From Baby Boomers to Millennials, taste preferences are evolving and there’s a notable increase in healthy foods in single-serving cups at coffee shops, convenience stores, markets, and club stores. Read about the top five trends for food in cups and learn why preparing and enjoying meals “on-the-go” is as easy as ever.
Breakfast in a Cup
The most important meal of the day is getting healthier and easier to take with you. From schools to supermarkets, hot cereal, ready-to-eat-cereal, and granola are becoming more conveniently available in cups. In supermarket freezer sections, you may find foods ranging from steel-cut oatmeal to scrambled egg breakfast bowls. Breakfast in a cup can be ready in a flash, with no dishes to wash.
Health-Minded Options in a Cup
Consumers are hungry for information and variety, when it comes to nutritious food options and specific dietary needs. You’ll find meals, snacks, and baking mixes specially made and labeled to meet specific requirements such as all natural, organic, Non-GMO Project Verified, high-fiber, high-protein, gluten-free, vegan, dairy-free, diabetes-friendly, and Kosher. Now that’s a healthy mouthful!
Wide Variety of Flavorful Meals in a Cup
Meals in a cup go beyond “just add hot water” to make instant noodle soup. The variety includes hearty soups, seasoned rice, macaroni and cheese, vegetable chili, steak fajita, beans and lentils, and gourmet pasta with super grains. Many of these favorites are available in microwavable paperboard cups or in wrapped cups in the store aisles or freezer section. Variety is the spice of life!
Cups with Eye-catching Graphics and Shelf Appeal
Skillful graphic designers familiar with packaging, food photography, and cup printing and manufacturing are creating sharp graphics with optimum shelf and visual appeal. A well designed package communicates all the necessary information and branding with the eye-catching graphics than can influence a consumer’s buying decisions. Additionally, infographics can enhance consumer’s experience as the cup is often held and read while the contents are enjoyed.
Cups with Lids
A lid, crowning the top of a cup, can give a product a premium look and feel. Lids can be a re-sealable closure, aid in food preparation, distinguish a brand, and enhance shelf appeal. Sometimes identical lid graphics are used across a product line for uniformity, and other times lids with unique rim colors differentiate individual flavors.
With so many healthy and tasty foods in cups available, a quick, easy, and satisfying meal, conveniently held in the palm of your hand is something to smile about… happiness in a cup.
Interpress Technologies is a food packaging leader in formed paperboard containers, wrapped cups, printed sidewalls, and folding cartons with high impact graphics. Interpress has three locations producing packaging “Made in USA” with SFI, FSC, and PEFC certified sustainable paperboard. InterPac Technologies, a sister company, is a certified organic co-pack facility and fills cups, oils (coconut, olive, flax), bags and pouches.
For more information, contact Interpress Technologies at 800.929.9771 or [email protected].
