Since the company’s inception, Inno-Pak has focused on providing innovative and user-friendly features to the food packaging world. What began on a folding table in a basement office has grown into a leading innovator in food packaging in the US from a dream of changing the packaging world for the better. Inno-Pak CEO Jon Sill and his team remain committed to constantly finding ways to update the usability, functionality, and sustainability of Inno-Pak products.
Inno-Pak launched with the production of single-use packaging for freshly prepared foods, primarily serving supermarkets. They soon realized that these products were perfect for the food service sector and began to expand. “It’s somewhat of a difficult industry to break into,” Sill noted. “You would think it’s very similar and would be an easy transition, but it took some time to develop.” However, it was clearly worth meeting the challenge. Inno-Pak has grown significant partnerships with several of the largest foodservice distributors in the US, while still maintaining their supermarket market share. They have since built their own distribution facility and 315,000 square foot warehouse in Ohio, and recently opened a new distribution facility in Reno, Nevada.
During the pandemic, while many businesses were struggling with supply chain and distribution issues, Inno-Pak was able to bring a significant amount of product to businesses that couldn’t get packaging from their usual suppliers. While they still had a few supply chain issues of their own, in many ways the massive increase in takeout and delivery during the pandemic accelerated Inno-Pak’s growth. “It was challenging navigating through that,” Sill said. “Fortunately, we had domestic manufacturing to be able to maximize the opportunity.” Imported products of all kinds became difficult to get—and pricey. With much of their manufacturing based in the US, Inno-Pak was able to continue to distribute throughout the country, and their sales significantly increased.
Beyond expansion of the Inno-Pak brand, Sill and his team have developed a deep understanding of the needs of the communities it serves. With the input of its customer base, they have focused on bringing high quality, competitively priced, sustainable solutions to the marketplace. Their recent acquisition of the Stalk Market brand has accelerated their growth of sustainable packaging space. In many ways, this push towards sustainable packaging has come from multiple directions. For some customers, it’s very important to them that their packaging is sustainable; for others, cost is the main factor. “Our job is to bridge the gap and create packaging that is functional, sustainable, and competitively priced,” Sill continued.
With sustainability put on the back burner for many restaurant and foodservice operators and the distributors that support them during the pandemic, it has now returned as a priority. Most of Inno-Pak’s customers are now pushing for more sustainable products, and it’s become a main focus for the company. “From a social standpoint, we feel we have to drive it as well. We’re committed to this, and we want to lead in sustainability,” the Ohio based executive outlined. One way that Inno-Pak is accomplishing this is with testing; the company is part of a consortium that focuses on material health testing. This means that all of Inno-Pak’s packaging is benchmarked and tested for total fluorine levels, which indicates if PFAS has been added to the product. Sill places heavy emphasis on the fact that they not only have the testing data, but that customers are aware of the results. It’s a core part of what they do.
The next hurtle for Inno-Pak in their sustainability goals will be scale; many companies have struggled with producing sustainable products at the scale required. Legislation has accelerated the push for eco-friendly products, but the ability to produce at a larger scale has become a challenge for many manufacturers. Sill doesn’t see this as an issue for Inno-Pak.
“There’s a reason our tagline is “Innovation: it’s what we do,” he added. “If anything, our commitment to producing sustainable products will only elevate our position as a leader in the packaging industry.”
Sill understands that many companies produce packaging products. But his vision is for Inno-Pak to offer a wide range of added value services for customers that go beyond packaging production. Some of these services include in-house graphic design and structural design services. “There’s a lot of focus on working with our customers to design and brand product that helps them move from generic packaging to brand building. We are already seeing it with the popularity of our new bakery packaging and takeout design programs. We’ve made significant commitment from IT support to customer service/communication to support these new additions,”
Sill concluded.
From innovation in packaging design to innovation in customer support, it’s clear that Inno-Pak will only continue to grow into the forefront of the food packaging industry.
For more information on Innopak, visit their website
