Adapting in The Face of Adversity…

One of the things we love most about the hospitality industry is the creativity it encompasses. Whether it’s compiling mouth-watering menus, devising sumptuous cocktails or designing the look and vibe of a new dine-in venue, the people in the industry are imaginative, artistic and resourceful. Never has this ability to create and reinvent been more vital than in 2020 when the industry as we knew it was forced to close its doors on regular business.

 One such business who faced the loss of  all their planned trading for 2020 was Stag Bites The Hog - a mobile food truck based in Alloa, Scotland and specialising in slow cooked meats. The company’s source of trade until the pandemic revolved around attending street food markets along with private hire at weddings and other private events. With the ban on social gatherings in place, the business found themselves with zero income.

Showing great entrepreneurial spirit, the team at Stag Bits the Hog took the decision that if they couldn’t supply customers with their delicious slow cooked meats ready to eat, they would provide their local patrons with cook at home kits instead. Offering diners a street food experience at home proved a fantastic success for the team, so much so they quickly expanded their range of products before eventually taking the venture nationwide. We catch up with owner Beth, and discuss the importance of promoting the Stag Bites The Hog brand during such a turbulent time.

“Social media is a huge thing now, there are photos of food everywhere and people are constantly uploading images of what they’re eating. Sadly, they don’t necessarily mention where they purchased the food from! We saw the importance of ensuring our food was served with our logo and felt branded greaseproof was the perfect solution. Now our branding is seen by all the people who see those photos!”

She adds “We rely heavily on social media for our orders and there’s no doubt that having our brand alongside our food has helped people discover us. At such a competitive time it’s been vital to stand out from the crowd and we feel our branded greaseproof has played a part in making that happen.”

Originally purchased to wrap their completed food truck creations in person, the company quickly switched to using their custom designed greaseproof sheets to line the boxes of their home meal kits. “Adding our brand to the home kits has definitely helped them look more professional and it keeps getting our brand out there, which can only be a good thing! Customers think it looks cool too and have even asked us where we get them from!”

At It’s a Wrap we love knowing customers are happy with the end product but it’s important to us that the whole buying process is a positive experience. We know some customers can feel daunted by the idea of designing artwork so we ask Beth what the process was like for Stag Bites the Hog.

“It was great! We went back and forth a few times with your design team who created our artwork for us at no extra cost. We had something specific in mind and they helped to produce exactly what we had imagined…if not better! It’s been really simple to re-order too and we know it’s easy to amend the artwork should we want to. We’ve recommended your services to lots of other businesses already!”

Are there any other benefits? “Something that was vital to us when arranging packaging was that everything we use should be eco-friendly; we wouldn’t consider using something that wasn’t. Knowing that the environment matters to It’s a Wrap and that the greaseproof is recyclable and biodegradable was really important to us. It was also very beneficial to be able to have our sheets custom trimmed to the size we wanted. It means there’s no wasted paper and we don’t have to spend our time cutting it ourselves…leaving us more time to create the contents!”

To see Stag Bites the Hog’s paper in action, check out their Instagram page  - but be prepared to feel hungry!

For more information on how to create your own branded greaseproof paper drop us a message.