In 2012, three California engineers dissatisfied with the barbecue sauce choices on local store shelves created their own super-spicy honey-and-habanero version. They dubbed their invention Honey Badger BBQ Sauce – inspired by a popular YouTube parody of a National Geographic program on the African honey badger – and decided to bring the product to market in a 3D package shaped like its rough-and-tough animal namesake.
With nearly $50,000 raised on crowdfunding website Kickstarter and design/production assistance from Berlin Packaging’s Studio One Eleven, the unlikely food entrepreneurs went to work to translate their concept into reality. The process required multiple adjustments to the sauce company’s preliminary 3D sketches in collaboration with the mold maker, blow molder and filler to ensure manufacturability and fillability. The final blown PET bottle design features a snarling honey badger locked in combat with a cobra, complete with claws, fangs and ferocity that practically jump out of the resin.