Frugalpac is an Ipswich based company looking to make a big splash in the world of wine and spirits packaging.
Its paper bottles may be shaped like the traditional wine or spirits bottles we're used to seeing on supermarket shelves, but their look and feel is something new and very different.
Replace glass with paper
Made from recycled paper, these bottles can be found in 25 countries around the world, with a strong presence in Europe and North America. To date, 36 beverage manufacturers use Frugalpac bottles to package their products, with a total of 128 unique products currently on sale.
Current CEO Malcolm Waugh joined the company in July 2018 and two years later Frugalpac launched its first paper bottle commercially. Then in November 2020, Scotland became the first country in the world to sell wine from a paper bottle when Frugalpac bottles containing red wine from the Cantina Goccia vineyard in Italy went on sale at Woodwinters Wine and Whiskies in Edinburgh.
Prior to joining Frugalpac, Waugh had worked in packaging for over 20 years with Tetra Pak and Essentra, and was quickly fascinated by the concept and its potential.
“What Frugalpac does is look for problems with current packaging used in the food and beverage industry, and once we identify a problem in the market, we try to find a solution,” he told Food Manufacture.
Waugh has been working with Frugalpac for over five years, is passionate about the product and was keen to discuss the benefits of using paper instead of glass to create drinks bottles.
“Nearly 50% of the carbon emissions associated with the wine industry come from its packaging, which is an exceptionally high percentage,” he added.
“Winemaking is not an overly industrial process, so the team saw the potential impact that creating an alternative to glass could have in terms of improving sustainability.”
While bag-in-a-box and canned food options still exist, Wagg and his team felt these alternatives failed to resonate with consumers, allowing glass bottles to continue to dominate.
“We felt that if we could create a packaging product that looked and acted like a glass bottle, consumers would be more likely to adopt it,” he added.
Create a Frugalpac Bottle
Each bottle uses recycled paper as the main medium, and has a flexible membrane inside that is used to protect the paper from liquids. The membrane can be easily separated from the paper and is certified recyclable.
“We started with the idea of easy recycling, but then we looked at how the package could help reduce carbon emissions,” recalls Waug.
“The focal point was the use of recycled paper, which now makes up 84% of each bottle. That’s a high percentage of recycled material and higher than glass bottles, which surprises a lot of people.”
The results of these efforts are impressive, with the Frugalpac bottle producing six times less carbon than a glass bottle. That’s about 420 to 430 grams less carbon per bottle.
The use of paper also makes the final product lightweight, weighing just 83 grams, compared to the lightest glass bottle available, which weighs around 345 grams. The weight savings means more bottles can be transported at once, while using less fuel in the process.
“In addition to sustainability considerations, the shape and feel of the bottle are really important,” Waugh noted.
“It stands out among other wine and spirits bottles on supermarket shelves because of its colour, while its light texture has tested well with shoppers. Additionally, 65% of people surveyed said they would buy wine from a paper bottle, while only 5% said they would not.”
As of mid-August 2023, every paper bottle on the market is produced at the company’s Ipswich plant using its own machine. However, that won’t be the case for much longer, as Frugalpac has sold two of its machines to companies in North America.
The first machine was purchased by Canadian company KinsBrae Packaging in June 2022, before the second was sold to Monterey Wine Company in California, USA earlier this month (August 2023). The machine sold to KinsBrae Packaging will be delivered in September and should be operational within one month.
“We are currently shipping large quantities of bottles to North America, but that volume will trickle down to our customers in the US and Canada once we start operating,” said Waug.
“We have had over 100 inquiries for bottle making machines, as well as 10 customers who are close to committing to contracts and orders. I would be disappointed if we couldn’t sell three more machines by the end of the year and maybe eight or nine more next year.”
Collaboration with customers
The growing success and popularity of the paper bottles is a testament to the quality of the product, but it is also due to the wine and spirits manufacturers that Frugalpac has partnered with.
Waugh estimates that as of July 2022, the business was split 60:40 between spirits and wine. However, thanks to the success of partners like Interpunkt and When in Rome, that ratio has flipped in favor of wine.
But that doesn’t mean bottles are losing their popularity among spirits makers. In fact, Frugalpac’s value has doubled over the past 12 months due to growth in both categories.
“If you look at us in terms of value, North America is our largest market simply because we sold two devices in those regions, plus bottles,” Waugh revealed.
“In terms of value, Europe comes in second and third place, followed by the UK. However, in terms of volume, the UK comes in first, followed by Europe and North America.”
Interpunkt – which produces wine in collaboration with South African vineyard Journeys End – is now sold in nearly 1,000 bars and restaurants across the UK, after the brand unveiled its first range of wines, Shiraz and Sauvignon Blanc, last July.
Both products have been packaged by Frugalpac since their launch, and founder Andrew Ingham told Food Manufacture that the Ipswich-based company's sustainability credentials caught his eye during the process of selecting a packaging partner.
“I chose Frugalpac specifically because I like the simple use of plastic,” Ingham said.
“There is no magic bullet to solve all the problems at once, but it is about using a lot less carbon to produce and distribute (wine). Other sustainable packaging I looked at used a very large amount of plastic, in some cases they used almost 50% plastic.”
Interpunkt's brand identity focuses on removing tradition and pretense from the wine industry and Ingham believes the partnership with Frugalpac helps achieve that goal.
“When I founded Interpunkt, I felt there were two main challenges to overcome,” he explained. “First, to make wine accessible to both casual and new wine drinkers, by removing all the annoying wine lingo and constantly educating customers. And second, to find better packaging than the glass.”
“I wanted to have a product that could be easily found on supermarket shelves, put on the dinner table and taste great. The Frugalpac bottle achieves all of these goals.”
Meanwhile, the Anglo-Italian brand When in Rome sells its wine in three formats: cans, bags in boxes, and Frugalpac bottles. The partnership between the two companies was struck in December 2021, and since then, When in Rome has gone pretty strong.
The company’s range of Italian wines is now sold in UK supermarkets including Waitrose and Sainsbury’s, as well as online delivery service Ocado. The brand also supplied the UK leg of Coldplay’s recent world tour.
“Frugalpac offers a solution that no other company in the UK offers,” When In Rome CEO Robert Malin told Food Manufacture.
“We have a very shared ethos focused on reducing the carbon footprint of wine production, while we are both startups looking to support each other. Like us, they (Frugalpac) understand the importance of building this category, and the success of their bottles will help us in the long run.”
Cantina Goccia, the farm responsible for producing the first bottle of Frugalpac wine sold in 2020, has also benefited from the partnership. According to Waugh, the winemaker is expected to sell 85,000 bottles of Frugalpac this year alone, having sold just 10,000 glass bottles a year before the partnership began in 2020.
“Josiah’s business has grown significantly and they still sell an average of 10,000 glass bottles a year,” Waug added.
“So it didn’t affect what they were doing, it just enhanced their offering. They grew in established markets, like the UK and Scandinavia, but they also started exporting.”
The leading company in the paper bottle market
At this stage, Frugalpac says it is the only brand on the market selling and distributing paper wine and spirits bottles, although Waugh said Danish company Paboco and British company Pulpex are looking to break into the space.
Paboco and Absolute Vodka are currently participating in a three-month trial with Tesco, with their bottles being stocked in a limited number of stores.
“Baboko’s proposal is a little different to ours, but it’s something we’re happy to follow, and it really gives us confidence that we’re going in the right direction,” Waug said.
“It has the backing of big companies like Coca-Cola, who are keen to bring this type of product to market. Babuco also uses cardboard, where the pulp is formed into a bottle using moulds. It’s an energy-intensive material, it needs a lot of drying, and it’s a material that’s difficult to find the right consistency for.”
Looking ahead, Waugh and the Frugalpac team are aware that more companies will enter the market, but they believe that their lead over the competition puts them in an enviable position. However, no one is getting carried away by early success, and there is still a sense of realism.
“The glass will be there and it will take some time to make a complete change,” Wagg admitted.
“Some might argue that our ambitions are a bit disappointing, but I want to temper expectations. 21 billion bottles of Bordeaux-style glass are sold every year, so a single-digit market share would be huge for us and the sustainability of the industry. I don’t think a 2-3% share is unreasonable in five years’ time.”
In its quest for growth, Frugalpac has continued to develop its technology and has begun work on the next generation of filling machines. The goal is to produce more bottles than is currently possible, while also reducing the cost of packaging.
“With Bordeaux bottles, plus the 13 billion bottles of spirits sold, that’s 34 billion bottles of potential each year,” Waug concluded. “That means removing a significant amount of carbon from the wine and spirits sector.”
“It could have a big impact.”
