A packaging company in California has come up with a unique way for table grape growers to display their goods. Created by MR BOX, a packaging company based in California, is the box/bag combo. This is a custom designed combination of standup pouches placed in a box, with designs both complementing each other. The company is a family run business built on the founder's decades-long packaging industry experience. A good portion of their business involves manufacturing packaging for the table grape industry.
"MR BOX Inc. is an agricultural packaging company that was started by Michael Rundle in 2004," said Corie Rundle of MR BOX. "Mike was in the packaging industry for 25 years before he went out on his own and started the company. MR BOX is a true "family run" business that prides itself on providing the best customer service and providing the best products in the industry. We are a one-stop-shop in that we sell everything needed to get fresh produce from the field to the grocery stores."
Working with growers
MR BOX worked closely with the table grape producer to come up with the design and ensure they had the capability to produce it. "We do have a sales team that is out calling on customers who are always trying to drum up new business," Rundle said. "But we also have customers that come to us with new ideas that they want to bring to life. We sit down with our customers/growers to find out what their visions are and find out exactly what they want the end product to look like. We then work with our Graphic artist to help bring the vision of the customer to life. We take that design to our vendors, whether it be our label company, bag or box manufacturers who create the end product."
Rundle further explained what worked for this grower and the color capabilities of their vendors. "Typically, a box will have 4-6 color print and our bag manufacturer can do 8 color print," she said. "Growers tend to put 8 or 9 packed grape bags per box and then there are 80-85 boxes stacked per pallet. The available color capacity depends on the printer and who we have making the bag or box."
Pouch bags continue their rise in popularity
This box/bag combo features the increasingly popular stand up pouch bags. The bags are now a regular feature in stores. Growers, retail stores, and customers alike see the benefits of using them and packaging manufactures continue to innovate and expand the options for grapes as well as other commodities.
"The pouch bags are a great grab and go solution for the consumers as well as the grocery chains," Rundle explained. "It is a great way for the grower/marketers to be able to display and market their fruit or veggies. If you walk the produce section of a grocery store you will see many commodities are moving towards the pouch bag as a packaging option. Everything from grapes, cherries, peppers, tomatoes and citrus have moved towards using the stand-up pouch bag."
Vivid bi-color pouch bags
California distribution
Currently, MR BOX has two facilities that are able to supply customers in California. They also now work with Harvest Mark, a company that provides traceability services. This technology allows growers to trace back details about the produce from a particular box.
"MR BOX has two locations so that we can cover growers throughout the Central Valley," Rundle said. "Our main location is in Richgrove CA., and our second location is in Lamont CA. We now have four labeling lines with two of those having Harvest Mark capability. This allows the produce to be traced back to what field and day they were picked from. The MR BOX team thrives on coming up with the next best thing when it comes to packaging and we are excited to be able to expand our ability to label clamshells for our blueberry, strawberry and grape growers."
For more information:
Corie Rundle
MR BOX, Inc.
Tel: +1 (661) 725-1999