With more consumers interested in packaged produce in the wake of COVID-19, Easton, PA-based Kurt Zuhlke & Associates Inc. was busier than ever in 2020, at least with its retail customers. Not surprisingly, its restaurant segment was off considerably, as it was for most of the industry.

“I’m optimistic that by September, we should have most of the restaurants back open in the U.S. and Canada,” said Kurt Zuhlke, president of his namesake company. “We distribute everywhere, and I don’t think states realized the overreach they were doing when the state governments shut these places down.”

Still, as one of the top suppliers of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) packaging for the produce industry, Kurt Zuhlke & Associates stayed plenty active over the last year, with its clamshell packaging in high demand.

That demand continued in early 2021, and Zuhlke sees good things in the months to come.

“I see upward movement and the way to get that is the same way we always have — get up in the morning, put your pants on and go to work,” he said. “We are figuring out ways to get around COVID-19 and working on getting more product and different kind of packaging into the retailers’ hands.”

People are looking for “easy pick-up” and “run out the door” packaging, and Zuhlke noted no one wants to be bothered by how to figure out how to open something and they want to be able to see the product from all different angles.

“They need to be able to access the product without having a master’s degree and they want to be satisfied that what they are buying is top-shelf and what they are paying for,” he said.

Although 2020 was far from what was expected, Zuhlke has been in the industry long enough to know you have to adapt to any changes thrown your way.

“You always have to change direction when you have something critical happen in the industry,” he said. “The retail industry needs to meet their standards and update their standards, so you have to go with them on what they want to do.”

For that reason, Kurt Zuhlke & Associates has been updating some of its product lines.

“It’s a challenge, but a challenge we can easily accomplish,” Zuhlke said. “Some of the chain stores are looking for personal chain items — a custom package that isn’t going to be used in a competitor’s store. We’re doing some of those now, so each store has its own design pattern in its produce aisles.”

Whether tomatoes or blueberries or raspberries, Zuhlke noted consumers want compartmented and sanitized packaging that they can quickly grab and get away from other people.

He also said that consumers continue to look for packaging that is made from recycled material, which the company has been specializing in since 1994. “It’s not that hard to give them what they want once you figure out how to do it,” Zuhlke said.

The company works with companies around the world to manufacture its PET products and is telling engineers to use bottle-resin recycled material as much as possible to keep things out of the environment.