We all have days when we want a delicious dinner delivered right to our door.

Luckily, many restaurants and meal delivery kit services are ready and waiting to fulfill that dream.

But, poor packaging design decisions can ruin the experience.

Let’s take a closer look at why food packaging is important and how you can improve your own packaging to stand out in a crowded marketplace.

Why food packaging is important

Whether your hot soup arrives cold, your cold sushi arrives warm, or the packaging is just an unattractive mess, the wrong packaging makes a meal less appetizing.

Food packaging serves a number of important purposes. It protects food from outside contamination. It ensures that the meal arrives at the right temperature. And, it serves as a tactile brand ambassador your customers can see and touch.

Packaging for food items has the ability to create fantastic associations between your audience and your business. Your food packaging contains delicious food! So, that’s half the battle right there.

Packaging is important in selling any product, and especially food products. As we pointed out previously:

…attractive packaging design motivates people to make impulsive choices, bypasses reflective thought and leaves the purchaser with a feeling of having been rewarded. That’s a powerful impact.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to deliver a quality customer experience and help to strengthen your brand’s positive bond with its audience.

Here’s how…

Brand your packaging to raise awareness

nce you’ve determined what types of packaging materials are the best fit for your needs, and hopefully prioritized environmentally-friendly disposable and re-useable containers, you can start to think in earnest about packaging branding.

Your packaging will interact with hundreds of people. It’s a huge missed opportunity if that packaging is not branded and properly designed.

London-based food photographer Stephen Conroy explains:

The packaging is the physical representation of a brand’s personality and one of their key identity tools. It helps to draw the consumer’s attention to a specific product in a crowded retail space, and differentiate a product from its competitors.

Your custom package graphics design presents the opportunity to create a bond between your brand and every customer who purchases from you. People like to get presents. People like ease-of-use. Food delivery provides both.

And, in addition to contributing to the happy feeling that accompanies the arrival of a food delivery, over time and repeated interactions, seeing a branded food package can elicit a Pavlovian hunger response.

That response can impact the customer who bought the food… as well as anyone else who sees the food in transit.

Ever seen a McDonald’s bag and been unable to shake your subsequent craving for McDonald’s?

Yeah. Me, too.

So, put your branding on your food packaging and make it visible and crisp. Make sure your business name is readable and your company logo is prominent.

Use your package design to communicate Image courtesy of 123RoyaltyFree. Packaging can do more than tell people where the food came from. Packaging can also be used to communicate a message to your audience. You just need to decide what that message is. Remember that your packaging should be an extension of your brand. So, the message you share should be on track with your brand identity and promise. Then let that message guide you toward creating a unique food packaging design. And, don’t be afraid to seek out professional packaging design help for this important task. Unique food packaging provides a novel experience and sets your brand apart from the competition – two valuable missions. So, let’s take a look at what this might look like in practice.

The food you serve should always be the star.

But your food packaging should never be an afterthought.

Make packaging choices that will serve their function well. Select packaging containers that will ensure that your food arrives looking and tasting as amazing as it should. And, make design choices that will enhance your customer’s meal and be a visual ambassador for your brand.