Bespoke printed paper cups

4oz-bespoke-paper-cupsEvery modern business knows the importance of brand awareness, and cafés and restaurants often invest large sums of money on branded napkins, coasters or staff uniforms. If you’re a food business offering a takeaway service, though, you could be missing an important branding opportunity. Did you know that the takeaway paper cups offered for customers wanting hot drinks ‘to go’ can be easily branded with your own colour scheme or logo? As the cups are often carried through streets, taken into offices and left on desks all day, there’s an excellent chance of them being seen by more potential customers.

The idea of printing on paper cups isn’t a new one. Originally, the designs were printed using rubber blocks mounted on cylinders, and needed a different cylinder for each colour. As technology developed, more complex designs became easier to print with the use of flexography, a technique that uses flexible relief plates.  Flexography is ideal for long print runs, and is often used to print cup runs of 10,000 or more. More recently still, newer printing techniques have meant that it’s now possible to produce smaller print runs, making having your own bespoke printed paper cups achievable for the smaller business.

At the Wholesale Coffee Company, we’re proud to supply bespoke printed cups with your own logo. Qualities start at just 1,000 cups, and we offer a wide range of cup sizes to suit all requirements.

Once you have your personalised cups, don’t forget to reinforce the corporate message with your own personalised coffee bags. Printed with your own logo or colour scheme, these bags are perfect for retailing your own house blend, or for stacking on shelves in your shop for brand enforcement.

To find out more about these fantastic, powerful marketing tools, please visit our bespoke paper cups section and customised coffee bag section.

 

Branding your coffee business

_DSC2017Whatever your feelings about the corporate might of coffee businesses such as the UK’s Costa Coffee and the USA’s Starbucks, their branding is a success. The green and white logo of Starbucks is instantly recognisable, and the chain now has nearly 17,000 locations. Costa may be a long way behind, with only around 1,700 locations, but its circular red and white logo featuring a trio of coffee beans is familiar across the UK. Costa may have started out in 1971 as a business supplying wholesale coffee to the catering industry, but it’s now best known for its retail sales, and has been branded accordingly.

By making sure that their logo appears on a wide range of merchandise and equipment, these companies are making a thorough job of building brand awareness. Starbucks’ logo appears on everything from mugs and coasters to staff uniforms and aprons, and Costa isn’t far behind. Both chains also have their own branded coffee, both for use in the shops and for retail.

If you have your own coffee business, then there’s more to it than just serving great coffee. While we’re not suggesting that you go as logo-crazy as the big chains, having your own branded bags of coffee beans makes good commercial sense. Branded bags are a particularly good idea if you sell retail coffee, as they often remain on a customer’s shelf in clear view as a reminder of your brand.

Here at the Wholesale Coffee Company, we sell a wide range of coffee beans and package them in different sizes. Our 1kg bags are great for use in your business, serving coffee to customers. Our smaller 500g and 250g sizes are perfect for retail. We’d love to discuss your requirements with you – just get in touch via our website, and find out how having your own branded coffee bags could work for your business.

Designing your own coffee packaging

packaging 2If you’re re-packaging your own coffee beans for sale, there are several aspects to consider when designing the packaging. In addition to your own design, company logo, product name and contact details, there are also practical and legal aspects.

The packaging should provide physical protection, keeping the product inside safe from any damage which might cause it to deteriorate. It should also keep out any external contaminants such as water, dust or oxygen, keeping the contents fresh and clean for the duration of the shelf life. It should provide a platform for clear, easy to read information about the contents of the packaging, and be secure enough to show any tampering. Packaging should also make the beans easy to store and transport.

Many coffee bean retailers choose soft plastic bags for packaging, which are a cost effective option and keep the contents fresh. In addition to the product and company information, the packaging needs to carry a sell by date, and to list any ingredients other than coffee beans. It should also provide clear storage instructions for the beans, both when the bag is unopened and after it’s been opened. The weight of the contents must also be clearly marked, and the country where the product was packed. You might also like to add recycling information, including any relevant symbols to help consumers.

Any packaging that you choose must be made from a product that’s approved for safe food contact, and if you’re designing your packaging from scratch for the first time, it’s a good idea to get it checked by an expert – the Food Standards Agency are a great source of information and advice.

If you’re looking for pre-packaged coffee beans at competitive prices, please take a look at the coffee beans page of our website – we’ve got a great range available to meet all trade and commercial needs.

Coffee bean packaging

packagingIf you’re importing or re-selling your own coffee beans, there are lots of factors to think about. Sourcing, storage, transport, flavour, quality control and cost are all vital considerations, but one aspect you may have overlooked is packaging.

Whether you’re packaging for trade or consumer use, key factors are brand consistency, efficiency, cost and practicality.

Cardboard canisters and tubs

A type of packaging often seen in trade packaging is cardboard canisters. They’re ideal for use in coffee shops, as they’re robust, stable, easy to open and reseal and practical to serve from. As a disadvantage, they take up a lot of storage space and are a more expensive option.

Metal canisters and tins

Metal canisters share the advantages of the cardboard tubs, and are even more robust. They’re more expensive to produce, and can be heavier. Some companies also offer promotional tins or storage tins designed to be on show in front of customers, but these are intended more for show than for practical storage as they’re not totally airtight.

Plastic packs

Made from sturdy plastic, soft bags are the most popular packaging option. They’re relatively cheap to produce, stack efficiently to maximise space, and keep the coffee beans as fresh as possible as they’re completely sealed. As disadvantages, they’re less robust than the canister options and are not designed to be opened and re-sealed, meaning than an opened bag must either be used immediately or decanted into another storage canister. For most companies, though, they’re the most practical and cost effective option. They’re also flexible, as it’s easy to alter the specifications to produce bags of different sizes for different quantities of coffee beans.

Our bags of coffee beans are supplied in strong plastic packaging for trade and commercial use, and are sealed to keep the contents fresh. For more information about our range of coffee beans, or to buy online, please visit our coffee beans page at http://www.wholesalecoffeecompany.co.uk/98-coffee-beans.