Key Takeaways
Food gifts are most impactful when they create a memorable experience. Suppliers like Maple Ridge Farms and NC Custom are offering thematic kits and virtual events (e.g., charcuterie board classes) to engage recipients beyond the edible item.
Personalization—whether through dietary accommodations or brand-specific color matching—adds perceived value. Modular kits and co-branded retail candy options (like M&M’s) allow companies to tailor gifts to their audience and branding.
Food gifts are particularly popular during the Q4 gifting season as companies lean into holiday celebrations – and for good reason. Who doesn’t like receiving a sweet treat or a savory snack as a gift? (If you say you don’t, you’re lying.)
Equally as important as the food item itself is the recipient’s first impression of the gift – and their post-treat impression, as well.
“Once the food is gone, what’s left behind?” asks Jamie Johnson, national sales executive at Maple Ridge Farms (asi/68680).
That’s where a carefully curated gifting experience or clever packaging – both key strategies for making a food gift stand out – can come in handy.
Promo pros curating food gifts this holiday season should focus on building a memorable experience for their recipients – and it all starts with the packaging.
Create an Experience
The trend of experience-based promo has translated into the food gifts market as much as other industry categories. In many ways, says Johnson, food is inherently suited for turning a gift into something shareable and meaningful.
What can that look like in practice? For one, designing thematic kits based around an activity. Lance Stier, CEO of Counselor Top 40 supplier NC Custom (asi/44900) and a member of Counselor’s Power 50 list of the most influential people in promo, says that’s a main driver behind many of the kits the supplier has launched recently – such as a kit for the recipient to make s’mores and hot chocolate with their family as the weather gets cooler, or a gingerbread decorating kit that leverages NC Custom’s growing Fresh Beginnings bakery arm.
There’s also room for live experiences at company events or activations, much like print-on-demand T-shirts at trade shows. Traci Simonis, a sales executive with Maple Ridge Farms, recently worked on an employee appreciation initiative for a client where recipients were able to choose between one of six custom experiences – including a charcuterie board class put on by Maple Ridge. The company sent out charcuterie kits to employees ahead of time, then hosted a virtual class with Maple Ridge to talk about food pairings and the best way to assemble the boards. It was the first time Maple Ridge had tackled a project like this, but it turned out to be a huge hit – and the charcuterie boards were the most-selected experience of the six options for employees.
client sales meeting.
“Food allows all five senses to be tapped into,” Johnson says. “It allows for conversation and for people to be drawn in – building it not just to be a gift, but to be the experience.”
Customization & Color
The Maple Ridge charcuterie case study is an example of another important qualifier in the world of food gifts: customization. The industry has been leaning toward increasingly personalized gifting. But, with food gifts, taking considerations like dietary restrictions or allergies into account can show an extra level of care.
Maple Ridge, for example, works on a project for an elderly community every year – and they’ve taken the time to understand the needs of each recipient, whether it’s gluten-free or soft-bake dietary requirements, as they put the gifts together.
On the opposite end, though, sometimes companies care less about the specific food item in the packaging and more about using customization to make a branding statement.
“We have seen distributors get less fussy about the flavor and get more particular about the brand’s colors,” says Ben Pawsey, vice president of marketing at Counselor Top 40 supplier HPG (asi/61966) of the various gummy candies offered through the supplier’s SugarSpot brand. “Color is a really good way of getting more bang for your buck when it comes to candy.”
To that end, SugarSpot largely offers modular gift kits – curated sets of jars or tasting packets that can be ordered as is, or customized to meet the unique needs of a client.
“There’s always that option to swap out flavors, create your own combination, personalize it, choose candy that matches your brand colors,” says SugarSpot’s Brand Manager Lily Engel. “We like to make those gift boxes inspirational but also open to full customization.”
That’s even true when it comes to recognizable retail favorites. SugarSpot has brought on a variety of brand-name candy options over the past year to meet that demand, from Nerds Gummy Clusters to Sour Patch Kids, says Engel. And NC Custom has seen huge demand for its M&M’s color choice program – which allows customers to select their own combination of up to three colors of personalized M&M’s – since the supplier announced a co-packing partnership with the candy giant earlier this year.
“Recognizable brands connote a certain value to the customer,” Stier says. “So when you’re giving away a recognizable brand – something that’s co-branded with your company or logo – I think that helps raise the perceived value of the item.”
Make a Package Memorable
Maple Ridge Farms’ sales revenue is up about 75% on the year, says Johnson. She says the company has gotten increased interest so far this year thanks to food gifts largely being domestically manufactured, but she attributes much of Maple Ridge’s growth to the addition of Sweeter Cards, the custom greeting card and gourmet chocolate company the supplier acquired last year, and products with an emphasis on both the print and promo sides of the business.
When you’re talking about a colorful candy or similarly tasty treat, clear packaging can be a way to engage that excitement by giving recipients a glimpse into what’s to come, says Pawsey – as can creative packaging options like SugarSpot’s recently launched stocking and candy dispenser products.
(BBMINICANDYDIS) from HPG (asi/61966) – are examples of ways to make a statement with food packaging.
Even something as simple as candy jar labels can be an opportunity to show off on packaging, says Engel – there’s usually room for an event slogan, a QR code or even information for a candy packet to act as a business card.
“A lot of promo is about creating those moments of joy or excitement, and the reveal is a core part of that experience,” Pawsey says. “And the packaging is what contributes to that reveal moment, so that’s why it’s so important.”
Another focus area for consumers? Sustainable packaging. NC Custom, for example, offers compostable candy packaging options. But they’re also conscious of building kits so that consumers will have something left behind after the treats are gone. The company frequently combines apparel items, like an apron, for example, or hard goods together with food gifts – again, focusing on building a memorable experience for the recipient, and leaving a lasting brand impression.
“Whereas with a lot of edible goods, once you consume them, they’re gone,” Stier says. “Because we have the hard goods and soft goods components, those items obviously last forever in your pantry and in your home.”
Don’t Forget!
Because most food gifts have a limited shelf life, they come with extra considerations. Here are a few notes for distributors to think about when working with supplier partners on getting food gifts safely in the hands of recipients.
Shelf Stability
This one is the most obvious. When you’re mailing a food item, you must make sure that it’s going to stay safe to eat for when the recipient opens the box and consumes it.
“We typically look at items that have a slightly longer shelf life,” says Lance Stier, CEO of NC Custom (asi/44900), “which gives a distributor more protection when we’re shipping them out to an end-user.”
Lead Times
It’s still possible to use natural or not fully shelf-stable items, like a natural cheese in a charcuterie board kit, says Jamie Johnson of Maple Ridge Farms (asi/68680). But, that might be a better option for something local, rather than a cross-country dropshipped package.
Will production be waiting on a branded sweatshirt that’s being kitted alongside the food item before starting packaging? What’s the shipping estimate for the box being sent the furthest? How long will the boxes be in the warehouse before they’re sent out? These are all questions to consider when picking out items for a food gift.
Weather
Make sure you keep an eye on the forecast. Heavy rain or snow can affect any package being shipped, but it’s particularly important to take note of for food gifts because of, again, the effect on lead times.
“Our production staff is checking the weather daily before anything ships out,” says Traci Simonis at Maple Ridge Farms. “We want to make sure that it’s getting there in the best condition possible.”
