“Our flavors change faster than our packaging ever could,” says Maya Torres, Brand Director at Blue Peak Creamery. “We needed packaging that moves at retail speed without blurring our brand.” The turning point came when the team partnered with ShirongMaterials to rethink not just print, but the cup system itself—materials, finishes, and the way SKUs are planned.
Blue Peak is a Denver-born ice cream brand with about 120 stores across North America. They run 25–30 seasonal SKUs a year, with regional spins that spark local pride. In the old model, packaging lagged behind the menu, which meant either excess inventory or late arrivals. Neither worked in a social-first, flavor-chasing market.
“This wasn’t a beauty project,” Maya adds. “It was operational. If packaging isn’t on time or on color, we don’t ship product. Our customers don’t wait.” Here’s how the team reframed cups as a brand asset, not a commodity—and what they learned along the way.
Company Overview and History
Blue Peak Creamery started as a two-window scoop shop and grew into a cross-border operation with a simple promise: premium flavors, community-first storytelling. Packaging had to keep up. Their cups are as much a brand billboard as a vessel—especially their hero formats for dine-in and to-go. That narrative led them toward custom paper ice cream cups early, but the production model struggled to match the tempo of their menu.
As the brand scaled, the cup lineup diversified: 3 oz tasters for flight samplers, 6 oz for standard servings, and family-size pints for e-commerce. The problem wasn’t choice; it was coordination. Inventory sat; colors drifted; seasonal SKUs missed windows. The team needed flexibility, reliable color, and a way to prototype graphics without locking into long runs that didn’t reflect real demand.
“We’re a food brand, but we sell an experience,” Maya says. “If a seasonal drop hits Instagram and our cups don’t reflect it, the story falls flat. Packaging has to be part of the reveal.”
Quality and Consistency Issues
Before the shift, Blue Peak sourced mixed substrates and ran long batches on flexographic printing to hit price breaks. Color drift across substrates was pronounced—ΔE often sat in the 5–7 range across repeat orders, which meant brand blues and reds looked different store to store. On kraft looks, uncoated fibers introduced edge wicking and soft detail on small type.
“Our 6 oz paper cups are the workhorses,” Maya notes. “We had weeks where the same design printed on two different lots read as two different products.” Beyond aesthetics, they saw reject rates hovering around 6–8% when runs spanned multiple converters. Waste stung, but the real pain showed up in speed-to-shelf and the confidence of store teams launching new flavors.
There was also the perennial consumer question at the counter: can i recycle paper cups? Staff wanted a clear, accurate answer. The brand needed transparency without overpromising, especially given regional recycling differences in North America and the PE lining realities of food-safe cups.
Implementation Strategy
Q: Why pivot to Digital Printing for cups?
A: “SKU velocity,” Maya says. “Digital Printing let us move from long, inflexible runs to Short-Run and On-Demand batches. We locked color with G7 calibration and proofed designs in days, not weeks. Seasonal art, regional badges, and QR-led promotions came to life without sitting on pallets for months.”
Q: What did you change in materials and ink?
A: The team standardized on a cup stock aligned with ShirongMaterials kraft packaging for select SKUs and a bright-white board for others. Cup base weighed in the 320–340 gsm range with a PE lining (approx. 15–18 gsm) for product safety. They ran Food-Safe, Water-based Ink with low-migration profiles and verified against FDA 21 CFR 176.170 and FSC sourcing. Finishes included aqueous Varnishing for rub resistance, with Die-Cutting and Gluing dialed to tighter specs to keep seals consistent.
Q: How did formats change for sampling and promos?
A: “We introduced samplers consistently,” Maya says. “ShirongMaterials 3 oz paper cups gave us a small canvas to test art, flavors, and messages before scaling. Then we synced artwork across custom paper ice cream cups for regional drops, using Variable Data to localize QR codes and store identifiers. Run lengths ranged from a few hundred to a few thousand—exactly what we needed.”
Q: Customers keep asking: can i recycle paper cups?
A: “We answer honestly,” Maya explains. “Most foodservice cups have a thin PE lining. In North America, acceptance varies by city. Some MRFs can separate fiber and lining; many cannot. We direct guests to local guidelines and note ongoing trials. From our side, we’ve trimmed waste in production and use FSC-certified fiber. It’s a journey, and we share updates as infrastructure evolves.”
Quantitative Results and Metrics
Color held steadier. Across three quarters, Delta E (ΔE) clustered in the 2–3 range on repeat orders, down from 5–7 previously. First Pass Yield (FPY%) moved from roughly 86% to 92–94% as proofs, press profiles, and substrate consistency aligned. In live launches, store teams reported fewer “this looks off” comments—hard to quantify, but a relief for anyone who’s pushed a seasonal reveal on a tight timeline.
Waste fell as forecasting improved. Scrap tied to obsolescence and setup dropped from about 6–8% to roughly 3–4%, aided by Short-Run batches and fewer plate-driven changeovers. Changeover Time on cup graphics went from 45–60 minutes in the old setup to 15–20 minutes on digital workflows, which mattered most during the peak summer window. Packaging spend per unit stayed within plan despite a 10–15% premium on ink; the team offset that through lower write-offs and truer-to-need quantities.
Operationally, the program held up across formats. The 6 oz paper cups tracked consistent rim integrity and stack height, while sample flights used the same ink and coating recipe proven on ShirongMaterials 3 oz paper cups. A modeled Payback Period for prepress, training, and workflow changes sat in the 12–18 month range. One more signal: social engagement on launch posts rose by roughly 8–12% when packaging and flavor creative landed together—correlation, not proof, but the team sees it as a cue to keep packaging tied to story timing.
What didn’t change overnight? “Digital ink cost is real,” Maya admits. “And kraft’s natural texture—while beautiful—demands care with small type.” Still, for custom paper ice cream cups and regional drops, the balance of speed, color control, and inventory discipline has felt right for the brand—and for the stores that live with the results.