Circle K sold more than 40,000 units of its Flamin' Hot chicken wings per week from the July launch through early September, CEO Alex Miller told investors on a recent earnings call. Behind that number sits ProAmpac, the packaging supplier that designed and produced the fiber-based hot box carrying the product.

Circle K launched the Flamin' Hot wings this summer in partnership with PepsiCo's Frito-Lay. ProAmpac spent several months developing the grab-and-go container to deliver grease resistance, heat retention and moisture control, and it built the box around Circle K's new wings recipe.

"They had very strict and defined targets they wanted on appearance and performance of the packaging relative to their food recipes," said Adam Grose, executive vice president at ProAmpac.

Food safety set another constraint. Convenience stores follow FDA guidance on hot food temperatures and allowable hold time. "In this case, it's chicken, and we had to demonstrate that the food in the hot cabinet maintained a minimum level of temperature without degrading the quality of the protein," Grose said. "You don't want it to dry out, but you want it to maintain its crispiness."

The design team also had to account for the equipment now heating grab-and-go food. Beyond traditional hot plates, retailers are adopting convection cabinets that surround food with heat. "That's where the packaging comes into play, because there's a microclimate around that food," Grose said. "Hot cabinets have introduced a whole different challenge to packaging that we're addressing and we're continuing to learn."

The container contains no intentionally added PFAS. The food-grade fiber box uses a polypropylene liner because PP performs well in hot-hold packs, Grose explained, and ProAmpac had to verify that the film in the transparent window held up in hot cabinets.

Visibility drove the window design. ProAmpac's fog-resistant coatings keep the window clear, and a waterfall window allows shoppers to see the wings from two sides of the box rather than only the top. That matters for impulse and grab-and-go purchases, Grose said, though it is less critical in foodservice channels like quick-service restaurants, where consumers order from a menu.

"People buy with their eyes," Grose said. "If the consumer sees the food, you're more likely to sell the food. And that was a design criteria that was defined by the team at Circle K right up front."

The sales backdrop supports the investment. Convenience stores and grocers are seeing surging consumer demand for prepared foods, and Circle K's parent, Alimentation Couche-Tard, has posted five consecutive quarters of same-store merchandise sales growth, driven largely by prepared foods momentum.

At ProAmpac, demand for hot-hold solutions now outpaces demand for chilled prepared-food packaging in North America and Europe, Grose said. His advice to retailers: bring packaging suppliers in early. "If you're in hot hold today, or thinking about pursuing a hot-cabinet food strategy, packaging is very important to your food's performance," he said.