VieChi Foods LTD. is not your typical food company. The vision behind VieChi isn’t just to sell delicious, prepared meals at your local grocery store, but to tackle food insecurity by giving back to local communities wherever their products are sold.
“We consider ourselves a social venture,” elaborates David (Haoyang) Lu, CEO of VieChi Foods. “Our main goal is to create a better and more sustainable lifestyle for our communities. Food insecurity is something we wanted to tackle when launching VieChi, and healthy, nutrient-rich, frozen prepared foods are a great way to help individuals and families who rely on food banks out of necessity. So, we divert a portion of our proceeds to supplying food banks such as Cherry Table in North York, Ontario, with the very same dishes available in stores.”
In 2022, Bellwyck had the honour of working with VieChi on their initial product launch of three SKUs: Spiced Lamb with Quinoa, Black Pepper Beef with Brown Rice Noodles and Soy Cured Salmon with Wild Rice. One of our objectives in developing the packaging was to ensure we stayed true to VieChi’s brand ethos and source healthy, certified forest-friendly stock to make sure their products are sustainable not just on the inside but outside, as well. In collaboration with David and VieChi’s design studio, we cast a dieline, sourced enviro-friendly materials, converted the packaging from CMYK to process colours and rebuilt the file for a more consistent colour reproduction.
One of the most distinctive aspects of VieChi’s package design is the product photography. The initial vision was to have a window on the front panel so consumers could see the care and attention to detail VieChi had taken to craft distinctive meals bursting with flavour. We went to great lengths to research materials for the window and adhesive and determined that the window option would not be as cost-effective and consistent with VieChi’s dedication to sustainability. Instead, the standout product photography on the front panel mimics a window treatment while enabling the packaging to be completely recyclable.
During development, we followed a rigid process of checks and balances to ensure the packaging would perform as intended. Some of our QA steps included resetting the artwork on the back because on the initial design the back was upside down, creating a prototype to test how the glue performed in the freezer, and developing print proofs for signoff. David was also on-site at our Finchdene facility in Scarborough, Ontario, for the press approval.
“This was an extremely exciting project for us to work on,” says Hayley Thompson, Business Development Manager with Bellwyck. “I love working with Canadian entrepreneurs and I also instantly connected with David on his mission and purpose behind VieChi, as well as his commitment to sustainability. I’m delighted with the way we delivered on our three service pillars: flawless manufacturing, excellent collaboration with the client’s design team and delivering exceptional results.”
“We’ve received a lot of compliments on our packaging so far,” adds David. “An appealing package design is crucial in the frozen foods sector. Distributors always insist on seeing the package design as a first step before committing to carrying the product. I’m happy to say that our designs have received universal approval, and our list of retailers keeps growing and growing.”
