Determined to deliver a sophisticated take on make-at-home recipe boxes, eCommerce brand Wild Radish pour a love of good food into everything they do.

Launched during the Covid lockdowns, their boxes are designed to bring a touch of luxury to the market, slowing down and emphasising the joy of cooking, not just eating.

As such, their ingredients are superlative, and sourced from the same producers their Michelin-starred chefs would use in their own restaurants. The result is delicious and - when combined with the specially chosen wine pairing - creates an evening of indulgence.

Of course, from an eCommerce packaging perspective, that presents a problem. A more everyday brand can take a few dents in its boxes, or ingredients thrown together in transit. A customer of a higher-end recipe box expects nothing less than perfection - even from the packaging.

Perfect presentation

Luckily, Smurfit Kappa are experts in packaging solutions, and always see problems as challenges to be met.

In August 2020, Wild Radish began talks with our Smurfit Kappa Beacon site (located in Aldershot) explaining their dilemma, and a productive partnership then begun.

After some experimentation, Smurfit Kappa Beacon developed a bespoke z-shaped fitting that both protected the ingredients and ensured immaculate presentation on unboxing. This insert cleverly has the fluting going East to West - meaning it adds integrity and strength to the boxes’ structure as well as separating the contents.

An elegant evening in a box

Of course, transit protection isn’t the only aspect of a beautiful box design, and Wild Radish were keen that their box should be as elegant and polished as the contents inside.

The bespoke box that Smurfit Kappa Beacon designed is easy to open, meaning that there is no customer frustration when the package arrives.

Not only that, but, as an eCommerce brand, they wanted to use every chance they had to build their brand reputation. A strong logo and clear slogan meant that everyone who sees the box will know which company sent it - which can drive traffic to the business and boost sales.

Wild Radish and Smurfit Kappa Beacon agreed that they should keep their classy black on off-white branding. It was striking without being loud - an elegant evening wrapped up in a box.

Pale or white inks can be hard to saturate properly, and the effect is most impressive when there are no hints of the substrate underneath peeking through the colour.

To achieve this flawless result, a flood coat flexographic print, with an ultra-sharp logo on top, was decided on. The flood coat would ensure that the boxes were all a uniform cream, while the black logo and tagline - “A chef’s table at your table” stood out strikingly against it.

Flexographic printing allows for the use of inks that are both varied in terms of colour options and also incredibly durable, which is of course essential for an eCommerce business.

Meanwhile, the inside of the boxes had a natural finish, helping to wordlessly convey Wild Radish’s sustainable, local philosophy.

To achieve all this, Smurfit Kappa Beacon had to print in a particular - and tricky - way. However, the desired result was accomplished and in September 2020, Wild Radish’s team visited the Smurfit Kappa Beacon factory for a print pass, and the first order was signed off.

An ecological imperative

One of Wild Radish’s core values is a belief that sustainability should be at the heart of everything we do.

The team at Smurfit Kappa Beacon understand this well and were able to offer FSC-certified materials that were fully recyclable on delivery to the customer.

For the box itself, Smurfit Kappa Beacon settled on a FEFCO 0201-style design in two sizes. This meant that each box could be appropriately sized for the recipes inside, rather than shipping extra air.

From an ecological perspective, this means fewer delivery vans on the road and less petrol used overall.

A final challenge

Once the boxes had been designed and signed off, they were ready for delivery. But there was one last challenge facing the Smurfit Kappa Beacon team: the Wild Radish headquarters didn’t allow for forklift access.

Not to be deterred, the boxes were couriered to Wild Radish, who were able to launch their business successfully.

Since launching, Wild Radish have gone from strength to strength - held up by their striking, solid boxes.

“Launching a company amidst a global pandemic, we really appreciated the support, guidance and fast turnaround received. Thank you to every at Smurfit Kappa Beacon, we love our boxes and feel they truly deliver all that we wanted from our packaging.” James Bhardwaj, Co-Founder of Wild Radish.