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Package Design: Kraft Singles Target Gen Z /Millennials with "Easier to Open" Wrapping

People aren't eating cheese slices because they're too hard to open?

By Rain Noe - May 24, 2023

in Food | Packaging

I despise inconvenient packaging, and always wish the CEO who stands to profit the most from it, would be locked in a room and forced to open his company's own packaging for several hours a day. That being said, I'm a little torn on the news below because I don't think making junk food easier to eat should be a societal aim.

Apparently Kraft Singles (for you Europeans, we have individually-wrapped slices of cheese sold in packs of 16—stop it, you guys have problems too) are really difficult to open; finding the seam of the clear film is something like trying to start a roll of packaging tape. In fact the company says "the inability to easily open the clear wrapper" is "the #1 consumer complaint."

Below is an earnest, not satirical, 2-minute-plus YouTube video on how to open cheese slice packaging. #hellinahandbasket

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So: The company's package designers have added a textured flap that signifies the end of the film, according to a press release. The company also says their redesigned packaging, which includes a new appearance and a disturbing-that-this-is-a-bragging-point "made with real dairy" alert, are intended to appeal to Gen Z and Millennial buyers, who are apparently not Kraft Singles fans. "Among some, there is a general perception that processed cheese singles are artificial and don't taste all that good. Kraft Singles also don't connect all that well with younger demographics," GlobalData Retail analyst Neil Saunders told CNN.

Left, old. Right, new. Problem solved?

I don't think that younger buyers aren't buying Singles because they're hard to open; I believe Gen Z and Millennials are generally more interested in eating healthier food. Anyways, as a former package designer, my spirit shrinks at the thought of a Kraft exec walking into their Package Design department and saying: "Guess what? We've got a problem, and you guys are going to solve it!"

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Ross Oliver

a year ago

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Kraft Singles are NOT CHEESE. Read the label: "Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product" They're not allowed to call it "cheese." Yes that infernal wrapping sucks, but I would wager the main reason for decline in popularity is a shift toward Real Food (and also eschewing dairy products in general)

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Eric Ludlum

a year ago

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Block cheese always cheaper, use savings get one of these, laugh all the way to heart clinic https://usa.boska.com/products/cheese-slicer-copenhagen

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Ryan Cee

a year ago

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It's been longer than I like to think about, but when I was a teenager
at a Hardees, the individual "cheese" slices for burgers came in stacked
blocks with every other slice offset from the stack so they were easy to
peel off. Can't imagine it would be too hard to do that for the 8oz packages.

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Stuart Constantine

a year ago

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20 burgers?! When's the party? Seriously though, pre-sliced American Cheese is $7.49 per pound at my local grocer. Kraft Singles are available via Amazon for $24.64 per pound (with free delivery for Prime members) but you can buy them at Target for $5.50 per pound. So a little cheaper than the grocery store, but I agree that single-serve anything wrapped in plastic is a terrible idea. Also it's not that hard to open these slices in their current packaging - just saying.

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steve hassler

a year ago

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anything individually wrapped in plastic should be discontinued. seriously. thank you.

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Jared Forshey

a year ago

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Regretfully, I kind of get it. Standing in front of a grill unwrapping 20 singles is such a miserable task that I will spend twice the money to get a tray of unwrapped american cheese slices from the deli if I know I'm cooking a bunch of burgers!

That said, this solution won't do anything for me. It's not that it's hard, it's just annoying and generates a ton of trash that you have to deal with right on the spot.

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