One year after acquiring the UK pudding producer Peak Puddings, specialist food company Taste of the Moorlands is now beginning to realise its growth potential. This has been achieved with the help of tray sealing equipment from Packaging Automation, whose equipment is distributed in Australia by MPI.
As the company breaks into major retail markets after securing a contract with Transfresh who supply a major UK retailer - its PA217 manual tray sealer from Packaging Automation gives important production capacity as volumes build.
Taste of the Moorlands has just completed a pack re-design with a new, stylish card sleeve to encase the plain film, heat sealed, two-portion thermoformed trays. Products will be sold under the Peak Puddings brand name which is in the process of being changed.
When Taste of the Moorlands bought Peak Puddings, they already knew it had a good range of high quality products. It was well established supplying the local retail market and speciality outlets, including a stately home.
Peak Puddings had already seen the benefits of heat sealing in terms of pack quality, product presentation and image with its investment in the PA217, so Taste of the Moorlands had a great foundation and were already equipped to take the company onto the next stage in its development.
The PA217 machine is just one machine from an extensive range of equipment on offer from Packaging Automation from manual and semiautomatic machines, right through to high speed, fully automatic lines.
The tray sealer has hand fed trays with a capacity of 300g; the film is applied and sealed before card sleeves are hand applied. The quality and consistency of finish and high hygiene standards achieved are also a significant benefit.
The hand operated, low-cost PA217 is a perfect choice for smaller companies or those just starting out in tray sealing. It can be used to seal film or board lids to preformed containers with a high force for a particularly consistent seal. The operator places the film over the container, the top tool is lowered to form the seal and excess film is trimmed.
Peak Puddings' award-winning range, which includes locally-sourced and organic ingredients, currently includes the delicious and extravagant sticky toffee, banoffee, ginger and apple and rich Belgian chocolate and orange puddings, as well as black cherry and almond sponge.