Honey in a tube? Probably not in the USA

German package puts slightly flavored honey in metal tube.

Pw 4725 Webhoney
With flavors like chocolate, lemon and cinnamon, Honey Tube breaks the rules by hiding the delicious nectar of the bees in a metal tube instead of a see-through jar.

Good looking package no doubt, and food in tubes is popular throughout Europe. But besides a few gourmet pesto sauces in the U.S., as good a package as it is, I do not see more food in tubes flying onto U.S. shelves.

Great packaging ideas abound--wine in a box, cereal in a pouch, and honey in a tube. But the American public is one big creature of habit.

The day I started this job 25 years ago the flexible folks told me bag-in-box cereal was dead.

The last time I trolled the aisles of our local Safeway, all I saw was bag-in-box cereals. Doesn’t mean pouches have not taken off in a lot of other segments, but some categories are just too traditional to try to “break set” and come up with a whole new package.

At Shelf Impact’s Package Design Workshop this week in Cincinnati, twenty four suppliers, designers and CPGs--all involved in package design--gave an assessment of a set of German packages containing mustard and mayonnaise in tubes.

“Never happen here” was the consensus. “Looks too much like toothpaste or diaper rash ointment. “

Funnily enough, two of us confessed to brushing our teeth once by accident with Balmex. Wish it had been honey!

Get your daily dose of global packaging news, follow me on twitter.

The future of food plant maintenance is remote
Remote monitoring and access are reshaping how plants prevent downtime and protect food safety. See how.
Read More
The future of food plant maintenance is remote
Hot fill to aseptic: what changed at PACK EXPO
Filling speeds, seal integrity, contamination control — our editors found the liquid foods innovations that matter. See what's new and get ahead of the competition. Download your free report now. 
FREE DOWNLOAD
Hot fill to aseptic: what changed at PACK EXPO