The Ultimate Packaging Zine - LeKAC Sourcing (Summer 2022)

THE PACKAGING ZINE SUMMER 2022

Editor in Chief

Gabrielle Ho

Art Direction

Samneet Mann

Taylor Tran

Editors

Gabrielle Ho

Taylor Tran

Graphic

Designers

Samneet Mann

Writers

Gabrielle Ho

Taylor Tran

Cover Photo

Samneet Mann

MESSAGE FROM THE TEAM

The weather is getting warmer, and summer is here! As always, we want to thank you for reading our seasonal zine. The last few months have been extra busy for LeKAC, and this edition is full of updates.

If you’re new here, let us introduce ourselves. We’re a Canadian-based custom company, providing custom packaging and sourcing services across North America! We’ve also added services like graphic design, branding, and social media management!

We’d like to take this time to thank our clients for their patience and their ongoing support. Especially with the rollout of our new branding service (and thus, new branding clients!) we’ve been hard at work making some beautiful custom packaging and designs. Despite our

best efforts, orders are sometimes delayed due to factors outside our control. If you’re concerned about the status of your order, please let us know and one of our Business Development Consultants can provide an update.

As a final reminder, we are still open by appointment only! For our Ontario office, while mask mandates have been lifted, our staff will continue to wear masks for our safety and yours.

Not comfortable meeting in person? No worries! Our Consultants are available via phone and video to assist you as well.

Sincerely,

Everyone from LeKAC Sourcing Ltd.

Check out our Marketing Services if you’re interested in branding, graphic design and social media management help!

Learn with Lenny!

Check out pages 20–21 to find Lenny teaching you about packaging terms you’ll find useful the next time you order custom packaging!

TRADE SHOW RECAP

SIAL 2022 & BAKERY SHOWCASE

Since our last zine, we’ve been busy attending trade shows! We attended the Bakery Showcase in April as well as SIAL Canada in May. Though these were not our first trade shows of the year, they were the busiest!

Our sincere thanks to everyone who came by our booths to say hi. If we didn’t get a chance to speak with you, our apologies! Our small but mighty team was hard at work to make sure everyone was attended to.

With each show we go to we learn more and streamline our processes. By the time we arrived at SIAL Canada, we were working like a well-oiled machine. If you missed us at any of the shows we’ve attended this year, don’t worry! Keep your eyes on our socials or future zine editions to see which shows we’ll be at next. If you can’t wait until then, contact us today and we’ll help you get started on your packaging journey. See you soon!

Our team had an amazing time getting to know so many businesses and business owners at the trade shows!

We can’t wait to to see you all again at the next trade shows.

OUR ECO-FRIENDLY SOLUTIONS

We are proud to show case a large variety of eco-friendly and fully customized packaging from our clients over the last few years!

We featured a large variety of eco-conscious products at both tradeshows, including packaging for bakery, agriculture and takeout industries! Some of these products include:

• Reusable Bags

• Gable Folding Cartons

• Bakery Boxes

• Paper Bowls

• Corrugated Pizza Boxes

• Paper Bags

Not sure what you’re looking for? No worries! Our packaging line is extensive and we have so much more to offer for the food packaging industry! The full catalogue is available to view on our website!

Want to see the products in person and didn’t catch us at SIAL in Montreal or the Bakery Showcase in Toronto? You can come visit us in office (by appointment) at either our Montreal or Toronto locations! Visit our website www.lekac. com/contact-us to get in touch with one of our consultants!

You can also give us a call at 1-866-996-6818, email us at info@lekac.com, or contact us on Instagram or Facebook! We can’t wait to hear from you.

FEATURED PRODUCT

BAKERY STYLE FOLDING CARTON

• High Quality

• Eco-Friendly

• Affordable

Our paper carton boxes come in a variety of structures, printing and lamination options! Get in touch with our team to learn more about what we can supply.

THE VOICE OF DESIGN

HOW PACKAGING CAN SPEAK FOR YOUR BRAND

The way you harness the voice of design can affect the way that customers perceive your brand through your packaging. In previous blog posts, we’ve talked about how to choose the right font and setting brand guidelines to make sure your brand is perceived the way you want it to be.

CASE STUDY: HATTENDO

Japanese confectionery Hattendo places a heavy importance on their packaging. We’ve worked with them multiple times to create unique packaging designs that speak to their Japanese heritage. When designing their seasonal packaging for their Toronto stores with our graphic designer, we incorporated Japanese illustration techniques and culturally inspired characters and buildings!

Through the seasons, we create new packaging for Hattendo that conveys their Japanese (and now Canadian!) roots.

CASE STUDY: MAGNOLIA BAKERY

If you’re a lover of sweets and you’ve been to New York, you’ve likely heard of Magnolia Bakery. The iconic bakery recently underwent a rebrand with the help of design firm JKR! They transformed the original designs, but maintained key elements to pay homage to the iconic flagship store. The new logo is modern and minimal, inspired by the signature Magnolia Bakery cupcake icing swirl. Though the logo’s font has been simplified, the whimsical swooping letters keep the business’ original character.

According to JB Hartford, Group Creative Director at JKR, the new designs “[deliver] on the brand’s deliciously indulgent inbakery experience with a joyful and eclectic kit of parts inspired by our design strategy—a bite of whimsical delight”.

IMAGE SOURCE: THEDIELINE.COM

The new packaging is indulgent, whimsical, made for the modern era, but still references the brand’s Upper East Side roots.

Interested in more examples?

Click HERE to check out the full blog post on our website!

HOW CAN I USE THE VOICE OF DESIGN?

We know that harnessing the voice of design can be difficult, but despite this, LeKAC is here to help! We offer branding and design services that can help bring your packaging vision to life! Our knowledgeable Business Development Consultants and talented Graphic Designers can make suggestions on what would work best for your business.

Whether you already have a design or you’re starting from scratch, we’re with you every step of the way. Contact us today to get started!

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PLA PACKAGING

POLYLACTIC ACID (PLA) HAS BECOME AN INTERESTING ECO-FRIENDLY ALTERNATIVE. BUT WHAT IS PLA? HOW DOES IT DIFFER FROM NORMAL PLASTIC?

HOW DO YOU MAKE IT?

PLA is a thermoplastic made of renewable, plant-based sources. The sugars in the plant materials ferment and are introduced to a chemical reaction to create larger molecules.

The resulting filaments are soft when hot, and hard when they cool. Unlike traditional plastics, when heated to its melting point, this material becomes a liquid instead of burning! You can form the material in a number of ways, from casting, injection molding, and spinning it into a filament.

PLA VS NORMAL PLASTIC

Most normal plastics use a petroleum oil base rather than the natural sources PLA

uses. Additionally, it’s biodegradable! This biodegradable component makes it a truly circular material, and helps contribute to a more circular economy.

A PLA bottle left in the ocean would typically degrade in six to 24 months. Compared to conventional plastics (which in the same environment can take several hundred to a thousand years to degrade) this is truly phenomenal.

In addition to this, it’s also usable as a filament for 3D printing! Using it in 3D printed packaging can not only help reduce the amount of plastic used for packaging, but can also help you add customization and personalization.

USES OF PLA

Now you know what this alternative packaging material is–how can you use it? Its common packaging uses include cups, cutlery, lids, and straws! You can also use PLA to insulate packaging for cold food transit.

Since the material is biodegradable and plant-based, it’s a food-safe option! While it’s ideal for cold items, it’s not a great choice for hot foods or drinks. It’s permeable and more prone to oxidization, so long-term food storage is not ideal.

DISPOSAL

As we mentioned, this material is biodegradable and compostable. Though these disposal options are possible for PLA, your local waste facility might not accept it. We’ve talked about how to dispose of various common household and food packaging items, but since PLA is fairly new, not every waste facility may be able to properly dispose of it.

Overall, this is a great option for those looking to make the switch from traditional plastic. Especially with Canada banning single use plastics hopefully by the end of 2022, it’s a great eco-friendly option.

LeKAC is currently working to expand our range of products to include PLA! Not sure if it’s right for your business? Contact us today to connect with one of our knowledgeable packaging consultants who can help you learn more!

PRINT COVERAGE GUIDELINES:

HOW FAR CAN ONE COLOUR PRINT GO?

When creating custom packaging, you might have someone ask how much print coverage you need. At LeKAC, we’ll often refer to different printing levels by the number of colours the design uses, which can get confusing when you combine it with print coverage.

ONE COLOUR PRINT

When we talk about this print level, we’re referring to a design that only uses one colour. All of our packaging includes one colour print on a base in the pricing. Our base colours include brown or white Kraft

for our paper products, and a choice of coloured fabric for our reusable bags.

Only using one colour doesn’t mean that you can only have one coloured element on your packaging! One colour print is versatile and can create eye-catching, minimalistic designs.

TWO COLOUR PRINT

As the name implies, two colour print is a step up from one colour. These designs can also be minimalistic and eye-catching, while providing a little more depth.

talking about how much of the packaging the design will cover!

Overall, we consider any design that needs an extra colour a two colour print, which comes at an additional cost.

MULTI-COLOUR PRINT

Next, we call any design that needs three or more colours multi-colour print. You may also sometimes hear us call this full-colour!

This level of print comes at the highest additional cost, but affords you more freedom in designing your packaging.

DIFFERENT PRINT COVERAGE LEVELS

We’ve established the different colour levels you can have in your packaging designs, but now it’s time to talk coverage. When referring to print coverage, we’re

There are two main types of print coverage: partial and full. Generally, any design that covers 50% or more of a package’s total surface area (inside and out!!), is considered full coverage. So what if you want a design to cover a large area on your packaging, but want to find the most cost-efficient option? Try a one colour print! Getting creative with how far you can stretch the colour can be a great way to stay on-budget while still getting an eye-catching design.

LEARN

WITH LENNY!

PACKAGING DICTIONARY

Here are a few terms we’ve used these last few months when working with you to create your custom packaging!

SAMPLE STAGE

The stage in which a prototype is provided by the supplier to allow customer approval before mass production. Changes can still be made to the final design at this stage.

BLIND EMBOSSING

A raised impression of your logo/ design on the surface of the packaging material with no ink printed, it creates a visual and tactile effect.

BRANDING

A vast concept that customers use to recognize a company. Allows your business to differentiate itself from competitors, and can include your logo, colour theme, social media presence and/or storefront.

QUOTE

A packaging quote from LeKAC will initially be provided by our BD Consultant and will provide the following information: the quantity, unit price and total price, the business name and item descriptions.

TEAR STRIP

A pre-perforated part of the packaging that allows the end customer to easily open the product, commonly seen on corrugated shipping boxes or poly-mailer bags.

SLEEVE

A paperboard sleeve that can be customised in size and design. Made to be slid over the top of another form of packaging usually for informative or decorative reasons. Sleeves are also a great and affordable way to add a custom packaging piece to if you don’t have the budget for boxes!

PACKAGING Q & A

Q: Why are shipping rates increasing so much?

A: There are actually a few reasons rates have been increasing lately. Due to the pandemic, global supply chains have been disrupted and there’s a shortage of freight containers! That, coupled with limited staff available to work and increasing fuel prices, lead to delayed shipments. While we’re optimistic that things will go back to normal in the near future, our team is dedicated to keeping costs down for clients. Unfortunately, there isn’t much we can do since this is a global issue, but if you’re in need of packaging soon, you may want to opt for premium or expedited shipping!

Q: When should I order my packaging?

A: Ideally, ASAP!!! Shipments normally take approx 4 months, but we recommened ordering it as far in advance as possible with current shipping delays.

HAVE MORE QUESTIONS? LEARN MORE ON OUR WEBSITE:

Q: I don’t see what I’m looking for... Can you still help me?

A: Absolutely! We can source products that match your packaging such as stickers, business cards, POP displays, etc. Our designers will make sure the designs match your brand!

Q: Can I get a sample without placing an order?

A: Yes, you can! However, there is a shipping fee of $250 CAD for requesting samples without orders. Get in touch with one of our consultants to learn more!

Q: What if I can’t decide on products and measurements?

A: Simply book a consultation with one of our Business Development Consultants (it’s free!) and based on a couple of questions regarding your establishment, we can suggest products and sizes! We can also calculate measurements for specific product packaging to ensure that everything will fit!