In May, McCormick Distilling began transitioning its Tequila Rose flavored cream liqueur and tequila brands from glass bottles to plastic.
Echoing the trapezoidal shape of the former black glass bottles, the new opaque plastic bottles include the same detailing-texturing on the bottle surface as well as a rose embossment-and a tamper-evident closure.
All of the brand’s five sizes will make the conversion to plastic, a multi-layer HDPE, by year’s end. The brand’s strawberry, java and cocoa flavors are all being converted.
Across its portfolio, McCormick Distilling ships four million cases per year, of which 80 percent is in PET and, now, five percent in HDPE.
The Bottom Line:The new Tequila Rose HDPE bottles have resulted in less breakage, reducing freight 50 percent for replacement inventory. McCormick Distilling president and COO Jim Zargo says that, because of liquor laws that require some distributors to pay for freight, “we benefit from [the reduction] in freight and our customers do as well.”
Zargo also notes that the brand was able to double its output with the new HDPE bottles, and that it was able to reduce its material acquisition costs as well as its inventory costs (glass setups typically require months of inventory, while HDPE can operate on what is almost a month-to-month, just in time basis).(Bottle manufacturer: Berry Plastics, www.berryplastics.com)
