Ever since the emergence of a “third wave” in coffee, freshness has been a pillar of the specialty coffee industry.
For wholesale coffee roasters, preserving the freshness of their product is essential to maintain customer loyalty, reputation, and revenue.
Wholesale coffee bags must be adequately sealed to protect their contents from oxygen, moisture, and other external environmental factors that may compromise the beans. More so, they must be attractive enough to help the product stand out among the rows of competition.
Creative and well-designed packaging can help boost brand awareness and recognition, and increase sales.
Read on to discover our tips for preserving freshness in wholesale coffee packaging.
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Sign upThe pros and cons of selling coffee wholesale
When it comes to sales avenues for coffee, many roasters choose to go the wholesale route.
Essentially, wholesale coffee is the distribution of coffee in bulk from roaster to retailer. These retailers – typically cafés and grocery stores – then act as “middlemen” by selling the coffee to consumers at a higher price.
Selling coffee wholesale allows roasters to expand their audience and increase brand exposure without incurring extra marketing costs.
Wholesale also allows roasters to determine the volume of coffee purchased regularly, allowing them to budget better internally.
While this sales avenue provides opportunities for quick business expansion, it also requires roasters to put a considerable amount of time and energy into building sustainable relationships with their clients.
More so, selling wholesale means roasters often have less flexibility over how their product is presented to customers, as they must adhere to the requirements of their clients.
This is an important factor to consider, as the aesthetic of the bag may influence consumer perception of the quality and flavour of the coffee.
The type of packaging material also matters as customers increasingly prefer sustainable packaging options. Notably, a recent survey discovered 67% of buyers find it important that their purchases are in recyclable packaging.
As a result, the type of wholesale coffee packaging a roaster chooses can have a significant impact on their business.
Ultimately, whether to sell coffee wholesale or not depends on the roaster’s business goals and priorities.
By carefully considering these factors, roasters can make informed decisions about how best to sell their coffee.
Ensuring freshness in wholesale coffee packaging
Retaining freshness is crucial for maintaining flavour, aroma, and overall quality of the coffee.
Several types of coffee packaging materials and structures work for wholesale coffee offerings. These include multi-layered bags made of low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polylactic acid (PLA), and kraft paper.
All these sustainable packaging materials can prevent oxygen, moisture, and light from penetrating the bag and causing oxidation.
Packaging accessories such as degassing valves, and processes such as vacuum packaging can also help roasters ensure freshness for wholesale coffee offerings.
Degassing valves are one-way valves that allow carbon dioxide to escape from the coffee bag while preventing air from entering, reducing the risk of oxidation.
Alternatively, vacuum packing refers to removing the oxygen from the bag and creating a vacuum seal that can help extend the shelf life of coffee.
Another crucial aspect of wholesale coffee packaging is design. Coffee packaging design can influence the perception of the coffee and the roaster’s brand.
Colourful, eye-catching packaging can entice customers, while packaging that is too plain may discourage sales.
Roasters can choose to custom print their coffee bags to ensure the brand name and logo of the roastery are shown clearly. This can help boost brand recognition and mind share and may prompt customers to follow the brand online.
By custom-printing wholesale coffee bags, roasters can ensure accurate information about the product is passed along to customers.
With proper attention to freshness and design, specialty roasters can ensure their wholesale coffee offerings stand out and retain customer loyalty.
Designing wholesale coffee packaging
Specialty coffee roasters need to take their wholesale coffee packaging seriously.
The design of coffee packaging could be the difference between attracting and keeping loyal customers and losing them to competitors.
Colour and branding are key to making coffee packaging stand out on the shelves. For instance, specialty coffee roasters such as Blue Bottle, Intelligentsia, and Stumptown, use simple and minimalist packaging designs that convey their unique brand identity.
Additionally, the use of QR codes on coffee packaging can help further educate customers.
Custom printing QR codes onto wholesale coffee bags can ensure they receive important coffee information, such as its origin, tasting notes, and processing method.
QR codes can engage customers and help make them more informed purchasing decisions. This is especially important in the wholesale sales avenue, where face-to-face interaction is often lost.
Finally, consider using accessories such as resealable zippers or one-way degassing valves to ensure freshness is maintained even after the package is opened.
This is an important factor in ensuring that customers continue to enjoy the product long after the initial purchase.
It is essential for specialty coffee roasters to invest in quality wholesale coffee packaging that not only looks visually appealing but also retains freshness and engages consumers.
Freshness is one of the central tenets of specialty coffee and preserving it is of the utmost importance.
MTPak Coffee offers roasters and coffee shops a range of coffee packaging structures that keep coffee fresh and can engage customers.
Our range of packaging options is made from renewable materials: our range of coffee boxes is made using 100% recycled cardboard, while our sustainable coffee bags are made using kraft paper, rice paper, or multilayer LDPE packaging with an environmentally friendly PLA lining.
More so, both our sustainable coffee bags and coffee mailer boxes can be fully customised to accurately reflect your brand, as well as your coffee’s characteristics.
MTPak Coffee offers our clients a quick turnaround time of 40-hours and 24-hour shipping time.
We also offer low minimum order quantities (MOQs) to micro-roasters who are looking to remain agile while showcasing brand identity and a commitment to the environment.
