Editor’s Note | Packaging Wake Up Call
For legacy brands, reinvention comes at a cost but it’s worth it.
For nearly a century, we have been opening English muffin packaging wrong.
We, the groggy, have fought to unwrap cellophane English muffin packaging for decades. But that was only half the battle. Once the cellophane was open, it was impossible to reclose, leaving dry, inedible muffins. Later, Ziploc bags made it possible for a home repackaging strategy. Then a miracle happened.
In 2021, Bays English muffins made breakfast great again with its new top resealable packaging.
It’s not every day a legacy brand does something that disrupts its category. Especially considering Bays had begun using the cellophane window since 1938. Before that, Bays sold the muffins by the dozen in brown paper bags.
It took 87 years to perfect English muffin packaging.
Jill Matthews, director of marketing, innovation and strategy for Bays, was quoted in The Chicago Sun-Times saying, “It started with our consumers….They’ve been in love with our Bays English muffins for years, but not our packaging. This was a frequent consumer complaint, that once they opened Bays they had to repackage Bays in another container.”
Is there a product you love but hate their packaging? I want to hear about it. Who knows, maybe we can inspire a redesign?
Kristin Joker
Editor in Chief
(248) 227-4727f
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