RPC helps Heinz Beanz to stay fresh in the fridge

RPC Containers Corby has manufactured the convenient plastic jar that is the centrepiece of Heinz’s latest revolution in the packaging of its famous Heinz Beanz.

The innovative Heinz Beanz Fridge Pack is a resealable format developed to cater for bean lovers who want to enjoy the best loved beans as they like, in portions that suit them. This new, resealable Fridge Pack does just that. It’s perfect for busy families to tuck into as many Heinz Beanz as they like. Each 1kg pack is the equivalent of nearly two-and-a-half standard size cans – an average of five servings.

The launch of the Fridge Pack follows the successful introduction of the microwaveable Snap Pot – also manufactured by RPC – in 2007, underlining Heinz’s commitment to extending its brand by offering consumers different pack formats to suit lifestyle requirements.

Heinz wanted a robust pack capable of delivering an impressive shelf life both before and after opening. The ambient shelf life is 15 months, on a par with the can format; once opened, it can be resealed and stored in the fridge, where it keeps fresh for up to five days.

Plastic was regarded as the ideal material for its lightweight and shatterproof qualities, making it safe and easy to handle for family cooking. At the same time, the choice of recyclable PP ensures that Heinz can meet sustainability targets.

Heinz enjoys a long and productive relationship with RPC, and turned to the Group following its successful manufacture of the Snap Pot. Heinz is able to take advantage of RPC’s ability to offer expert manufacture at different factories to suit requirements – while the Snap Pot is thermoformed at the RPC Bebo Plastik factory, the Fridge Pack has been blow moulded at RPC Corby, a specialist in blow moulded large-format jars with an extended shelf life, for both retail and foodservice sectors.

For Heinz, RPC Corby has created a distinctive square-round (scround) design. As well as capturing the attention of consumers, it has a practical benefit, as the shape maximises volumes during distribution and on shelf to optimise logistics. The lid is injection moulded by sister site RPC Halstead.

The pack is decorated with a shrink sleeve supplied by CCL Decorative Sleeves. Gravure printed in four colours and two white layers for opacity, the sleeve is printed on OPS to minimise vertical shrink onto the square bottle. CCL worked closely with Accraply Grahams, who supplied the sleeving line to deliver a complete solution to Heinz.

“The Heinz Beanz Fridge Pack offers the consumer an easy to open, easy to handle, re-sealable, pack designed for the fridge,” explains John Alderman of Heinz. “It was vital that we could provide consumers with a lightweight pack with a long shelf-life that could keep the Heinz Beanz recipe perfect and still without preservatives!

“Similarly, the use of a shrink sleeve provides an eye-catching ‘look’ that is instantly recognisable as Heinz Beanz, which is also easily removable at the point of recycling for optimum efficiency, by the use of an easy tear strip.

“RPC and CCL Decorative Sleeves’ contributions have delivered the ideal complement to the Heinz Beanz brand, and we are sure that the Fridge Pack will become a popular purchase with consumers.”