Play It Again

Gourmets aren't as highbrow as you might think. Though they have an appetite for sophisticated fare such as ethnic soup mixes and flavored vinegars, today's specialty food shoppers are attracted to packaging so simple that, in many cases, it gives products the appearance of being homemade.

"Especially in the specialty foods industry, since [the products] are exotic and unusual, manufacturers try to make them as approachable as possible by using homemade-looking packages or `comfort' packaging," explains Carolyn Schwaar, editor of Fancy Food magazine. "This is in no way country crafts packaging, though--a lot of these [packages] are very sophisticated, yet simple. They're not as elaborate; they [don't feature] the sort of bells and whistles you used to find on gourmet packaging. [Nowadays] you want to make these products look as mainstream as possible."

Schwaar believes the popularity of brown corrugated packaging and food labels that appear handwritten results from an overall societal trend toward casual dining and dress. Then, too, the demand for products that seem to be natural and healthy is contributing to the simplicity of gourmet-food packaging. Simply put: Simplicity sells.

This article was originally published in the February 1997 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Play It Again.