Lo-Cal Packaging
A container, which complements the brand
Concept
A restaurant where the food is available in a ready meal take away. This allows the consumer to eat at home as if a chef cooked it.
Taking the Lo-Cal Experience home.
The Lo-Cal food will be organic and homegrown with low calories.
Target Audience
To make the meals healthy, low calorie and home grown; costs will be higher. This influences whom I decided the demographic to be.
+ Middle class families and single people.
+ People who desire a healthier diet.
+ People who live a busy lifestyle and do not have an opportunity to cook
balanced meals every day.
+ Age: 25+
+ Income: Enough disposable income to change the diet towards Lo-Cal Foods.
Packaging
Message
This package is the other strand of the Lo-Cal brand. It has the same target audience as the restaurant and the website. I want it to communicate the Local food, low calorie, organic and high-class values of the brand.
I have done this by striping down the information and creating a very sleek and professional package. The materials I used and placing a high emphasis on recycling also portrays this message.
My aim for this package is for it to go on sale in the Lo-Cal restaurants to begin with and then to branch out into stores like Waitrose and Marks and Spencers. I have looked at local food shops but I want to cater for the mass market, which I feel, can be achieved.
Shape
The shape of the box is what makes it stand out. The slant of the front box is designed to create a larger surface area for the front of the box. This is the idea that I developed and the two boxes grew from that.
There is a certain way in which this package is stacked which creates a downward slope of all the packages (see below). This sets it apart from the competition.
This larger surface area also allows me to fit an easily readable infographic on the front that communicates quickly to the people who want to be healthier, my target audience.
This shape is atheistically pleasing however; I wanted to make sure it served a purpose. The purpose being to hold a knife and fork so the food can be consumed as a unit. The product can then be consumed and recycled as one making it even easier for the consumer.
Material
I experimented a lot with material with a lot of research going into what materials I can use for the package. I needed to use a material that is easily recyclable and people see as recyclable. There was the option of using recyclable plastic but the perceptions about plastic would put people off the organic nature of the brand.
For the product, I want to use cardboard that is lined with heatproof cardboard, most commonly found in Pizza packaging. This will allow the two sections to be easily recyclable and would look organic. The heatproof paper would allow the section with food in to be directly placed into the oven making it even easier to cook. The idea being that I want to make it as easy for the consumer to consume my food as possible.
By using cardboard, I have lowered the printing cost and reduced the number of materials used. The knife and fork supplied will be made out of recyclable plastic so everything about the box could be recycled.
