The Diversity of Bread Packaging Design in the Pacific Rim

Mixing traditional with modern and Eastern with Western style results in extraordinary variety of products and flavors. 

India, China, Japan, Australia… they all have different backgrounds when it comes to the baking industry, which makes the Pacific Rim market quite unique.

When it comes to pre-packaged bread, the first thing that the potential buyer sees is the package. It is interesting to see the different approaches of the main industrial bakeries when we look at what information they chose to present to the customers to make them want to try the bread inside, and indeed the way they present this information.

INDIA

Britannia Industries holds 9 per cent of value share of the baked goods and is aggressively expanding thanks to premium and luxury products and online orders. Daily Bread, owned by BIL, is the preferred neighbourhood baker and one of the top suppliers in the institutional market.

On the retail front, it launched a range of health breads, including Healthy Whole Wheat, which has no added sugar, and Mediterranean Bread Loaf,” Italian flavour” bread infused with olive oil, onions and sun-dried tomatoes.

In India, bread is still a secondary staple food, behind chapatti, puri or rice, but its consumption has increased over the years.

While the package of those breads is simple and content oriented, the Britannia Bread line follows the global trend of colour coding, addressing one colour for each variant.

All their HealthRange offerings are fortified with essential vitamins and are also completely fat free.

CHINA AND HONG KONG

Chained bakeries, like BreadTalk and 85°C Bakery Cafe, are the main contributors to that growth. International companies have recognized the trend of adopting the Western diet. Grupo Bimbo, the largest Mexican-owned baking company, is one of them. The Bimbo brand in the Chinese market consists of five sliced pre-packaged products.

The Chinese diet is rapidly changing and bread, along with the other baked products, has gained increased popularity in recent years.

The Garden Company Limited, based in Hong Kong, was one of the first Chinese-owned businesses created to sell Western-style food products in the territory. The Chef trademark of Garden is designed to be a symbol of the joy brought about by their food. Through the years, this logo has grown in the public’s affection and has become a familiar face to householders.

JAPAN

Yamazaki Baking Co. holds the leading position in this market thanks to a broad portfolio and well-established brands like Yamazaki, Lunch Pack, Mini Pan, Chou Houjun and Shokutaku Roll.

The bread sector is the most lucrative part of their portfolio.

The design of the packages is simple, half transparent, and half printed, coded with colours and giving essential information.

An interesting fact about packaged sliced bread in Japan is that the package usually contains only half of the loaf, or six slices, because households are small and storage space minimal, and Yamazaki even introduced a three slices option.

The Pasco Shikishima Corporation is in second place with a value share of 8 per cent thanks to the popularity of brands like Shikishima Baking Kashipan, Choujyuku and Pasco. The two brands Pasco and Shikishima were integrated under one name, Pasco, in 2003. Choujuku bread is their most famous product.

Read the whole story, with detailed insights and brand analyses on these markets, including data from Thailand, Australia and New Zealand,in Asia Pacific Baker, the summer issue.