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Foodservice Packaging Institute

For the sixth year, QSR magazine and the Foodservice Packaging Institute teamed up to present the QSR/FPI Foodservice Packaging Awards, an annual competition that honors excellence in, you guessed it, foodservice packaging.

Once again, response was terrific, which both QSR and FPI love to see. More important, though, the high level of participation shows great recognition within the industry for the importance of packaging. After all, without packaging, food and drink wouldn’t make it across the counter, into a car, and/or onto the consumer’s table.

Each year we are also reminded that the delivery of food and drink is only a utilitarian view. Packaging is also a way to deliver your brand, help the environment, make a parent’s day easier, improve food safety and hygiene, and all other manner of important functions.

Thanks to all the entrants for 2008. We hope to see you—and many others—in 2009.

2008 Foodservice
Package of the Year

Chicken Fingers Hand

Company: HAVI Global Solutions

Manufacturer: Zott

Operator: McDonald’s Latin America

The Foodservice Package of the Year is selected from among the winners of each of the six individual categories. The voting was the tightest ever in the competition, with a razor-thin margin of victory for this year’s overall winner.

The entry submission materials for the Chicken Fingers Hand noted the goal was to create a kids meal package that was innovative, appealing to children, and, of course, useful in holding chicken fingers and dipping sauces. Designers settled on a hand shape because it’s something children can “easily connect to … and get excited over.” In addition, the bright and warm color exudes an air of playfulness. That the chicken fingers sit in the fingers of the hand increases the clever factor.

Judges found much to like: