Celebrated each year in the U.S. on the fourth Thursday of November, Thanksgiving is a holiday focused on gratitude, family, friends and food. When it comes to food, the traditional Thanksgiving spread often includes turkey and/or ham, with a smorgasbord of sides including stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn and green bean casserole. On average, Americans serve five side dishes on their Thanksgiving table each year. Then there are the desserts – pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, pecan pie and apple pie to name a few.

Much of that food is homemade. According to consumer behavior analytics company Circana, “consumers rely more heavily on homemade and fresh-prepared foods for their Thanksgiving meal compared to the typical meal throughout the year.” Data from the company revealed that 77% of special Thanksgiving meals include completely homemade foods.

This year, Thanksgiving celebrations, on average, are expected to include nine people. Preparing the Thanksgiving meal for gatherings both large and small requires a lot of time spent in the kitchen. Between cooking the main dish, making the gravy, preparing casseroles, and baking desserts, the average amount of time it takes for a host to prepare the holiday feast is 9.6 hours.

While the meal is a big part of Thanksgiving, an even bigger part of the holiday is spending time with family and friends. Hosts want to spend more time socializing with their guests – and less time in the kitchen.

Innovative packaging solutions like CCT’s EEASY Lid are just the ticket for making meal prep less time consuming. Aptly named, the EEASY Lid makes opening jars up to 50% easier than traditional jar lids. In fact, the EEASY Lid takes an average of 9 in-lb of torque to open a jar compared to the 40-50 in-lb of torque it takes to open a traditional jar lid. That means no more time wasted struggling to open stubborn jar lids.

Home cooking shouldn’t involve a wrestling match with jar lids in the process of meal prep. That’s why we are working hard to increase the EEASY Lid’s availability on jarred products across brands. We recently announced that Chilau Foods became the fourth brand to adopt the EEASY Lid. The EEASY Lid can currently be found atop products in over 250 Wegmans, Stop & Shop, Price Chopper and Tops Friendly Markets stores in addition to select specialty grocers in the Northeast. The EEASY Lid is also being used on products in EDEKA Kempken stores in Krefeld, Germany.

This Thanksgiving, we hope everyone spends less time in the kitchen and more time celebrating with family and friends.

We are excited to share the news that the EEASY Lid will top jars of Chilau Foods’ southern-inspired stew bases. With this new partnership, the EEASY Lid will be available on products in roughly 600 stores across 12 states by early 2024.

Chilau Foods is switching to the EEASY Lid for all of its products, providing its consumers with a new level of accessibility. Chilau’s products are currently available in nearly 350 stores across the U.S., including Winn-Dixie, Market Street, Albertsons, United Supermarkets, Harveys Supermarkets, and Plum Market. The EEASY Lid will be available on all Chilau products in these stores by the end of Q1 2024.

CCT’s partnership with Chilau Foods marries an easily accessible jar opening experience with an easy and convenient cooking experience. Aligning perfectly with the ultimate convenience of Chilau’s stew bases, which help produce unbelievable flavor in less time, the EEASY Lid makes opening jars quick and easy, reducing the amount of torque needed to twist off the lid by up to 50%.

In a press release announcing the partnership, Michael Anderson, founder of Chilau Foods, said: “We’ve always been a company that makes cooking easy for consumers. As we expand, the EEASY Lid allows us to provide our customers with an unbeatable cooking experience, starting with accessible packaging.”

Chilau Foods is the fourth brand to adopt the EEASY Lid. The EEASY Lid can currently be found atop products in over 250 Wegmans, Stop & Shop, Price Chopper and Tops Friendly Markets stores in addition to select specialty grocers in the Northeast. The EEASY Lid is also being used on products in EDEKA Kempken stores in Krefeld, Germany.

Commenting on the partnership announcement, CCT president Brandon Bach said: “With this partnership, Chilau Foods is helping make accessible packaging the norm rather than the exception. It’s great to see more brands adopt the EEASY Lid to help address consumer needs.”

It’s an exciting time at CCT as more and more brands adopt the EEASY Lid to provide an unprecedented level of accessibility to their jarred food products.

Watch this space for news and updates on how the EEASY Lid is taking over grocery store shelves one brand at a time to make packaging more accessible.

Food waste is an environmental, social and economic problem. Wasted food destined for landfills generates harmful greenhouse gas emissions, is a serious social problem as many people across the nation suffer from food insecurity and is a practice that wastes money.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, over one-third of the food produced in the United States is never eaten, wasting the resources used to produce it. Much of this food is sent to landfills, where it breaks down and generates methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. It is estimated that 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions are associated with food that is not consumed.

Even as edible food is thrown away, many people go hungry. Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) revealed that 12.8% (17.0 million) of U.S. households were food insecure at some time during 2022. That means at times during the year, these households were uncertain of having or unable to acquire enough food to meet the needs of all their members because they had insufficient money or other resources for food. 

Food waste is also a tremendous waste of money. The average household of four people wastes almost $2,760 per year on food that goes uneaten. In total, consumer food waste accounts for more than 48% of surplus food in the U.S. at a cost of $229 billion.

While there is no doubt that food waste is a massive problem, there are strategies consumers and brands can adopt to address this problem.

Consumers can play a vital role in cutting down on food waste by following simple practices such as being a more mindful shopper and only buying what is needed, properly storing leftovers for maximum freshness and serving smaller portions. Creating meal plans, composting leftovers, buying “ugly” (misshapen) produce, and using vegetables past their prime in soups and casseroles are other ways consumers can avoid throwing edible food away.

Brands can help tackle the challenge of food waste through their packaging.

High quality packaging protects food from damage and spoilage all along the supply chain from food manufacturer to store shelves to consumer pantries. This product protection increases the shelf life of food, which plays an important role in reducing food waste. So, too, does resealable packaging. Packaging that is re-closable and resealable allows consumers to portion out only the amount they want to consume and safely store the rest for later.

Choosing the right packaging can help brands do their part to reduce food waste. A software designed packaging solution, the EEASY Lid is the re-closable, sustainable packaging solution brands need to protect products while mitigating both food and packaging waste.

Consumers and brands can and should take action now to help reduce food waste.

Contact us today to learn more!

Consumers nowadays expect companies to reduce their carbon footprint through more sustainable packaging. According to market research firm Nielsen, 92% of shoppers say sustainability is important when choosing a brand today. In an effort to appeal to eco-conscious consumers, many companies are working to incorporate sustainability across their packaging value chain. More and more brands are reducing their environmental impact by optimizing packaging design to minimize waste, conserve resources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Here’s a roundup of the latest news on how companies are demonstrating environmental stewardship through sustainable packaging:

Beam Suntory recently launched a more sustainable packaging design for its single malt Scotch whisky brand Laphroaig in an effort to reduce the carbon footprint of each bottle. The new packaging design replaces the plastic bar top with a beech wood alternative, as well as switching out the secondary packaging tube for a more recycling-friendly carton. According to the company, the new packaging will result in a reduction of 1,184.74 tons of greenhouse gases per year – equivalent to growing 30,711 saplings over ten years.

PepsiCo announced that the brand will use paperboard wraps and paperboard clips for its multipacks in place of traditional plastic rings. This conversion to more sustainable packaging will include brands like Pepsi, Pepsi Zero, MTN DEW, Starry, Gatorade, among others. It will also include 7Up in Canada. 

Buencafé introduced a prototype lid for coffee jars made from avocado pits. Each biodegradable coffee jar lid contains 60% organic biomass, allowing decomposition to occur over two years, compared to the 500 years that a traditional plastic lid takes to decompose.

GoneShells, designed by Swedish studio Tomorrow Machine, is a peelable, dissolving bottle made from potatoes. The transparent, flexible packaging is designed in a way that is similar to how nature protects fruit. According to a report in Dieline, the goal was to create a substrate that required zero industrial processes to biodegrade.

Trend Hunter recently reported on MOB Beauty’s earth-first new biodegradable beauty packaging that is made with mono-material fiber pulps. The material allows the packaging to turn into dirt at the end of the product’s usable life.

Arla Foods is teaming up with Blue Ocean Closures in a formal partnership to create a fiber-based cap for its milk cartons. The cap has a body made of sustainably sourced FSC fiber material combined with a thin barrier coating. An advanced, proprietary vacuum press forming process allows for a cap that is biobased, ocean biodegradable and as recyclable as paper.

Our EEASY Lid, made of recyclable aluminum, is another sustainable packaging solution that helps brands meet sustainability goals and stand out from the competition. The EEASY Lid is currently sold on Guglielmo’s pasta sauce in over 250 grocers across the Northeast United States and is available in EDEKA Kempken stores in Germany. CCT is working to expand EEASY Lid availability very soon!

Need a packaging solution that will help your brand deliver on sustainable packaging commitments, achieve circularity targets and reduce greenhouse gas emissions while enhancing customer experience? You’ve come to the right place. Contact us today to learn more about the sustainable, accessible EEASY lid.

Busy parents are more likely to shop online, eat at home and cook their own meals, according to a recent survey by FMI – The Food Industry Association. The survey found that parents are twice as likely (24%) to shop online for their groceries than consumers as a whole (12%). Eating at home is also increasing, with 63% of parents reporting they are more likely to eat at home this year than last year and 59% indicating they are cooking their own meals more frequently in 2023.

In the United States, approximately 40% of all households are family households. Many parents heading these households are stretched thin with a lot to do and not enough time to accomplish everything. A OnePoll survey found that 60% of U.S. adults say there’s not enough time in the day to get all their work, chores and errands done. The survey also found that the average person would need an extra four hours in a day to get everything done.

Because there is not enough time in a day, parents place a premium on convenience when it comes to both shopping and meal preparation.

Many parents opt to grocery shop online to get an hour or two back in their day. Online grocery shopping allows them to avoid checkout lines and parking hassles, order when they want 24/7 and get groceries delivered right to their door. All of these advantages leave more time for other things like work, family and leisure activities.

When it comes to meal preparation and cooking, parents can sometimes feel overwhelmed by how long it takes to get food on the table. A survey last year found that that parents often get frustrated by the time it takes to prepare ingredients (54%) and cook their kids’ meals (44%). Parents responding to this survey said they would give up some of their favorite things for a week such as their favorite music (62%), TV show or movie (55%), or most-loved outfit (45%) if they could get dinner on the table in under 10 minutes.

Convenient and easy-to-use packaging allows parents to save time in the kitchen. Recognizing this, moms and dads are looking for packaging that delivers an accessible, convenient and stress-free experience. Researchers from ParentsandBrands revealed that 85% of parents said that packaging was the first thing they notice about a product.

Jarred products that are hard to open are one of the biggest time wasters in the kitchen. Spending precious minutes trying to wrestle open a jar to get a meal prepped is, to say the least, frustrating and irritating for time-strapped parents.

Fortunately, there is a solution. Jarred products topped with the EEASY Lid are the packaging innovation parents need to help cut down on meal preparation. With a patented design that makes opening a jar up to 50% easier, parents no longer have to waste time trying to open a stubborn jar lid.

With family households making up 40% of all U.S. households, brands that want to capture share of this market must focus on delivering the convenient features parents find valuable. That focus should include meeting consumer preferences for easy-to-open, easy-to-use packaging that saves time.

Contact us today to find out how the EEASY Lid can help your brand meet consumer preferences for convenient packaging.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month is a time for individuals, businesses, and communities to show their support for the many people affected by breast cancer. It is also a month dedicated to promoting screening and prevention of the disease which affects one in eight women in the United States every year. Additionally, it is the second most common cancer in women in the country and represents about 30% of all new female cancers each year in the nation.

As women recover from breast cancer surgery and treatment, they can develop weakness in their arms and hands, making make everyday tasks, such as opening jars and lifting everyday objects difficult. For some women, the problems can go on for years.

Dawn Reall, a breast cancer survivor and inspiration behind the development of the EEASY Lid, while thankfully doing well today, is still unable to apply enough strength to open jars even nine years post-surgery.

When Dawn was first recovering from breast cancer surgery, she asked CCT managing partner Pete Stodd why there wasn’t a way to make opening jars easier. Pete Stodd and Jim Bach worked for ten years researching and developing a solution, which resulted in the creation of the EEASY Lid. Remarkably, the EEASY Lid is the first jar lid innovation in 75 years and makes opening jars up to 50% easier compared to traditional jar lids.

When Dawn first opened a jar with the EEASY Lid, she said:

“It was very neat to see it and to use it. I think sometimes jar lids are just too tight. There are times when you can’t get a jar open – you’re banging it to try and get it open and nothing gives, so of course you wind up passing it along to someone else to try to get it open. The EEASY Lid is a great idea that would benefit a lot of people – especially people who have any kind of disability.”

As we support Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it is important to not only recognize that packaging needs to be more accessible but to take action to ensure packaging is accessible for people recovering from breast cancer treatment and surgery and anyone else experiencing challenges associated with disabilities, illness and aging.

The EEASY Lid Debuts in France

CCT announced the debut of the EEASY Lid at the Alina Bordeaux trade show which was held on September 27 and 28 in Bordeaux, France. Pont Emballage, a packaging supplier based in the Netherlands, displayed CCT’s EEASY Lid in their show booth to highlight the benefits of accessible packaging. 

Alina Bordeaux is the only professional exhibition for the agri-food industry in Southwest France. Over 2,000 key buyers in the food sector attended the show, getting a unique opportunity to explore the latest trends and developments in the industry.

Commenting in a press release on the EEASY Lid’s debut in France, CCT president Brandon Bach said: “There are over 87 million Europeans with some sort of disability – and this doesn’t even include physical limitations such as arthritis, carpel tunnel or weakened grip strength due to aging. Accessible packaging allows brands to reach this additional market while addressing consumer needs. Everyone should be able to easily open and enjoy their favorite jarred food product without the need for tools or opening hacks.” 

Media Coverage of the EEASY Lid’s Debut in France

Packaging, a specialist European magazine for packaging, logistics and transport, reported on the EEASY Lid’s debut in France, noting that the EEASY Lid simplifies the opening of jars by up to 40-50% thanks to a simple press of the button on the lid which releases the vacuum seal. The article also pointed out that CCT’s innovative jar lid is made out of sustainable, durable aluminum and highlighted that the EEASY Lid was an honoree in this year’s Fast Company Innovation by Design Awards. Read the full article here.

French publication Agro-media, a food industry news publication for professionals, also covered the EEASY Lid’s debut in France. The EEASY Lid was featured in an article headlined 8 solutions to Discover at Salon Alina. Describing how easy the EEASY Lid is to open with a simple press of a button and a twist of the lid, the article said the EEASY Lid “provides a premium consumer experience and avoids the frustration of a hard-to-open jar. Make life easier for your consumers.” Read the full article here.

CCT in other news…

In other news, CCT was recently featured in Packaging Insights, a publication covering packaging related news and developments. The publication’s In Brief column featured news of CCT earning an honorable mention in Fast Company’s 2023 Innovation by Design Awards in the packaging category. The piece noted that “the patented lid allows consumers to break the vacuum seal on a jar by simply pressing a button on the lid.” Read the full article here.

Continue to watch this space for more news and updates on the EEASY Lid!

Fast Company hosted a celebration of Innovation By Design Award honorees on Wednesday, September 20, in New York at Convene in downtown Manhattan’s Financial District. The exclusive cocktail reception paid tribute to the remarkable achievements of this year’s honorees. 

CCT was one of these honorees! In case you missed it, the EEASY Lid earned honorable mention in the packaging category for its patented design that makes opening a jar up to 50% easier.  

Our team was represented at the celebration by CCT co-founder and managing partner James Bach and CCT president Brandon Bach. 

Here are a few photos recapping this great evening. 

Cooking at home increased significantly during the pandemic out of necessity. Now, more than three years later, many consumers are still opting to prepare meals at home. NPD’s Future of Dinner Report forecasts that in-home dinners will remain at a heightened level through 2024. The report notes that “although in-home dinners will remain elevated, consumers have resumed their busy lifestyles and will look for convenience when preparing dinner.” 

Today, consumers are cooking at home for a variety of reasons including controlling the ingredients in their meals, saving money, eating healthier and spending quality time at home. As they prepare home cooked meals, consumers want the experience to be simple and easy. They are specifically looking for convenient products that offer easy-to-open packaging, shorter cook times and quick clean up. 

Many consumers are turning to tasty time-saving solutions like meal kit delivery and purchasing fresh prepared and ready-to-prep options from their grocer. Consumers’ craving for convenience is also driving the increased popularity of frozen meals and ready-to-eat snacks. NPD projects that retail ready-to-eat foods will grow by double-digits through 2024. 

Retailers and brands that deliver on convenience will increase both revenue and consumer loyalty. This is particularly true for specific types of purchases. According to the National Retail Federation, convenience is especially important to consumers when it comes to everyday items such as groceries, personal care items and pet supplies. 

Convenience-minded consumers want products in these categories to feature easy-to-use packaging solutions. For shoppers today, convenient, accessible product packaging plays a key role in influencing their buying behavior. Products with packaging that increase convenience and improve the user experience stand out on store shelves and prompt more consumers to add them to their shopping carts.   

At CCT, we recognize that convenience is a priority for consumers today. In fact, Convenience is our middle name! Our EEASY Lid is designed for convenience to help brands improve customer experience with their products. The EEASY Lid does this by making jars up to 50% easier to open, eliminating the struggle of opening stubborn jar lids for people of all ages and abilities. 

It’s also convenient for consumers when it comes to sustainability. Made of recyclable aluminum, consumers can easily recycle the EEASY Lid through most community recycling programs. The simple step of putting it in their recycling bin sends the EEASY Lid off to become a new aluminum product. 

Contact us today to learn more about how the EEASY Lid can help your brand align with consumer preferences for convenience and boost sales. 

A circular world is one that keeps materials and products in use for as long possible. To create a more circular world and protect the health of the planet, the global problem of packaging waste must be addressed.  

Increasing the recyclability of packaging is an integral strategy for breaking the take-make-waste cycle and contributing to a circular economy. Recycling keeps waste out of landfills, conserves natural resources, reduces demand for raw materials, prevents pollution, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.  

Recycling to create a more circular world is critical for protecting the environment and mitigating the climate crisis. Companies, governments and consumers can all do their part to boost recycling of product packaging to promote a circular economy. 

Companies 

Companies can decrease waste and pollution by designing recyclability into their packaging. Rethinking product packaging to increase recyclability can reduce carbon emissions and help companies meet circularity targets.  

When designing packaging for recyclability, brands should look for circular packaging materials like aluminum. As a metal that can be recycled an infinite number of times without losing its original properties, aluminum is considered one of the key materials for the circular economy. Nearly 75% of all aluminum ever produced is still in use today. 

As brands look to minimize their environmental impact and win over sustainability minded customers, they must not only switch to packaging materials that are easy to recycle but must help educate consumers on how to recycle the packaging. A coalition of forward thinking brands are already doing this by adopting How2Recycle smart packaging labels. How2Recycle is a standardized labeling system that clearly communicates recycling instructions to the public. 

Government 

The government can also help increase recycling and play a critical role in advancing circularity by supporting and strengthening community recycling programs, modernizing recycling infrastructure and educating consumers.  

In 2020, the EPA announced a goal to increase the U.S, recycling from 32% to 50% by 2030. The EPA aims to support this goal by reducing contamination in recycling, making the U.S. recycling processing system more efficient and strengthening the economic markets for recycled materials. 

Some U.S. states are also working to significantly increase recycling rates through extended producer responsibility (EPR) fees, which shift some of the cost of waste management to brand owners, producers and material manufacturers. EPR fees are based on the types and amount of packaging these entities put on the market and help cover the cost of collecting, sorting and recycling. 

Communities can also help increase recycling rates by adding recycling bins in public spaces and using social media and websites to promote recycling, share information on what materials can be recycled and increase participation. 

Consumers 

Consumers also play a vital role in boosting recycling rates to advance circularity and help reduce the 82.2 million tons of containers and packaging that make up a major portion of municipal solid waste.  

Consumers can do their part by checking with their local recycling provider to learn what they will accept in recycling bins. Another way consumers can increase recycling is to “think green” as they shop, checking product labels before they buy to determine if the packaging is made from recyclable or recycled materials. 

Becoming recycling advocates and urging their representatives to introduce legislation that supports recycling programs is another way consumers can help increase recycling and promote a more circular world.  

The world needs to become more circular, and packaging innovations can help. 

Innovative packaging solutions like the EEASY Lid made of recyclable and sustainable aluminum can help brands close the loop and accelerate their path to circularity. Contact us today to learn more about how the EEASY Lid can help increase the circularity of your products.