Why you should brand your to-go packaging

Why be one in a million, when you can be unique and stand out in the crowd and show your true identity? Custom printed to-go packaging is the easiest way for your business to get more attention from potential customers without spending a lot more money on marketing. 

No matter if you are a burger joint or a coffee shop, then you are already using bags for when the customers take their burgers on the go or paper cups for customers who take their coffee to go. This means that you are already spending money on the packaging, by spending 30-50% more on your packaging you can get it printed in just the way that you like.

Spending that extra money will give you three huge advantages in your business. 1. Your customers will have a better experience when they shop at your place. 2. Reach potential customers without lifting a finger. 3. Consistent branding and recognisability. I am going to explain them in-depth below.

Better customer experience

Our senses enhance each other which is also the reason why the looks of what we eat and drink have a large influence on what we think of the taste. It also means that we are willing to pay more for a coffee if it looks great or a burger that comes in nice packaging. Plain and simple the presentation of the food or drink is the perfect way for creating great customer experiences, and customers that will come back.

Reach potential customers

Custom printed packaging and especially to-go packaging have a huge potential of showing your brand and company to new customers. If you, for example, get printed paper cups then the average drinking time is 34 minutes which means that it is 34 minutes of free marketing for you each time a customer of yours takes their coffee on the go. 

Consistency in branding

There is a reason why all the big brands have all their to-go packaging branded, and the short explanation is that when people see their print, name or something they find familiar to the brand they think of the experience they had there. So if you are good enough at reminding the customers of you, and making it easy for them to recognize you with it. Then customers simply will keep thinking of you, and not another brand. That is why people think of Starbucks when they think of coffee and not some other store, you can change that in your local area by being consistent in your recognition and brand.

Things to consider when buying printed to-go packaging

Here are also a few tips on what you should consider when buying to-go packaging. Check if the product that you are buying are printed with CMYK colours or Pantone colours – The difference is that with CMYK colours you can use as many colours in the design as you want without any additional cost whereas Pantone you have to pay for each colour you want in the desing. Pantone colours is a colour system that is able to show more colours, and you are able to be very specific in the colour. The most used colour system in the packaging industry is Pantone colours. 

It is also worth finding out if the product that you are buying can be printed all over, or if it is only some of the surface that can be printed. This is often the case when buying bags or plastic cups, that you can only print around 40-50% of the surface. In cases like this, we would recommend that you find a manufacturer who can print the whole surface, or when making the design be aware of the limitations and use it as an advantage instead of. 

Last but not least you should consider the printing method used by the manufacturers. The most used are offset print and tampon print – Tampon print is a stamping printing method where the print is stamped onto the surface, and is really good for printing on convex surfaces. The offset printing method is rolling printing method, so the print is rolled onto the surface that needs printing, it is especially used for printing on paper.