Choosing packaging

If the food’s good enough you could say that the packaging shouldn’t matter. Perhaps. However, whether it’s underwear from the supermarket or take-away hamburgers, people are used to and expect quite a sophisticated level of packaging nowadays.

By ‘packaging’ I am talking about:

• film-fronted paper bags for sandwiches which must be the right size for the range of sandwiches you will sell. You will probably need at least two sizes.
• clear plastic boxes for a variety of salads (or indeed for certain sizes of sandwiches, especially those made with baguettes). These sometimes come with a ‘spork’ (a cross between a spoon and a fork) attached.
• sticky labels for sealing the bags.
• carrier bags (plastic or, better in my view, paper),
• cup carriers – made out of egg box type paper; they enable you to transport more than one container of hot liquid at the same time. They also make it easier to transport hot drinks in cars.
• plastic polystyrene or paper cups for drinks and soup. The plastic ones can be clear -suitable for cold drinks such as smoothies and freshly squeezed orange juice. (Sticky labels, carrier bags and some cups can all have your logo and a bit of advertising blurb on the side).

ONE TIP ON THE SUBJECT OF DRINKS CONTAINERS: for hot drinks always use containers with sip lids. They allow people to drink their coffee or tea without having to remove the lid – it’s more user-friendly and helps to keep the drinks hotter longer.

There are new packaging products coming onto the market all the time, so it’s a good idea to subscribe to the trade magazine Sandwich and Snack News in order to keep abreast of such innovations.

What are the advantages of good quality packaging?

Good quality packaging is practical, it looks professional and it can advertise your business.

• You’ve gone to the trouble of lovingly preparing a half baguette containing avocado, prawns and herb salad. The last thing you want is to have any problems putting your little work of art in its bag, with bits falling out all over the place. The customer will not be impressed and you will waste time. Such problems are avoided and your confidence increased by having the right size and quality of bag or other container – especially when it is firmly sealed with a sticky label.
• Whilst the quality of the food is paramount, customers will be impressed and reassured by the professional appearance which good quality packaging creates.
• Don’t underestimate the power of packaging to advertise you and your product. If somebody is sitting in the sun contentedly eating a sandwich from its bag, passers-by may well notice the logo on the sticky label. Similarly, carrier bags can display your name in quite a concentrated area around your shop. Remember, people don’t tend to travel far to buy their sandwiches.
• One slight problem with this is the customer who drops litter in the street. I have noticed this on occasion near our shop. There is a risk of guilt by association and I invariably pick it up.

Points to remember about packaging:

• Always include a unit cost for packaging when arriving at new prices for your sandwiches.
• Don’t be too ambitious with colours. It’s usually sufficient to use one colour for your logo and any associated writing. This will make a strong enough impression, and using more than one colour makes the job considerably more expensive.

Producing printed menus

You’re going to have prominent signs inside the shop giving full details of the sandwiches on offer, so why do you need printed menus as well?

• Particularly before and just after opening, handing out menus is a particularly good way of creating awareness of, and interest in, your new venture amongst local shops and businesses.
• By making them easily available to customers in the shop you’re giving out information and also advertising your products. They might take them away and tell their friends.
• Assuming you will be doing some administrative work from home then printed menus will be extremely useful at various times:
  • aWhen reviewing the list of sandwiches and considering new ones to include and poor sellers to discontinue.
  • bWhen considering price increases.
  • cWhen updating the general layout or design of the menu itself or when looking for inspiration for new ideas.
• If you intend to do outside catering (see Chapter Eleven for more on this subject) then I think it is a good idea to work out separate menus for the purpose. Organisations interested in an outside catering service will not be too impressed if they have to send someone round to the shop to take details from a blackboard – or if they need to have a lengthy menu explained to them over the phone. They want to be able to look at their options in the comfort of their offices before making a choice which they can phone in at their leisure.

You can use professional printers to prepare your menus – but if you have a personal computer it will be able to produce high quality, professional looking menus. The menu can be stored on the PC and then amended with ease when, for instance, you increase prices.

Selecting a colour scheme

There can be a tendency to regard choice of colours as a minor matter to be dealt with ‘nearer the time’, but this is a bad idea. Once you start having to make decisions about the matters talked about in this chapter – aprons, labels, interior and exterior signs, paintwork and so on – you have to be aware of colour. They don’t all have to be done in the same colour but they do have to go together and in my view it’s a good idea to have one dominant colour.

Some points to consider:

• there can be a tendency for new businesses (a bit like new parents choosing a name for a child), to think that if they choose a colour which is dramatically different and striking somehow their business will be too. But the bottom line is that the quality of the food is paramount. Stick to non-controversial colours.
• Drive round your town or city and look at as many shops as possible for ideas. See which colours look good – and which don’t.
• As a general rule you should have stronger shades on the exterior of your shop; it helps to make you stand out and there will not be so many colours competing with each other. Strong shades inside tend to dominate and ‘reduce’ the internal space and make it more difficult for pictures or photographs to stand out. Inside you don’t want the colours on the walls and ceiling to attract attention to themselves.
• I don’t recommend white for inside or outside. It’s rather stark and unsubtle. It also gets dirty quickly. Very dark colours also show up the dirt and are, in any event, generally unsuitable for the interior.
• You should repaint inside and out at least once every three years. As time goes by there is inevitably a gradual deterioration in the paintwork. You don’t notice it so much because you’re in the place every day – however, the customers will.

REMEMBER: when repainting try to choose a time when the shop is closed – summer or Christmas holidays perhaps – you really shouldn’t be serving food in the midst of paint and turpentine aromas!