Gold and Parchment Vacuum Pouches for Retail Display

A clear pouch is right for the back of the shop and wrong for the front of it. On a hook or a shelf, the product has to look like something worth £6.50, and plain clear film over a slab of bacon doesn't manage that. We make two finishes for retail. They're different tools and this is how to choose.

Gold: the display pouch

Our gold pouches are 80 micron with a metallic gold back, a clear front and a euro hole punched in the top edge. The customer sees the product against gold, the pack hangs on a standard retail hook, and the extra 15 microns over the everyday pouch gives it enough stiffness to hang straight.

It's built for bacon, sliced cured meats, smoked salmon, cheese portions and anything else sold from a hook or a chiller shelf where the product is the picture.

Size	Per bag	Typical pack
160×275mm	5.1p	100g sliced salami, 4 rashers
180×275mm	5.7p	6 rashers, 150g smoked salmon
200×225mm	5.3p	Square packs, cheese portions
200×275mm	6.4p	250g bacon, the farm shop standard
200×300mm	6.2p	Longer packs, no euro hole, for shelf rather than hook

Note the 200×300mm has no hanging hole. It's for a shelf or a chiller cabinet where the pack lies flat.

Parchment: the artisan pouch

The parchment pouches are 65 micron film with a white parchment paper effect on both sides. They're opaque. The product is hidden and the label does the work, which is why they suit sausages, pies, salami and anything where the brand and the story are the sell. On a market stall a row of white parchment packs with a kraft label reads as made by hand in a way clear film never does.

Size	Per bag	Typical pack
160×300mm	7.2p	Six sausages, a whole salami
200×250mm	6.8p	Pies, cheese, 500g packs

Choosing between them

• Customer needs to see the product: gold.
• Hanging on a hook: gold with euro hole, the 160, 180 or 200×275mm.
• Brand and label are the sell, product is hidden: parchment.
• Rustic, farm shop, market stall: parchment.
• Chiller shelf, lying flat: either, the 200×300mm gold has no hole for a reason.

What both share

Both are smooth film for chamber machines only, same as the rest of the range, so they won't seal in a FoodSaver or another edge sealer. Both vacuum and seal like the clear pouches, and both take a self-adhesive label. The gold is a coloured back layer; the layer touching the food is the same polyethylene as the clear range. Shelf life is the same as the clear equivalent, because the oxygen barrier is the polyamide layer, not the finish; the gauge guide covers why.

The cost of looking good

A 200×275mm gold pouch is 6.4p against 2.7p for a clear 200×300mm. On 250g of bacon at £4.50, the extra 3.7p is 0.8% of the price. If the gold pack sells one more unit in every 100, it's paid for itself. The retail packaging guide goes through labelling, hanging and shelf layout.