When it comes to flour power, some flour manufacturers are standing up. Although the baking section of grocery stores is still lined with flour packaged in paper-walled bags, more resealable stand-up pouches are signaling that the consumer quest for convenience and quality is impacting this product category, too.
The White Lily Flour brand, part of the J.M. Smucker Co., worked with packaging supplier ProAmpac to change over its flour package to a recloseable box pouch with a clear window and a zip closure. That package won a silver award from the Flexible Packaging Association in 2016.
The trend is especially notable in the specialty flour category. Whole Foods stores, for example, recently began carrying Otto’s cassava gluten-free and grain-free flour in a stand-up pouch. Hodgson Mill offers both almond flour and coconut flour, also in a stand-up resealable pouch. Bob’s Red Mill has a brown rice flour in a similar package.
Given the current embrace of stand-up pouch packaging — the Freedonia Group estimates that the pouch packaging business will reach the $10 billion mark in the United States by 2020 — one can expect more applications across food categories, including staples like flour and sugar.
Then again, some manufacturers are going another way to make their flour stand out on the shelf. A gluten-free baking mix company called Domata recently unveiled a seasoned flour packaged in a colorful yellow box to allow it to stand out on the shelf.
