
Georgette Packaging (YC W16) Makes Custom Branded Boxes and Cups for Bakeries - katm
https://blog.ycombinator.com/georgette-packaging-makes-custom-branded-boxes-and-cups-for-cafes-and-restaurants
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gatsby
This is a great idea.

A huge part of the success over the last 10 or 15 years in the cafe and coffee
industry has been about branding and design.

Starbucks knows this: bright green straws, red holiday cups, etc. You can see
a Starbucks cup from 100 feet away.

Why should Starbucks, Blue Bottle, Coffee Bean, and Dunkin all capitalize on
this, while a lot of the mom n pop shops that make the best coffee are serving
their brews in 16 oz paper cups that they buy in bulk from Costco?

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dublinben
Inversely, why should you have to pay extra to get your great craft brewed
coffee in a fancy paper cup? Branding like this is much less important for
local businesses than national franchises/chains.

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bunkat
Totally agree. This is aimed at small runs, but for a small run of a standard
box it was $2.24 per 6 cupcake box (much more for one with an actual design).
What small shop can afford $2.24 a box?

Quick look online found plenty of nice ones for $0.20 a piece that you could
put a sticker on with your logo. This is what a lot of smaller places do in
Seattle and it seems to work just fine.

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GeorgettePkg
Yes, a lot of small businesses use generic boxes and a sticker. When I owned
my bakery, I did the same. That's not to say that this solution is ideal; most
of the generic boxes are flimsy, tedious to assemble, and give your customers
the idea that your product is ... humdrum, not something you'd pay much for.
If you're working super hard to bake something amazing, your packaging should
complement and introduce your product in a splendid way too -- you need to do
something a little different from everybody else. Larger brands don't invest
in beautiful, branded packaging for kicks -- it has a major influence on the
perception people have of their wares, and contributes a lot to the customer's
experience of their product. In terms of unit price being high at low volumes
-- we're constantly working to get that down! :D Our minimum quantities for
custom packaging are some of the lowest on the market, and our pricing very
modest by comparison, because we invest in tooling on behalf of our clients. I
think it's hard to see how great our pricing actually is, because it's near
impossible to find other packaging companies that do what we do, or put all
their pricing online.. :)

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rezistik
My experience growing up was that the flashier the box was the cheaper the
cake tasted. The best cakes came from the bakeries that invested 100% into
their products. I loved getting really great products in terrible packages, it
had a certain feeling to it.

That being said, I love branding and really hip bakeries and coffee shops with
awesome branding will always woo me too.

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anexprogrammer
My experience too.

To add to that, the bakery I'd like to buy my bread and cakes from is the one
that probably closes due to no branding. In fact it probably looks like a
holdover from the fifties inside and specialised in just being a shop, not a
brand.

It's a little sad to me that brands have become so much more powerful than the
product, though I'm not immune either. I do try though - I'll risk the bad
experience and try the family cafe or unknown coffeeshop in preference to a
starbucks or costa. Does mean I get something rubbish occasionally.

Ironic that Starbucks such are a huge success but make terribly bland coffee.
I've several friends who collect their mugs, but will never drink their
coffee!

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GeorgettePkg
Hi guys :) I'm Sarah, the founder of Georgette. Super excited to be on Hacker
News and to answer any questions anybody might have...!

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roymurdock
Whenever I'm walking around the North End and I see a blue and white Mike's
pastry box with the string, I reflect on how genius good branding and
packaging can be.

Would you be able to speak to where the boxes are made? Is it one central
location somewhere? I always assumed craft packaging was a pretty
decentralized industry...especially the niche bakery/cafe market where
transportation costs might break your margins on highly custom, low volume
orders.

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GeorgettePkg
We work with a variety of factories in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, which is
a big packaging manufacturing region. Packaging manufacturing is very
fragmented - most factories are small-ish, like $10m in sales or less, often
family-owned, several generations old, and in small towns. So depending on the
exact size of order and special requirements, we'll work with one or several
of our partner factories. For example.. the boxes might be printed in one
location, then transported to another for metallic foil work, then transported
back to the original factory to be die-cut and glued with a bunch of other
identically-sized boxes we're making for other clients. We're always trying to
make it more streamlined. Transportation isn't a huge cost -- raw materials
are though, and labour, since a lot of what we do is set up major machinery to
do quite small runs, such as lithographic printing presses. They take a lot of
fine-tuning to get the colours and graphics perfect - and that's not a shorter
process just because the total run is small.

Long answer, sorry! :)

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roymurdock
Thanks for the information. Sounds like you are learning a ton about a space
that is ripe for supply chain/logistical disruption. Good luck!

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hippich
While I understand purpose of of these boxes, I can't stop thinking "what a
waste".

I am private labeling several products and have to do the same, because
customers would not accept something in simple reusable zip-lock as something
serious...

So here we are - customers shopping for most value for their buck, but yet -
almost no one would by product without fancy packaging.

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cubano
Awesome looking site and a real opportunity I think.

My ex-wife is a cupcake and deco cake maker and I sent her the link, she is
really interested and will be contacting you guys soon.

Best of luck to you!

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GeorgettePkg
Thanks very much! :D My e-mail is sarah@georgettepackaging.com, I'd love to
hear from her :)

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cubano
Just as a follow up, Stephanie says she ordered some stuff from you guys, so
I'm really happy I got you connected and it worked out.

She is crazy talented at her baking and decorating crafts and obviously you
both are as well, so hopefully a longterm working relationship was created
between ya'll.

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addedlovely
Not that I buy many cake boxes, but the base unit cost, unprinted / coated
seems pricey? $1.32 for a box, we must be taking really pricey cupcakes?!

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jdavis703
The box though is not just a container to hold things. It is a marketing tool.
For example after reading the story of Newman's Own on the back on one of
their boxes, I am now more likely to pick them up. And now I'm writing about
them providing even more marketing ROI.

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GeorgettePkg
Haha yes!! :D This is great.

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nicooo
This seems very similar to Pakible (YC W15)
[https://blog.ycombinator.com/pakible-yc-w15-makes-it-dead-
si...](https://blog.ycombinator.com/pakible-yc-w15-makes-it-dead-simple-for-
businesses-to-design-ship-packaging)

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GeorgettePkg
Pakible is awesome and we love them! :D They specialize in corrugated shipper
boxes. We do paperboard retail boxes.

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mmanfrin
This seems like a niche that has been ripe for occupying for a while.
Packaging for products has become more and more ornate and is a design job
that needs a full team. Good luck to Georgette.

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GeorgettePkg
Agreed and thanks for the support :)

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mtalantikite
My girlfriend owns a fragrance company and it's crazy how hard it is to find a
good box manufacturer. The minimum quantities are often too high for a startup
like hers (5k minimum for each product), or a place can do rigid boxes but not
another style she needs, or they mess up an entire order because everything is
still done over the phone.

It seems like an outrageously stressful process and I've been wondering why
someone hasn't been doing it better. Glad to know someone finally is.

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Finbarr
As seen on Next Gen Den[1]. Great idea!

[1] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl6XZ-
cLwkw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl6XZ-cLwkw)

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GeorgettePkg
Thank you!

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sandra_saltlake
Amazing! I think Georgette Packaging can be an enabler for smaller businesses
to cost effectively address some of these branding issues

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vicngtor
Amazing! Very useful idea for SMBs

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GeorgettePkg
Thanks! :)

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foobarqux
Your /hiring page is broken

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GeorgettePkg
Hmm can you tell me where you found that link?

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foobarqux
Linkedin

