This article by Fred Hart is brought to PRINT readers by DIELINE, a leading authority on CPG, packaging and branding. For more packaging insights and exclusive member content, visit thedieline.com.
This year’s summer Fancy Foods Show, a gathering of hundreds of specialty food companies, was by far the most inspiring, invigorating and diverse in terms of the overall branding and design finds and the founders’ stories. So, we picked 22 standouts from the show to feast your eyes upon—which you can do below.
The Rejuvenation brand, female and minority founded, is as visually energizing and colorful as the beverage itself. Its unique, tall pyramidal bottle makes it a great vertical canvas for a funky script wordmark.
Move over sriracha. There’s a new sheriff—er, llama—in town. Tari recently redesigned, moving from a primarily white label to an electric green and blue combination that is as energetic as your taste buds once they get a sample of this sauce.
Founder and chef Kiley Fields has an incredible brand story, one of family challenges and triumphs that shaped her brand’s mission to do good for children and adults with disabilities. This empathy makes its way into the packaging, with a script logo that reads like the signoff to a love letter, anchored by restrained typography, a beautiful color palette and a product window that gives a glimpse into this well-crafted granola powered by buckwheat.
To the uninitiated, a non-alcoholic mushroom-infused aperitif may sound strange. But for Ceybon, the branding and design are open, airy and understated, with just the right pop of color to invite curiosities and convert the skeptics into non-alc believers.
New York’s most chic candy store just dropped a retail line, and it did not disappoint. Beautiful abstract patterns, infusions of fruit illustrations and whimsical Swedish fish imagery all add up to packaging we’d happily take as wallpaper.
While one of NYC’s most well-known delis no longer exists, its spirit lives on as a retail line of cheesecake bites and slices, pastrami meats and rye bread. The iconic Carnegie script and red-and-white color scheme are anchors for this new packaged line of products.
This brand recently updated its packaging, and the results are as delicious as the food. A bold, sophisticated and confident wordmark anchors the bag, accented by bright colors and radial illustrations that place the food at the center of a great meal.
Women-owned and led, this granola brand is a playful combination of botanical illustration and bohemian charm, wrapped in a warm, earthy palette as tasty as its product.
This brand’s name says it all—it’s a real and honest take on your favorite candies. Each product gets its own unique moniker (think Nestle Crunch, Raisinets, etc.). Soft pastels, chunky and rounded serifs, and graphic photography all make for a delicious, clean and pure indulgence.
While this company sells plant-based milk, its true mission is to be an engine for social impact. Every product supports a food insecurity initiative, and the packaging nods to this humanitarian spirit, with abstract human bodies beautiful in movement and imperfection. It’s also a chef-inspired, BIPOC, LGBTQ, woman-owned company.
This chicken has fled the coop for the farm, crafting real-ingredient mixers you can drink as-is or with your favorite spirits. Fun, colorful and quirky, the design gives off major good times vibes.
Sparkling juice has never looked so good, so chic, so upscale. Best yet, it’s born from a female and minority founders’ celebration of West African roots and Bronx spirit. Bold, ornate, inspired.
How can something so simple be so perfect? This mantra applies not only to the chocolate-covered raspberries but also the branding. The quirky slab serif with tight kerning feels charming in the simple and understandable packaging, anchored by a humble product illustration in the middle.
Snacking noodles are here, and they’re unbelievably delicious and addicting. The packaging underwent a minor refresh, elevating the retro-inspired noodle mascot illustrations and moving to a snack-style bag that makes it clear these are more than noodles—they’re the hippest chip in town.
The supper club has been reinvented, bringing global flavors and Indian cuisine into innovative freeze-dried formats that preserve all the taste without degrading the product over time. The design is casual, warm and inviting, just like a homemade meal.
Powered by North America’s only native caffeinate plant, this woman-owned kombucha brand uses Southwestern-inspired shapes and patterning to hint at the rich history and culture behind the ingredients.
This ’90s Apple computer branding–inspired packaging gives off major nostalgic vibes as well as fun, friendly health aesthetics. It’s perfect for a kid’s puff unlike any other.
Often, the most sophisticated branding is the most elemental. Case in point: this chocolate packaging. The brand mark is expertly crafted, changing color with the background for each flavor, creating one of the most elegant product lineups in CPG.
This bread got a major glow-up. Anchored by a confident and characterful wordmark, bold colors and simple product benefit claims, these loaves make eating bread guilt-free and fun.
Female- and minority-founded, Peepal People is an ode to the people and tastes of South Asia. It brings not just beautiful design and flavors to the forefront, but also incredible human stories.
When it comes to cookies, it pays to have good taste. Enter Fancypants, a supremely delicious and decadent cookie company with a look to match: elegant script, sharp and quirky serif flavor names, sophisticated diamond-holding shapes, and even a fun peacock mascot.
What do you get when you combine Indian spices, a family’s matriarch and modern cuisine? Some of the most colorful, vibrant and sophisticated spice blend tins. For the art historians out there, the branding is one part Art Deco, one part Memphis, one part geometric abstract—but it all comes together to make a one-of-a-kind original.
Fred Hart is a brand consultant, creative director and design strategist obsessed with building and studying CPG brands. Over the last decade, he’s created a 30-person branding agency, transformed over 137 CPG brands, won five Design Effectiveness Awards in four years, and been entrusted by visionary founders and Fortune 500 companies to craft strategic design that moves businesses forward. Today, Hart consults with brands and agencies looking to unlock their next level of success.