Squround

Squround is a portmanteau for "square round" (cartons), referring to a compromise between a square and a round carton. It is also sometimes known as the scround.

The term applies almost exclusively to ice cream packaging design, where the switch to a squround from paperboard bricks, cylindrical half-gallons and other containers is motivated by consumer preference. These packages are more rectangular than square, but the side edges are rounded. The top and bottom surfaces are completely flat.

Pierre’s French Ice Cream, when announcing their switch in May 2003, cited several reasons:
* it fits better in home freezers
* its easier and less messy to scoop out the ice cream
* it makes more efficient use of retail shelf space
* it improves brand recognition (over the round half-gallon) since the flatter front is a more legible "billboard" for each flavor

Smith Dairy, which made the switch that same year for its Ruggles line of ice cream, cited other reasons. They note that the packaging makes tampering more evident, and offers better protection from freezer burn.

Although squrounds are available in traditional half-gallon sizes, changes in U.S. federal regulations covering ice cream have led since 2000 to increased use of a smaller 56-ounce volume. The downsizing in carton size has not seemed to affect unit sales.
Mayfield Dairy, which announced the switch to squround cartons in January 2003, told "Food Engineering" in April that they expect to sell the same number of 56 oz. units in 2003 as it sold 64 oz. cartons in 2002. Breyers, which in 2000 was an early adopter of the smaller package for its "Ice Cream Parlor" brands, as of 2005 uses the smaller package across all its ice cream flavors.

External links and references

* [http://template.ajc.com/living/content/living/food/0203/03icecream.html Some ice cream buyers get short end of scoop] , a February 2003 article from the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution"
* [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3846/is_200311/ai_n9334126 Stiff Competition] a November 2003 article from "Dairy Field" magazine about innovations in rigid packaging