With a tagline of “Optimal Performance, Healthy Living,” the Laird Superfood family of premium coffee products have been designed to deliver an elevated coffee experience in the healthiest and most eco-friendly way possible. The company represents the third venture involving American big-wave surfer Laird Hamilton, his wife and professional volleyball player Gabrielle Reece and their business partner, Paul Hodge. In addition to coffee, the Laird Superfood portfolio includes the Superfood Creamer, which is based on Hamilton’s own recipe of coconut milk powder, dried organic coconut nectar, cordyceps mushroom, aquamin, and red palm oil that has been sustainably and responsibly sourced.
To deliver the freshest, highest quality product to customers, Laird Superfood acquired a unique and exclusive supply of premium Arabica beans from Central America that are grown at an elevation of more than 6,000 feet. Beans are picked by hand and slow-roasted in a specialized drum roaster that processes the valuable beans in small batches. A proprietary inert gas packaging system, combined with a flexible pouch and a resealable zipper closure, ensures Laird Superfood coffee stays as fresh as the day it was roasted.
The company, which launched in June of 2015, went to market with 40 product SKUs. The original plan had been to label the products using the traditional two-step print method, which involves the ordering of pre-printed color labels and then adding variable product data in-house, constituting the second step. Prior to launch, Hodge visited PACK EXPO Las Vegas 2015 to explore different packaging options; it was there that he discovered Epson’s ColorWorks® C7500 label printer.
“To be honest, I wasn’t even shopping for a printer when I visited the show,” said Hodge. “But when I saw the ColorWorks C7500 and learned about the efficiencies of the on-demand printing process from the folks at Pacific Barcode, I knew our plan to rely on a two-step process would not be sustainable for us in the long run. The ability to print the exact number of labels we need, complete with custom batch numbers, when we need them was very appealing.”
The Laird Superfood coffee package that hit the market features two labels – a glossy version on the front, which includes product branding, and a matte label on the back detailing the product’s nutritional information. The ColorWorks C7500, which leverages Epson’s proprietary PrecisionCore® technology in the print heads, produces images of superior quality each and every time, helping position Laird Superfood as a premium product. The flexibility offered by the printer, including the ability to make changes to label designs in real-time and scale up potential, means that Laird Superfood will find it easy to continue to expand its portfolio with new products and flavor profiles.
