On the heels of a record year—and a record decade—for its retail division, White Castle is introducing a brand-new look for its retail packaging.
The nation’s first fast-food hamburger chain began rolling out the new design on select packages in October. By the end of March, all retail packages will sport the new look, which features a consumer-approved contemporary design with clean lines and bold colors to create consistency across the portfolio of products. The new design also appeals to customers’ sense of taste with a dominant image of a single Slider.
“This package refresh proclaims ‘tasty,’ and we love the fact that it coincides with our 100th birthday,” says Jamie Richardson, vice president at White Castle. “For a family-owned business spanning four generations, we’re always looking for new ways to respond to our customers’ preferences and satisfy their crave.”
White Castle has been thoughtful and consumer-focused in its approach to the packaging change. In 2019, White Castle began to explore the packaging design elements that matter most to consumers: benefits, brand identity and taste appeal. Working with a food packaging and branding company, White Castle then redesigned the boxes for its frozen Sliders, introducing the tagline, “Easy to heat, fun to eat.”
Well-known as a fast-food restaurant brand, White Castle is also a successful consumer packaged goods company. White Castle launched its retail division in 1987, becoming the first quick-service restaurant to offer its menu items for purchase at grocery stores for preparation at home. Today, White Castle’s retail product line-up includes five Slider varieties in a range of package sizes. The Sliders are sold in freezer aisles at grocery, convenience, drug and club stores nationwide.
“The retail division represents about 25 percent of White Castle’s total sales, and we had another strong year in 2020,” says Tiffany Carreker, general manager and VP of sales for the division. “In a year of gains for many CPG brands, our growth outpaced the category by 8%. We’ve seen steady growth year after year, to the point where our retail business today is more than double the size it was in 2010.”
White Castle credits this success, in part, to its commitment to quality. While other restaurant companies entering the retail space have outsourced production, White Castle maintains its own supply chain, from meat processing plants to bakeries and retail manufacturing plants. This means that the makeup of the sliders that are available in the frozen food aisle are virtually identical to those served in one of its more than 360 restaurants.
