Kraft puts coffee in a paperboard can

Kraft Foods France is using paperboard cans from Sonoco for the first time for its Grand Mêre Familial au Lait brand of instant powdered coffee.

Sonoco supplied the comp-any with a 99 x 130mm paperboard can with an Indosa-style recessed membrane top and a "T" tab to facilitate opening. A plastic overcap completes the package. The cans are produced at the Sonoco plant in Mayen, Germany and transported to France for filling.

The can is made from two plies of spirally wound, recycled paperboard with a high performance liner that stops moisture getting into the package. This ensures the coffee is free of clumps and dissolves easily in water.

Consumer-friendly
Kraft Foods France typically packages its Grand Mêre products in tins, folding cartons and flexible pouches, but chose this modern, consumer-friendly package for the Familial au Lait product, introduced in France last September.
"The Sonoco paperboard can is easy to open and close. It is a tidy package. The wide mouth allows consumers to serve the coffee without spilling," says Marie Laure Trichaud, marketing director for the Grand Mêre brand.
Kraft also wanted the paper label on the paperboard cans to reach the same quality of reproduction as those used on its tin cans. The company worked with its label supplier, Plenk, to modify the label design so that it would replicate the Grand Mêre brand graphics. The end result was achieved using 6-colour litho printing.
Ms Trichaud says the end result is the first tin lookalike label in the French market.