Mini Old Fashion Donuts, Flavorful French Macarons, and Custom Packaging… It doesn’t get much better than that!
We love creating packaging for local businesses. Our employees are excited and proud when they see the products they crafted in the market. We love supporting the growth of new businesses. It is rewarding when you can create a custom folding carton that not only looks great, but also fits the exact requirements for our customer’s unique products. We focus on designing and manufacturing packaging our customers can assemble, fill and distribute with efficiency. Hello Sugar and miFLAVOUR are two growing local businesses that we recently had the pleasure of partnering with in this capacity. Alyssa with Hello Sugar echo’s our “buy local” sentiments, “we LOVE working with other local businesses in the Spokane Community! We strive to serve our community, and working together with another local business helps us do that.”
We met Maximus in 2018. His task was to find packaging that would protect his very delicate French Macarons while still ensuring they were visible “eye candy” for the consumer. He and his wife, Ella, Executive Pastry Chef, had a unique vision and goal for the high-end package. We did our best to translate that vision into a reality, but it just wasn’t quite right. Max then re-focused on other business priorities and made do with the current packaging.
Fast forward to 2020, and Max and Ella now have a beautiful miFLAVOUR retail location (3403 E. Sprague, Spokane WA 99202), with an expanded product line, including Volotini Gelato & Sorbetto, and plans for growth. This is where it is helpful to have a supplier just three miles down the road. Max comments that “during the development phase, it was very convenient to visit their local office and review the box samples in person. By being able to see and feel the samples, it made it easier to make decisions regarding the shape, size, texture, color, etc.” The goal was to create a package for a retail setting that could also be shipped nationwide. Max had this to say about the complete custom packaging experience, “Sonderen Packaging exceeded all of our expectations. They did a great job aligning their support to meet our company’s needs. We came to them only a month before Valentine’s Day and expressed how important it was to have our macaron boxes ready for the Valentine’s Day launch. They got their engineers and customer service staff involved to engineer a structurally-sound box that perfectly aligns with our brand. The design hit the press only a week before the deadline, and the boxes were completed and delivered just in time for our Valentine’s Day sale. The owner, Keva Sonderen, was there to ensure we were satisfied with our products and even delivered a few cases earlier than the deadline to give us a head start on the packaging fulfillment. It was refreshing to work with a company that made us feel like we were a priority.”
Our goal is to provide total customer satisfaction and also to promote our customers’ products. The MacaronBundles are now available on the miFLAVOUR website and in their chic bakery and retail location! There are an impressive nine different options for purchase! We have not yet tasted a delicious, chewy miFLAVOUR Macaron that we did not love. We are happy that we exceeded the customers’ expectations and support their future growth! “Our final MacaronBundle boxes were the perfect size to keep our macarons protected. The functionality of the box was designed for the best end-user experience, and to top it off, it was embossed with our logo and coated in a velvety soft finish. The packaging is perfectly engineered to receive future labeling needs as our products evolve over time,” said Max. All of the miFLAVOUR products are so beautiful and delightful. Max and Ella advise that it is best to enjoy the Macarons within three days from purchase for maximum freshness to experience the intended texture and flavors. While the Macarons will always have a special place in our hearts, the chocolate croissants are a close second!
We have wanted to partner with Hello Sugar since meeting Ramsey, also in 2018. Our “sweet spot” for competitive pricing is often higher than start-up businesses are interested in paying because of our business size. Thus, we were not awarded the Hello Sugar 6ct and 12ct donut box business. While this was disappointing, we were sure that someday there would be a project that we could work on together. Hello Sugar has experience impressive growth and expansion with three retail locations, largely due to their creative and classy branding efforts, as well as their modern twist on a classic treat. In 2020 Alyssa, Catering and Sales Director (and so much more!), contacted us about a new concept they were working on for the wholesale market; a small package that would hold three old-fashioned mini donuts. Their vision for the custom package included a two-piece box and a cellophane window for the quaint creations’ optimal visibility.
After the product had been in the market for one month, Alyssa and the team were surprised and delighted at how popular the Vintage Minis were. It was all they could do to keep up with demand. The minis are being sold wholesale at ten local coffee shops and coffee stands, and they are also working on expanding with a local coffee company. If you want your favorite coffee shop to sell these treats, tell them to contact Alyssa! Alyssa also came to us to inquire about creating a different tray-style that was faster to put together, as the cartons’ assembly was slowing down production. We are expert problem solvers, so we designed a new simplex-style tray and are looking forward to manufacturing it for them on the next order of boxes.
Alyssa provided this testimonial about her experience with Sonderen Packaging and the final package, “We LOVE the design for our wholesale boxes! Packaging for our donuts has always been a huge part of our business and the Hello Sugar experience, so we had to make sure what was created kept our donuts fresh and beautiful and also fit our brand. We couldn’t be happier with what we finalized. While we’ve been working on this concept for just about a year, we received our boxes quicker than expected once we decided on the final design. The whole experience has been amazing, from start to finish! We have so many ideas for the future, and we know that we can creatively find solutions to fit our needs as we continue to grow Hello Sugar.”
The mutual respect and support Hello Sugar and miFLAVOUR have for each other makes it that much sweeter to Buy Local! Alyssa expressed, “we have always admired what miFLAVOUR did with their branding from the beginning and are in love with the emboss of their logo on the new MacaronBundle cartons!”