Kurt Zuhlke has been a leader in the produce packaging industry for generations, but even with all his experience, he never saw a month as busy as December of 2021, which he said is the best month his firm, Kurt Zuhlke & Associates, has ever had in its history.

“It’s usually a good month, but not outstanding,” said Zuhlke, whose firm is headquartered in Easton, PA. “It beat all records — it just blew my mind.”

He attributes that record-breaking month to an increased demand for packaging.

“It’s really high right now,” he said. “Even though the prices are up over the last couple of years, the demand is just overwhelming. People just want something they can feel comfortable buying and not have to worry about other people having their hands on it and touching it or contaminating it with something.”

And that increased demand applies to pretty much all types of produce.

“It’s all across the board,” Zuhlke said. “That’s why you’re seeing salad bags, as well as clamshells and everything, skyrocketing in sales. They’re having a hard time all over the country getting product to stores, and people get a little crazy when they see the shelves empty.”

He explained that because shoppers often don’t see the items they’re looking for on shelves, they’re buying two or three of an item instead of one when those fruits and vegetables are available.

Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic is a leading contributor to this demand, but Zuhlke noted other reasons as well.

“I think partly it’s the virus, but I also think more and more people are looking for deals, now that the cost of produce, along with fish and meats and gasoline and everything, is much higher,” he said. “People are looking for a better deal at store level.”

His company continues its work during these unprecedented times, including projects for customers who want custom-made packaging so that their brands stand out on the shelves.

“We’re getting more and more of those because they want something different from the other people who are competing against them,” Zuhlke said. “They want to make sure they have that product in that container and no one else can offer it, so that they can promote it at the store level.”

Kurt Zuhlke & Associates has met the challenges of the past two years for a variety of reasons, including its dedicated team of employees.

“They’re the ones that are really keeping everything going,” Zuhlke said. “They all have good work ethics.”

Additionally, he credits the industry for stepping up in regard to sanitizing and screening employees for illness during the pandemic.

“Those are positive things,” he said. “We don’t have people showing up who are sick and contaminating everyone else. I think those are good protocols to put in your systems and keep them there.”

The experience Kurt Zuhlke brings is invaluable during this era, which obviously has been unpredictable as the rate of COVID-19 infections has fluctuated tremendously, largely because of variants, such as Omicron.

“You just have to deal with it and go with it as it comes along,” Zuhlke said. “There’s no two-year outlook as to what this thing can do, and there seems to be a different variant every couple of months.”

And that means Kurt Zuhlke and his team are hard at work as the world hopes a real return to normal is in the near future.