CASE STUDY: Evolve Brands

Evolve Brands is out to make the world a better place through mindful snacking. The company’s two brands, Gorilly Goods and Supernola, are organic, plant-based, non-gmo, and gluten-free snacks that boast real ingredients. Both brands are packaged in on-the-go, flexible, single-serve bags from ePac flexible packaging, the first supplier in North America built entirely on the latest wide-web digital printing technology.

At the time that Evolve Brands was launching Supernola, the company was facing the challenge of being a small, start-up company looking for a supplier in an environment where large minimum orders and long lead times were considered the norm. In the search for the right supplier, the company came across ePac and was happy to learn that with its digital printing technology, Evolve could get the right package, whether it be for natural food packaging or a snack packaging design in general, without the pressures of a large order or long lead time. While these were important issues, Evolve also needed a supplier that had the best capabilities to print the perfect package.

“We knew that the quality of the film was super important, as was the design and graphics. When choosing a supplier, we wanted to be sure that whichever company we chose could produce quality film with bold colors to represent the unique superfood ingredients in Supernola,” says Frank Jimenez, Managing Partner, Evolve Brands.

Why Digital Printing

While launching Supernola, the Evolve team knew they were going to face minimum order challenges being a small company. They had some knowledge about digital printing, and for this reason knew that this was the best way to go. Evolve reached out to ePac and quickly saw that the company could produce quality packages with high impact graphics, all within a short amount of time, since ePac offers customers a 5-day turnaround.  

Evolve later acquired the brand, Gorilly Goods, and all of the manufacturing that came with it. Evolve quickly switched everything from Gorilly Goods over to ePac and digital printing due to its many cost and time benefits, as well as the improved design process. There were bolder colors available with digital printing, with a fast turnaround to get new products to market quickly.

Digital pouch printing also offers Evolve the chance to quickly make changes to the package’s design. With traditional printing, it would cost thousands of dollars to get plates updated to change the design, and it would take 6-8 weeks. At that time, Evolve had already tweaked Supernola’s package multiple times over several months. With ePac and digital printing, customers like Evolve Brands can tweak and make changes to the package, like a new flavor or promotion, on-demand.

Looking for the Right Packaging Partnership

Frank Jimenez knows how important packaging is to a brand’s success.

“Packaging is everything, it’s part of the story of your brand. Of course, you start with a good quality product, but then the package must portray the good quality or the consumer will never choose it,” he says.

The right partner had to be able to produce a beautiful and durable package, but also offer insight and advice to get the package to be the best it can be.

“We didn’t come to ePac with a complete list of what we wanted. We were open to ideas and suggestions to make the brands better,” says Jimenez.

ePac suggested a higher quality film for the company’s Gorilly Goods line to match the quality of the product inside. The new film is now stronger and offers a premium, sturdy feel to consumers. Also important to Evolve was the opportunity to see ePac in action, not just from a computer screen. ePac offers its customers the chance to see its capabilities and see where the package is made, so that its customers can be involved in the entire production process.

Evolve believes it provides more than snacks— it also supports health, truth, nutrition, flavor and convenience. The Evolve team was looking for a partner, rather than merely a supplier, to come alongside them in this, and that’s what they got with ePac.

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