Picture this. It is shopping day, you are craving something fresh, juicy and sweet when you stumble across the grape aisle. But instead of having your taste buds tantalised with visions of plump juicy berries, all you can see is sallow grapes marred by bruises, spilling out on to the shop floor and fermenting slowly into a sticky mess. Not an enticing sales pitch.
The fact is, with their inherent fragility, grapes can be one of the trickiest fresh produce items to handle in-store, and much money and time is ploughed into researching viable ways to pack them. Aside from the fact that most find squashed, rotting grapes quite revolting, supermarkets have cottoned on to the importance of presentation. The UK consumer, like many others, buys first with their eyes. “Grapes particularly are a visually pleasing - they are an impulse purchase for many people,” says Martin Dunnett at international fruit distributing company, Capespan. “It’s got to look nice in your fruit basket when you get it home.”
With loose grapes dominating the UK packaging scene, the problem of wastage caused by wayward grapes falling out of their bags is a major one, particularly with the traditional-style open carrier bag. Invariably the grapes end up falling out and nestling at the bottom of crates or on the shop floor, the latter of which could present a more serious problem. Grapes may be traditionally given to people in hospital, but it seems they could also put you there. “My wife fell over on a grape in store the other day,” Dunnett says, making a serious point: “Safety in store is a very important issue, and there could be huge claims on the supermarket for loss of earnings - it costs supermarkets around £1m a year in claims, just for people hurting themselves on grapes. That’s why there are grape mats, but they can roll off them,” he says.
However, in recent years this problem has been curbed, and wastage reduced thanks to the introduction of the zip-lock bag. Now a familiar site in our local supermarkets, it combats many of the problems associated with the traditional, sticky bag, as Theresa Huxley from Sainsbury’s explains: “The zip-lock bag has been a major success, and feedback from both our customers and growers has been excellent. Certainly Sainsbury’s were very pleased to move from the sticky bags because they were slow to pack and creates strips of rubbish,” she says.
Zip-locks allow for reduced dehydration while also preserving part of the consumer’s need for a free-flowing, tangible product - traditionally, consumers like to touch and analyse grapes pre-purchase to make sure they get the best condition, and ultimately value, possible. But it is not just the consumer that benefits from the zipped bag, as Huxley points out: “The introduction of zip-lock bags has been a major step change for the grape industry and has been a win-win development for growers, retailers and consumers alike. Growers find it quicker and simpler to pack and it helps reduce fruit and stem dehydration, Retailers have found that displays remain tidier, wastage is reduced, and sales are encouraged and customers are satisfied because they perceive they are getting an added value at no additional cost,” she says.
Customers also have the added benefit of being able to pick smaller or larger bunches, as with the old style of loose bag, as technically zip-lock bags are not sealed products - this means they are weighed and priced at the till - not the case with punnets which are pre-priced.
“It’s the best compromise between loose and packed produce,” Dunnett says, although he reveals he still has a soft-spot for the old bags. “It doesn’t sell the product as well as the old carrier bag. That did show the grapes to the best effect.”
But despite the zip lock bag’s widely recognised success, there is still a place for punnets and, according to Huxley, this place is growing.
Supermarkets are using punnets for premium varieties and 60/40 packs containing one or more cultivars, and this kind of packaging certainly offers pluses. What the consumer loses in tangibility, they gain in quality and condition, with grapes being safely cocooned in semi-rigid plastic from packhouse to shelf to cupboard. But it all comes at a price. Zip-lock bags are preferred for standard loose products, because customers are looking for less expensive packaging whereas punnets are used for the more premium products, says Huxley. Dunnett agrees: “Punnets are only used here when there is extra quality - they can put a sticker on it for example, or put both red and white grapes in it. It’s usually resulted in a much higher price,” says Dunnett. And this marketing element is an interesting faction for retailers. The way the punnets are placed on shelves, in addition to their flat surface area, make them ideal for promotions.“Punnets allow more flexibility with respect to marketing messages and storage instructions,” Huxley says.
The growth of the punnet has mainly been experienced on the continent, where it is often the major way of selling grapes. The format deprives the consumer direct contact with the fruit, but it certainly mops up the excessive waste of loose bags. While the perception is that using punnets would mean a loss in overall sales, Dunnett says it actually increased grape sales in one Dutch chain: “The punnet’s record is that it will affect the market share of the retailer, but Albert Heijn moved away from loose fruit two years ago and they doubled grape sales in one year just by offering punnets.”
He explains the example has led him to question the inherent dismissal of the punnet as a lucrative packaging solution: “I think punnets have not really been explored to the full and that Dutch experience is something UK retailers can learn from,” he says.
But just when it looks like the punnet could get a real piece of the UK action, some new contenders are emerging. Capespan is introducing the new QuaMa bag - pioneered by packaging manufacturer, Kappa, the QuaMa is a heat-sealed package that contains a modified atmosphere to keep the product inside fresher for longer. “This is extremely useful for grapes coming from South Africa which can take up to three weeks,” Dunnett says. “Normally there’s a risk of deterioration or mould development which is why people use sulphur pads, but with the QuaMa you don’t need them and the grapes are kept in better condition. For more see page 24.
However, this kind of punnet is especially expensive. “The Taste the Difference heat-sealed punnet we use is the most expensive packaging. The product has to be packed and labelled in the UK because of the high capital cost of the heat-sealing machine means that to be economical, it needs to be used all year,” Huxley says. And Dunnett is cautious too: “It’s a costly process and it remains to be seen how cost-effective it is,” he says.
Also new on the scene is the notion of biodegradable packaging. It seems that Sainsbury’s too is jumping on the environmental bandwagon. Huxley says that customer concerns about environmental issues have led to a preference for recyclable packaging, which has prompted the supermarket to use biodegradable materials where possible. “This is also supported by EU and UK legislation driving collaboration both nationally and internationally on recyclable and reusable types of packaging through taxation on volume and tonnage of waste produce,” Huxley explains. So far, Sainsbury’s says it is introducing the new packaging in its organics range, where possible, but is looking to diversify its use in the near future. However, as with the heat-sealing, the packaging is more expensive than the traditional alternative, and whether the consumer’s conscience stands the test of price hikes, remains to be seen.
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