The 7-oz mixes debuted last October in stand-up, resealable pouches having a six-month shelf life.
"This package format is groundbreaking for us in that it's our first foray into the stand-up pouch," Dave Karpick tells Packaging World. Karpick is the senior brand manager for Sunshine Crackers, a group of trademarked brands under the Keebler umbrella. "As far as we know there's only one other competitor selling snack mix in a stand-up pouch."
The colorful pouch graphics speak for themselves. Printpack (Atlanta, GA) supplies the 4.25-mil film. According to Steve Carter, Keebler's manager of package development, the adhesive lamination includes 48-ga polyester reverse-printed by gravure in seven or eight colors/white low-density polyethylene/metallized polyester/LDPE/LDPE sealant. Contract packager Roskam Baking (Grand Rapids, MI) fills bags on horizontal form/fill/seal equipment from Klockner Bartelt (Sarasota, FL), applying an LDPE zipper from Presto Products (Appleton, WI).
Grocers and mass merchandisers can display the Cheeze-It snack mixes, which have a suggested retail price of $1.99, standing on-shelf or hanging from peg holes. Karpick says an important differentiation is that the new snacks are sold in the snack aisle, rather than the more traditional cracker section where Cheeze-It crackers have been sold since 1921. "The snack aisle represents an opportunity for us to address new consumers," he says.
