy apple sauce in February, it traded in the traditional multiserve apple sauce glass jars for a new barrier bowl thermoformed of polypropylene and ethylene vinyl alcohol.

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“In a busy household, the traditional apple sauce container is not as convenient as consumers would like,” says Bob Roberts, National Fruit’s director of marketing. “It can be difficult to open, there is a concern for shattering, and consumers would need to pour it into a bowl for serving. This plastic bowl is resealable and looks good enough to be placed right on the dinner table.”

The 4 5/8" x 4" x 2 11/16" bowl, supplied by Printpack’s Rampart Division (Williamsburg, VA), was developed to meet those needs. A 3-mil foil laminate lidstock, printed in four colors, from Winpak (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) is heat-sealed to the bowl and is secured by a yellow low-density polyethylene lid from Tech II (Springfield, OH) that graphically matches the lidstock. The bowl is wrapped in a glued, 16-pt. SBS sleeve, offset-printed in four colors. National Fruit declines to identify the sleeve supplier.

According to Roberts, National Fruit invested in new filling equipment, but again would not reveal vendors. The apple sauce is available in four flavors for $1.19 to $1.29. “The level of acceptance and consumer activity is high,” Roberts tells Packworld.com. “We have distribution that exceeded what we anticipated.”

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