By Ronald Cardoos

About thirty years ago, when I first started in the specialty food business, I had a discussion about the aesthetic qualities of an outdoor store sign that was being installed. I was thinking color, the styling, thickness of border, etc. The sign guy looked at me and said, "All that really counts is- Can you read it from the street?" Of course, I did not agree with him until I drove home that evening looking at store signs and realized that about a quarter of signs I looked at could not be read from the street. That early lesson has made an important impact on my buying choices over the years.

As a buyer or an advisor to buyers of specialty foods, I am constantly looking for products that will sell well. Often a potential item may be delicious, but I would not purchase it for one important reason: it was not clear what was in the package. When we, as buyers, look at a potential new product, it is often on a table sitting in front of us or in our hands. In an actual shopping experience, the customer is most often moving, so what is inside the package has to be made clear in a matter of seconds. I routinely reject products if customers need a minute or more trying to read the label. You may not desire the look of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup label, but you can certainly read it from five feet away and know exactly what is in the can.

The biggest culprit is the ego of the manufacturer who is in love with his or her logo and makes it more than 50% of the label. I've seen logos that were almost 80% of the label. I am sure you have also. Sometimes the label is designed on a computer screen with disregard for the curvature of the jar or bottle and important information is located off to the side instead of front and center. Often, the flavor profile is bold but the product identity is unclear. Is it a sauce, a marinade, a what? If you want retailers and consumers to buy your product, make sure everyone knows what you are selling.

Here are a few pointers:

1. Tell the customer clearly what's inside.
2. If it is important, tell us. Is it All Natural? Smoked over Hickory Wood? Hand-Picked in Tuscany? Aged for Six Months?.
3. Use easy-to-read type styles. Once you decide on a design, put the label on the object, put the object on a shelf and look at it from three or four feet away. Can you read it now? You cannot make important decisions about labeling looking at a PDF file on a computer screen.
4. Good luck! While you are workiing on your "special" project, someone else is doing the same thing in another part of the country.

Ronald Cardoos is president of Green Harbor Associates, a sales and marketing consulting firm to the specialty food trade located in Marshfield, Massachusetts. He can be reached at greenharbor@adelphia.net