Think back to the days when you would gaze eagerly at the photo of a robust, appetizing pizza only to slide a frozen, flimsy version out of the box instead. That disconnect doesn’t cut it with consumers anymore, and pizza brands are investing time and effort into making sure that their packaging accurately communicates the taste and appetite appeal of a slew of “near delivery” quality products. 

Uno Foods Inc. has embraced an entirely new look for its line of 16 refrigerated offerings—from deep dish and hand-tossed pizzas to pizza skins, flatbread pizzas, calzones and more. Uno worked with Wright Design to create the new, better-than-delivery look, which reflects the growing retail trend toward providing fresh deli pizzas in the refrigerated aisle, versus focusing on frozen pizza.

Wright Design adapted the world-famous Uno identity to create the new packaging, which suggests an upscale version of an Uno restaurant take-out box. The strategy went even further to link the brand with the package, pulling typefaces from Uno menus to reinforce the strong link between the food prepared at Uno restaurants and the retail products.

“Our retail offerings integrate the same, mouth-watering recipes that our chefs use in our more than 200 restaurants nationwide,” says Michael Dellemonico, Uno Foods’ vice president of sales. “We wanted to be sure to reflect that connection in our new packaging.”

A kraft-paper structure calls to mind the classic corrugated hinged pizza delivery box. The new packaging features vibrant color bands and call-outs to distinguish the different flavor and product varieties, and a large die-cut window shows off the product. A band of text across the top third of the carton communicates the use of restaurant-quality ingredients and the hand-made nature of the pizzas.

The final designs hearken back to the products’ restaurant roots and the idea of bringing better-than-delivery pizza home. The new packaging is debuting in major supermarket chains nationwide now through the end of the year.

• Package design. At Wright Design, please call 978.635.9997 or visit www.wrightds.com