Packaging
Yes Please to packaging style and service
Monday 10. March 2008 - Thor pots from RPC Containers Blackburn are contributing to the premium image of a pioneering new range of fresh chilled convenience foods recently launched in Germany by a new company, Yes Please Foods GmbH.
Yes Please Foods, based in Berlin, is the creation of London-born entrepreneur Gemma Michalski. As a busy mother of three, Gemma, who is married to a German television producer, noticed a gap in the market for high quality convenience ready-prepared meals – nutritious dishes featuring tasty and unusual recipes, made without preservatives or additives.
“Although convenience foods and ready meals are available in Germany, there is very little choice at the premium end of the market,” explains Gemma. “In the UK, these types of products have already been enormously successful, especially among time-pressed families, couples and singles, with people prepared to pay for the convenience of well-balanced and delicious ready-prepared dishes that they can serve to family and friends without shame or guilt. Talking to friends in Germany, I was sure there would be a demand for similar products here.”
The result was Yes Please Foods GmbH, established two years ago to bring a wide range of premium, all-natural, ready-prepared food to the German consumer. The companys first products are a range of innovative soups designed by Ursula Heinzelmann, one of Germanys best-known cookery writers and chefs, and produced in London by Joubere, a Pasta Reale company. The recipes – Carrot, Ginger and Cardamom; Beetroot with Orange; and Green Pea with Mint and Coriander – are all “classics with a twist”. A fourth soup variety, Leek and Potato with a hint of Mustard, was launched Christmas.
Recognising the essential role played by packaging in the establishment of a new brand, Gemma devoted a good deal of time and trouble to finding the right pots and labels for her soups. After reviewing the full range of available containers, she chose RPCs Thor range of pots. Injection moulded in polypropylene, the Thor pots modern curved design creates an effective presence on shelf and the contact clarity of the material enables the soups to be displayed to their best advantage. The pot is robust and easy to handle, while a tamper-evident lid maximises consumer confidence. The quirky eye-catching label designs have been created by top London agency Williams Murray Hamm and feature the artwork of Martin Haake, one of Berlins leading illustrators and artists.
Besides the quality of the pots themselves, Gemma says that she chose RPC because of the quality of customer service offered by RPC Blackburn. “Inevitably a project like this takes time to get off the ground,” she explains. “Nevertheless, from my first conversation with RPC, my contact Chris Thomas could not have been more helpful and patient, taking my enquiry seriously from the start and providing me with all the necessary samples and information to enable me to progress matters.”
Yes Please soups are now available in a number of specialist foods shops in Berlin, including the 11 stores of a leading organic supermarket chain. “The initial reaction to our products has been amazingly positive”, says Gemma, “but, as a small start-up company, we have to take things slowly and control our growth to ensure that every aspect of our products reflect our brand image, which is premium quality. Just as our soup has to look and taste great, so too the container in which it is packed has to look and feel right. And, as far as we are concerned, the RPC Thor pot is the perfect fit for our brand.”