Earlier this week, we published a blog post on one of our Montreal-based clients; Liên Phát. They are a family-run bakery which specializes in Asian sweets, breads and desserts.
They’re well-known for their light tasting cakes (pandan is a popular flavour!) and have been in business for more than 20 years! Moreover, they’ve been a client of LeKAC for 11+ years as well!
With that being said, we want to take this opportunity to delve deeper into their packaging designs and evolution over the years! We sat down with the co-owner, Karissa Huynh, and discussed…
Liên Phát’s Original Packaging
Prior to becoming our client, Liên Phát was predominantly using paper boxes in addition to plastic bags to package their products.
However, they quickly realized that traditional plastic bags didn’t properly accommodate the size of their pâtés chaud (hot pie) boxes!
Fortunately, LeKAC Sourcing approached them just in time to offer custom reusable bags!
At the time, reusable bags were starting to become really popular. In turn, Liên Phát was quick to understand that by using this type of packaging, they can effectively promote their brand!
Nonetheless, during that period, Karissa wasn’t as involved in the family business. As a result, a majority of the packaging decisions were made by her parents!
The original designs created for their reusable and paper bags featured a brown background, a lot of detail and writing. In addition, it also featured a cake because Karissa’s parents wanted to promote their business for wedding cakes!
Unfortunately, we were unable to locate the original brown background so we replicated the design on this bag!
Packaging Evolution
As Karissa became more involved with her family business, she decided to change the packaging designs!
She prefers more simple, elegant branding, so she opted for the following one-colour print design! Personally, we prefer this minimalist design too! It’s an excellent packaging design because it’s still eye-catching and informative!
Karissa’s decision to update her packaging line has positively helped her business!
In fact, with this minimalist design, Liên Phát has been able to reach out to more younger clientele! This is really important to acknowledge because a lot of Liên Phát’s returning customers were getting older because they were from Karissa’s parents’ generation!
Traditional meets modern packaging
Although Karissa’s packaging decisions were based on her personal preferences, she unknowingly incorporated a lot of design trends!
2021 design trends indicate a lot of artistic elements and geometric shapes, while staying close to minimalism and retro aesthetics!
In the case of Liên Phát, Karissa just knew she wanted more elegant and minimalist packaging! Nonetheless, she’s made an excellent choice for incorporating a deep burgundy and some gold into her brand design! This way she’s still able to connect with her parents and traditional customers!
When Karissa was asked about her favourite packaging design, she indicated that it were these mooncake boxes!
Again, the use of burgundy is an excellent choice because it goes well with their brand aesthetic! Moreover, it really helped the boxes look modern without straying away from traditional Asian packaging!
Advice for other businesses
Overall, Liên Phát has greatly benefited from their rebranding decisions! So, if there’s one piece of advice Karissa can offer other businesses, it would be knowing your positioning goals beforehand!
Rebranding packaging for a business really depends on the vibe you want to give off to your customers! In other words, you need to reflect on your positioning strategies. I really wanted my packaging to be simple and elegant [so my clients can associate it with our quality products.]
Karissa Huynh, Co-Owner of Liên Phát
We’re so glad we’ve been able to provide our custom packaging services on numerous occasions to help Liên Phát grow its business!
With that being said, if you’re considering rebranding your business and need custom packaging, be sure to contact us today! We can offer free quotations, design work, and samples shipped directly to you.
Not sure about how to translate your positioning strategies into your packaging? Don’t worry, our experienced packaging specialists and marketing team can help you!
You can also check out our blog post on packaging for different business personalities!
In the meantime, if you live in Montréal, be sure to check out Liên Phát and try their delicious, best-selling pâtés chaud and pandan cakes! We’ve listed their contact information and social media pages below for your convenience.
5977 St-Hubert Montreal, QC, Canada H2S 2L8
(514) 270-0231
Great post! I love the new design esspecially that package for Mooncake.
and btw, it’s Liên Phát, we cant pronounce “Phàt” in Vietnamese you know 😀
Thank you for pointing that out, I’ve made all the changes! I’m so glad you enjoyed our post! 🙂