Dougie’s by MJ Petfoods and Proteins
A Bespoke Pet Food Freezer Packaging Design
The Client
MJ Petfoods and Proteins are a manufacturer and supplier of high-quality pet foods and proteins. In 2019, they launched Dougie’s, a range of raw frozen meats and proteins for dogs. The product is currently supplied to 250 retailers around the country.
Around 11,000 boxes leave the Greyhound Box factory each month, ready to be filled with Dougie’s goodness and sent to commercial freezers.
Scroll down for the footage from our factory floor!
The Project
In 2023, MJ Petfoods and Proteins’ Managing Director, Mark Robinson, approached us to redevelop the existing freezer packaging used to store the raw products.
It was our first project with MJ Petfoods and Proteins that involved developing a corrugated cardboard solution to withstand extreme conditions. And it’s fair to say our team paws-itively rose to the challenge!
Dougie’s needed a design that offered more versatility and efficiency in our packing process. We also needed it to maintain the requirement for the raw petfood to be stored in a box resilient to the temperatures of retail chest freezers.
Mark Robinson, Managing Director of MJ Petfoods and Proteins
Choosing the Right Cardboard Grade
Dougie’s raw dog foods are made with natural ingredients. They need be kept at cold temperatures to stay fresh and be long-lasting. This meant that we needed to select a corrugated cardboard grade that could withstand frozen conditions whilst also maintaining strength.
Dougie’s products are stacked in chest freezers, so the box needed to also be able to withhold its shape during storage as well as in transit.
To determine which material was most appropriate for this project, we ran trials to test the performance of several board grades in freezer conditions over a period of time. The winning grade withstood this temperature extremity and maintained its integrity, fully protecting Dougie’s raw food product throughout the trial!
Matthew Kay, Assistant Commercial Manager at Greyhound Box
Sustainable Solutions for Freezer Packaging
Strength isn’t the only benefit of this corrugated cardboard grade. Standard freezer packaging tends to use a layer of shrink film on its interior to protect products from moisture and spoilage. But, this material is challenging to recycle!
Providing packaging solutions that are sustainable is core to who we are, and one we were keen to prove possible with this FMCG product. The board grade we chose is made from at least 80% recycled materials, enhancing the sustainable nature of this solution.
Incorporating Dougie’s Branding
Once the grade had been determined, it was over to our design team to complete the bespoke design of the box. As well as meeting the brief for a more efficient packing process, we also suggested a design that included Dougie’s brand. A customer’s first impression of your product comes from their very first interaction with it. I.e. the first time they see the exterior of the box!
We printed various elements of Dougie’s brand onto the box to showcase the brand, from their logo to their social media presence. Like everything we do at Greyhound Box, sustainability was another key consideration of this activity.
The inks we use to print designs onto our packaging solutions are water-based, meaning they don’t contain the toxic chemicals usually found in conventional inks. This enables us to add visually appealing branding elements to our boxes without negative implications for the environment.
Adding elements of your brand, like your logo and social media handles, to your packaging design is one of the simplest yet most effective ways of increasing awareness and recognition of your brand along every activity in the supply chain.
Matthew Kay, Assistant Commercial Manager at Greyhound Box
Mass Freezer Box Manufacturing
With a finalised box design, it was time to start mass manufacturing this corrugated cardboard freezer box. We now produce over 11,000 of these Dougie’s boxes each month! We’re proud to see this sustainable packaging design in the same condition in retailers’ freezer aisles as it leaves our manufacturing floor.
Click to watch Greyhound Box factory footage of the production of bespoke Dougie’s petfood cardboard boxes.
We couldn’t be more chuffed with the freezer boxes that Dougie’s raw petfood products now call ‘home’! We asked Greyhound Box for a versatile design that improved the efficiency of our packing process, and they delivered on every front. Our petfood is now stored and transported in fully recyclable Dougie’s branded boxes that are attractive to the eye. Not to mention a resilient design to give us a bonus feeling of confidence.
Mark Robinson, Managing Director of MJ Petfoods and Proteins
A Fresh Packaging Perspective
Developing this unique freezer packaging for Dougie’s raw petfood has given us a fresh perspective on the scope there is to develop more sustainable solutions for the freezer food industry.
We’re looking forward to continuing our work with MJ Petfoods and Proteins to keep their packaging looking as cool as the products inside. (Whilst also supporting more eco-friendly FMCG packaging practices!)
Got a fresh or frozen product in need of some packaging TLC? Get in touch to find out how we can help!
