Packaging Technologies

Food and beverage companies such as Hello Curry, Biryani360, Chai Point, Hokey Pokey and iTiffin, which work on a strong delivery model, bear this out as they are innovating on their packaging around twin themes of convenience and contemporary appeal.

"Traditionally, in retail, product packaging was important as it was the first moment of truth for a consumer wanting to consume a product. Now, because of e-commerce, you may not engage with a product before consuming and the role of packaging is more than what it used to be," said Priya Jayaraman, cofounder and business director of Propaganda India, a creative agency that has worked with several start-ups on their branding initiatives.

Hyderabad-based Hello Curry, an on-demand food company focusing on affordable Indian cuisine, for instance, has designed its paper boxes as a pot to fit in all meal elements together akin to a Chinese takeaway.

"Indian food requires a lot of real estate and drama and we've erased the table with our boxes," said Raju Bhupati, CEO and co-founder of Hello Curry. The box, coated with polyethylene inside, has a partition to separate the curry item and the rice or parathas.

The convenience of this eat-on-the-go design has found takers in the corporate world, especially in the IT sector, where word spread especially fast. "Amazon once ordered about 3,000 pots of biryani in one shot," said Bhupati, adding that these boxes helped significantly in brand building.

Ditto for Chai Point, a chain of tea shops selling variants of the beverage across 70 outlets, which launched 'chai in a flask' less than a year ago to cater to increased requests for deliveries. Instead of serving tea in plastic or stainless steel flasks, the company innovated with a portable, heat retaining and hygienic option - a cardboard shell with a nozzle that carries contents in a food grade pouch inside, which is attracting 500 orders a day.

"The flask has given tea a cool factor. Our goal was to make our packaging for white collar workforce to order and place it in glitzy boardrooms. We have achieved that," said Amuleek Singh, CEO and co-founder of Chai Point.

The company says it has 9,000 regular customers for these flasks, with 100 companies subscribing to it regularly.

Paper Boat, which launched easy-to-carry pouches with a cap, made Indian drinks cool, as its design aimed to break the clutter on shelves that it shared with industry behemoths like Coca Cola and PepsiCo.

Source : http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-04-22/news/61417504_1_packaging-indian-food-curry