Asheville, North Carolina-based No Evil Foods has unveiled a first look at its latest packaging evolution. The new designs, which will be rolled out across the company’s full line of plant-based meats over the coming months, are visually streamlined while keeping the brands’ key value positions in mind: environmentally sustainable plant meat made from simple, animal-free ingredients.
A packaging evolution
The company, which first started selling at farmers’ markets in 2014, has been recognized as a leader for its packaging design and packaging-related sustainability initiatives. The brand received a NEXTY Award for “Best New Packaging Innovation” from New Hope Network at 2017’s Natural Products Expo East, and in 2020 the company announced it had become certified plastic negative.
No Evil Foods collaborated with brand strategists at Smoketown in Chicago and long-term creative partner Kara Hollinger, founder of Charlotte, North Carolina-based design firm Made Outside, to execute the company’s vision. The results are new designs that highlight the main value propositions, incorporate a color-coding scheme and add food photography to signal usage occasions. The changes work together to create packaging that is more shoppable in a dynamic and rapidly changing digital and in-store environment.
“We wanted to keep certain familiar and favorite elements of our original brand while also streamlining our focus and doubling down on our values. In the era of COVID, with restricted field marketing and demo opportunities, we needed our packaging to work harder on the shelf, and we believe our new lineup will really stand out. Our look has changed, but our customers can expect our commitments to creating plant meat from simple, animal-free ingredients and environmental sustainability to remain as true as ever,” stated Sadrah Schadel, co-founder and chief creative officer.
The new packaging, which is printed on Sustainable Forestry Initiative certified paperboard, is a noticeable shift for No Evil Foods, which had been using a home-compostable unbleached kraft paperboard. The company reports that the transition to SFI certified paperboard is a significant improvement to its overall environmental impact as compared to its previous paperboard, with reductions of 80 percent or more in GhG emissions, environmental toxicity and human health burden.
The brands’ packaging will be printed using 100 percent renewable wind power and will use vegetable-based inks that have 40 percent fewer VOCs (volatile organic compounds) than conventional inks and are comprised of 100 percent natural and renewable oils.
“We believe that our food system should be at the forefront of combating the environmental crisis, and how we approach packaging needs to be included in that. Companies should be doing the work to fully understand the impacts of their packaging. We underwent a lifecycle analysis for our products and packaging and learned that what we assumed was the least impactful packaging substrate, wasn’t. So, we took steps to improve that,” Schadel said.
The company’s commitment to remove twice as much plastic from nature as it uses will hold true with this packaging refresh. To date, No Evil Foods has diverted more than 16,000 pounds of plastic from landfills and avoided more than 10,000 pounds of CO2 emissions from its efforts.
No Evil Foods enters beef industry
A new visual direction isn’t the only upcoming change for No Evil Foods. The company has introduced a new plant meat to its core lineup.
“As the plant-based category continues to mature, it’s important for us to expand our product portfolio and prioritize creating new and innovative offerings to bring to an increasingly competitive set, and not just recreate another version of something that’s already on the market. Consumers don’t need another burger or beef crumble. With our new beef strip, I believe we’re tapping into the consumer desire for new formats of the plant-based protein favorites that they’re already familiar with,” said Ron Bryant, chief growth officer at No Evil Foods.
Best Life Beef will launch at more than 300 Sprouts Farmers Market locations in March. No Evil Foods will be debuting all three of its new products in Anaheim, California, at the Natural Products Expo West, March 10-12 in Hall E, booth 5715.
For more information, visit noevilfoods.com.
