Beech-Nut developed a new style of glass jar for the April 1, 2014, launch of its new line of natural baby foods. Made with real fruits and vegetables that are gently cooked, the products aren’t the typical baby food. “It’s real food for babies,” says Jeff Boutelle, president of Beech-Nut Nutrition.

Beech-Nut partnered with Owens-Illinois (O-I) to create the unusual glass jar. The new package was designed to communicate a natural purity to appeal to unsatisfied Moms who have been leaving the baby food aisle and making their own food at home using simple and nutritious ingredients, such as “superfoods” like pomegranates, quinoa and chia.

Additionally, the new packaging:

• Boasts the same high production speed as that of traditional baby food jars.

• Preserves the flavor and taste of Beech-Nut’s baby food, which is just real, whole fruits and vegetables (and sometimes ancient grains and beans) and nothing else. There is no excess water, additives or preservatives inside the jars.

• Offers consumer a direct view of product (transparency of ingredients) on shelves. The clear labels maximize the amount of visible product inside.

• Allows a spoon to wrap 360 degrees around inside of jar, making it easier to scoop out all the product and leave less wasted food behind.

• Offers improved “stackability” at retail outlets and at home in the pantry.

Andy Dahlen, vp  of marketing and sales at Beech-Nut and Shawn Welch, vp of sales and marketing, North America for O-I, provide Packaging Digest more details about the project.

How does this new package bring millennial moms back to a declining category?

Dahlen: Beech-Nut co-created this with moms, seeking their input at all phases of the design process. The company wanted a label and a clear glass jar that inspires today’s moms and represents honest transparency. The transparent label for its new line highlights the quality of the product, allowing the color, texture and ingredients to shine through. Millennial moms who want to feed their babies homemade, but may not have the time or resources, can trust that Beech-Nut is the closest to homemade and can clearly see that on the shelf. 

Can you confirm that Chicago-based, woman-owned company Bluedog Design worked with Beech-Nut on the new packaging?

Dahlen: Yes, Beech-Nut works with Bluedog Design LLC, a Chicago-based package design company that is Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) certified.

What specifically did the design firm do?

Dahlen: Beech-Nut wanted a new logo that captured its transformation as a company and a brand. The logo is a metaphor for Beech-Nut—always growing, focused on wholesome food and tied to its commitment to environmental sustainability and green living. Bluedog leveraged a powerful consumer-co-creation methodology to uncover rich emotional insights that got to the heart of moms' motivations. Bluedog then translated those insights into a compelling design strategy, which they then used to drive meaningful and motivating graphic expressions for the brand across multiple touch points. This inspired the structural design that led to the "honeypot" jar.

What are the benefits of the tapered shape of the honeypot jar?  

Welch: The honeypot shape was designed to help Beech-Nut stand out on retail shelves in several ways. Working with Beech-Nut, O-I’s New Product Development team found that baby food shelves are currently dominated by the short, uniformly round jar that we’re all familiar with, making it hard for brands to differentiate themselves. With the taller honeypot shape, our talented packaging designers and engineers helped to create a unique, premium appearance for Beech-Nut that maximizes the visibility of their natural, colorful baby food. The tapered sides serve to angle the label on the jar toward consumers, enhancing the visibility of the Beech-Nut branding.

What have you done to improve the stackability?

Welch: The bottom of the jar is designed to fit snugly into the top of the closure to maximize stacking performance.

How have you made it easier to scoop out the last bits of food in the jar?  

Welch: This is another one of the functional benefits of the tapered honeypot shape. By making the jar wider at the bottom, we gave consumers more room to move the spoon around to reach all of the food. We also removed the sharp shoulder that you find near the top of the typical baby food jar. Without that obstruction, it is easier to remove the spoon and the food from the jar.

Why do glass jars give the best impression of “homemade”—say, more than pouches or plastic?

Welch: One of the drivers behind the trend of homemade baby food is parents’ concerns about the health and purity of what their babies are eating. In that context, Beech-Nut’s 100 percent natural baby food and O-I glass jars are a perfect pairing. Glass is pure and made from natural, non-toxic materials. It is also safe—nothing gets through glass or leaches out of it, and it doesn’t interact with the food inside.

Pouches and plastics cite benefits of convenience for parents on the move—lightweight, and less fragile. What’s your response to this?

Welch: There are many things for parents to consider when choosing a packaging material, and we believe that glass is the best choice. Most importantly for baby food, glass is healthy, safe and trust-worthy. It is virtually inert and does not contain chemicals that can leach into the food. For environmentally conscious parents, glass is the most sustainable packaging choice because it is easily recycled and reused. Glass jars can be recycled over and over again into new glass jars and do not have to be down-cycled into other products that eventually end up in a landfill.

What size jars have you produced?

Welch: For the initial launch, we have produced one size: 120 grams.

Why print “100% Natural” on the skirt of the closure?

Dahlen: The goal with the transparent label is to showcase the product inside the jar so the label needed to remain simple.  Beech-Nut still wanted to communicate 100 percent natural and the skirt of the closure offered the real estate needed to do that while maintaining the desired design aesthetic.

Where are the products being packaged?

Dahlen: The glass and jar labels are all manufactured in the company's home state of New York. The products are packaged at the Beech-Nut headquarters in Amsterdam, NY.

What temperature is the food at when it’s packaged (is the product still hot-filled, considering the new cooking method)?

Dahlen: Beech-Nut uses its unique “gentle cooking” method to protect the integrity of nutrients and lock in the freshness of flavorful ingredients. This method doesn’t add any excess water or artificial preservatives and won’t cook the nutrients away. Beech-Nut uses indirect heat similar to a double boiler so that none of the flavor or nutrients gets watered down. Cook time varies depending on the ingredients and the product is still hot upon packaging.

What changes were required on the filling/packaging line to accommodate the new shape/new label?  Did Beech-Nut have to buy any new packaging machines? If so, what, why and who is the machinery manufacturer(s)?

Dahlen: The new transparent labels are pressure sensitive and the necessary machinery to accommodate the labels did not exist in-house.  Beech-Nut purchased new pressure-sensitive labeling equipment from Krones.  The equipment allows for high precision and flexibility to adjust to the unique jar shape.

My samples of the glass jars are cradled in a homemade wooden gift box. What more can you tell me about this secondary packaging? 

Dahlen: Beech-Nut created sample kits for moms and media to try before the product hit store shelves. These rectangular kits included slots for four jars and were made with real wood to continue to incorporate the wholesomeness of the product and the brand. Jars of up to 40 different flavors will be sold individually at stores starting in May.