Following a test period that started in 2014, Sweden’s ifoodbag has created a carrier bag that keeps goods, such as foodstuffs, frozen and chilled for up to 24 hours.
While not yet available on the market, the company says it has received advance payment for annual orders from customers throughout the world.
Images of the bag will be released closer to the product launch which “should be in the first quarter of 2016”, Karl Fallgren, chief executive and founder of ifoodbag told Packaging News.
For the next phase, one of Sweden’s most successful entrepreneurs, company leader Fredrik Wester, is getting on-board.
ifoodbag said it is meeting the food industry’s need for an intelligent carrier bag with the same production cost as ordinary food bags. ifoodbag’s solution is a water-resistant carrier bag made of paper, with cooler and freezer functions which work for up to 24 hours, and is suited to e-commerce companies that sell foodstuffs online, as well as food shops.
The fact that the test period recently concluded with what ifoodbag describes as “exclusively positive results” means that the product is now considered to be fully developed. The tests were conducted by independent experts at the Innventia research institute, and were performed both in accredited laboratories and with a number of well-established participants within the online-based grocery store segment which has resulted in customer orders with advance payments.
The ifoodbag concept entails simpler and cheaper transportation of frozen and chilled goods and is said to offer increased quality in foodstuffs and less need for additives. Reduced food waste is another potential positive effect, and the company hopes that the new product will be able to save food that would previously have been destroyed, in hot climates for example.
“The bag achieved the expected test results and we have proved that the product works”, said Fallgren. “Despite the product not being available on the market yet, we have already noted massive interest, both nationally and internationally. We have even signed agreements with several customers and new investors are continually being added. I am absolutely delighted to be able to present the company’s latest addition, Fredrik Wester”.
Wester, an entrepreneur since the age of 16, is stepping in as an investor and new partner. He has extensive retail knowledge, and access to a global network within the retail trade, having collaborated with companies including the e-commerce giant Amazon, among others.
“This is a brilliant product that has the capacity to be massive”, said Wester. “The ifoodbag has proven everyone who thought a paper carrier bag could only ever be a paper carrier bag wrong. And instead of handing a customer a finished solution, ifoodbag has developed a product based on an actual need. We work the same way within the rapidly-growing world of digital games, where something new is happening all the time – and that’s how you succeed in changing people’s lifestyles”.
