Crown Food Europe is working with big brands across the food industry to meet consumers’ requirements for convenience, functionality and healthy options.
Image: Single portion canned vegetables -Bonduelle “Touche de”. Photo: Courtesy of Crown.
Around two-thirds of all households in the EU-28 were composed of one or two people in 2017, according to European Union statistics.
The most common among those was the household with single person. This demographic trend aided the rise in popularity of single serve portions across the food sector.
Most consumers give top priority to time, and have convenience at the top on their list of demands. Single-serve portions allow them to have a healthy meal in just moments after a busy day along with feasibility to carry them on the go.
Canned fish is considered one of the most versatile single-serve products which can be mixed as a salad, dressed with a sauce or simply added to pasta to make a meal easily out of a single can of fish.
Crown has partnered for several years with canned fish specialist Rio Mare to develop standard traditional 80g tuna cans. Along with this, a new 160g format for tuna and 160g and 200g sizes for tuna salad are introduced offering convenience advantages, and the nutritional value of the fish protected.
Crown has developed Mini-cans for Bonduelle in Europe allowing consumers to prepare foods such as soups, salads and smoothies using a measured amount of product.
In Europe, Bonduelle was the first brand to process vegetables creating a unique line of single portion canned vegetables – called Bonduelle “Touche de” – which can be consumed hot as well as cold. As the numbers of single person households increasing, single-serve packaging helps reduce food waste.
As the dessert market is also suitable for single-serve packaging innovations, Crown has designed and supplied small sized printed bowls for Mont Blanc desserts attributing its innovative PeelSeam technology.
The easy-open and sustainable packaging features with a wide range of flavors helped Mont Blanc to grow its market share and pleasure its customers. It also attracted new consumers looking to enjoy their sweet treats while on the move.
The single-serve trend has had a considerable impact on the pets also. With gaining popularity for the organic feed, single-serve portions offered the pet owners with variety in packaging formats, along with easy to open and transport features.
Crown has worked intimately with New Pet Food to develop multi-serve formats in a wide range of traditional sizes, like 200gr, 400g, 800g and 1250gr.
The brand has recently adopted smaller 70g and 85g formats that shown a significant rise in sales volume and quickly become popular with the consumers. New Pet Food is anticipated to capitalize this growth by packaging all new products in the single serve can format.
Single-serve products offer a large number of benefits from convenience and healthy eating to the reduction of food waste. Crown is expected to develop more shapes and sizes to meet its customer expectations and continue to increase the use of metal packaging.