Wisconsin home sales
Sales of existing homes slipped 5.1% from the first half of 2018, while the median price rose 7.7%.
The days of hitting the bottom of a ketchup bottle hoping to get the last few drops might just be over.
A pouch made in Wisconsin by two area manufacturers is providing a new option for getting ketchup — and really anything else — out of a package. They call it the Standcap Inverted Pouch.
The pouch has its closure at the bottom, allowing gravity to do its job. The flexible packaging, similar to a toothpaste tube, allows for more complete use of the product inside. Forget scraping the sides of a peanut butter jar. Its manufacturer, Menomonee Fallsbased Glenroy Inc., calls this “99% product evacuation.”
A Washington Post article called the packaging a “better ketchup bottle.”
“We don’t consider it a bottle,” Glenroy’s senior marketing coordinator Jonny Grigg said. “We call it a pouch.”
Glenroy makes the pouch, while the squeeze lid is made at AptarGroup Inc.’s Mukwonago plant. The other business partner in the venture, Volpak, creates a full-service complete package that is formed, filled and sealed all at the same time. Glenroy is the exclusive maker of the premade Standcap pouches.
Glenroy thinks the uses are endless: sauces, marinades, dressings, dips and hummus.
“It’s ideal for thick liquids that can be squeezed, that need to be squeezed out in a controlled manner,” Grigg said.
Olivarez Honey Bees puts its Chico
honey in the pouches. “It’s poised to take over the entire category,” Grigg said. “It’s such a great package to dispense honey — it’s not messy and easily stores.”
The packaging first hit store shelves last year with a keto line of sauces. The pouch started getting more attention when Uncle Dougie’s started putting its organic barbecue sauce in the distinct containers.
Glenroy’s plans to expand its Menomonee Falls plant by 110,000 square feet received $4.2 million in financing from the Plan Commission. The expansion was scheduled to be built in 2019.
Sarah Hauer can be reached at shauer@journalsentinel.com or on Instagram @HauerSarah and Twitter @SarahHauer. Subscribe to her weekly newsletter Be MKE at jsonline.com/bemke.