Packaging update helps boost sales 75% - Curwood Inc.'s new packaging design for Carianni Sausage Co.'s salami products

Prepared Foods, Feb, 1996 by Steve Berne

PROBLEM For Cariani Sausage Co., Hayward, Calif., entering the retail market with a 12-oz. sliced salami was looked at as a logical next step. Cariani already was in the wholesale, food service and distributor markets. However, sales did not meet expectations, and one suspected cause was the product packaging's similarity to the company's other marketed products: plain, clear film with a manually applied printed label.

What the package needed was a distinct look, with distinct, consumer-appealing features, according to Allen Shiroma, vice president at Cariani.

"We needed to create strong brand recognition and appeal," says Shiroma. "We needed help, and we needed it fast."

SOLUTION Cariani turned to Curwood Inc. for assistance in designing a new flexo-printed barrier film suitable for a Multivac gas-flushed vacuum pack system. "In addition we were looking to add convenience to the package, like an easy open feature," says Shiroma.

The company wanted a complete redesign to upgrade the product's shelf appeal, retaining only the company's traditional Golden Gate Bridge logo in red, white and green.

Within a two-week period, Curwood's graphic department took the logo and created several different computer-generated design concepts, eliminating the need to rely on an independent art agency. "We chose one that we hoped would create the strongest brand recognition," notes Shiroma.

The packages are produced on a horizontal Multivac 5200 FFS machine. Its forming structure is a fully coextruded nylon/EVOH/ Surlyn [R] that provides high barrier and quality forming. The non-forming film is a 48-gauge PVDC (ployvinylidene chloride)-coated polyester top film which is flexo-printed in five colors, then adhesive laminated to a three-layer EZ peel [TM] Surlyn coextrusion.

Curwood's proprietary EZ peel opening system allows for a wide heat sealing window ([+ or -] 30 [degree] C). The salami feeds into the packaging machine, where it is gas flushed and heat sealed on all four sides of the package.

RESULTS "Retail sales went up almost immediately and the response prompted us to adopt the format for three other sliced salami products, including a wine flavored Italian dry salami with provolone cheese," Shiroma reports. Most recently, Cariani introduced a dry wine flavored salami formulated with jalapeno and cheese in the same packaging format with overwhelming results, according to the company.

Cariani produces 30 different salami products with an annual volume of about 3 million pounds per year. More than half of the company's salami is exported. With its recent quadrupling of capacity, the company is extending its U.S. retail distribution beyond its major market area in the West. Cariani expects to extend distribution to 25 additional states by the end of this year.

Cariani's new packaging has already proved it will substantially help establish name recognition and increase market share in the expanding national marketplace. Since introducing the new packaging, the company's domestic retail sales alone have increased by 75%.