Canberra start-up Aussie Chocolates spent two years developing a new pouch for its CHOC’D FULL range, navigating trade-offs across materials, shelf life, packing efficiency, cost and environmental claims.
CHOC’D FULL is the nostalgic chocolate brand of Canberra-based Aussie Chocolates. Its Old School Favourites range includes Chocolate Crackles, Spiders, Freckles, Coconut Roughs, Peanut Clusters and Rocky Road. The products are sold through the company’s website and selected retailers, including POP Canberra, Trove Canberra, Harris Farm Markets at Majura Park and independent outlets across the ACT.
For founder Nathan Beer, the packaging project began with the question of what happened to the pack after use.
“We wanted to move away from our original BOPP packs and explore packaging with sustainability as a central requirement, primarily because we wanted to ensure our packaging did not contribute to the pollution of our natural environments,” Beer said.
The redevelopment took around two years, with the revised flat-bottom pouch introduced midway through 2026.
“During that process, we tested different film combinations, printing, lamination, windows, zippers and heat-sealing approaches,” he said.
Simplifying the design
The original brief called for character-shaped transparent windows that would allow shoppers to see the chocolates while retaining the playful identity of the range. Achieving that effect required additional die-cutting and lamination.
“Replacing the windows with printed chocolate imagery allowed us to retain the visual character while simplifying the construction,” Beer said.
“We saw a substantial improvement in quality and fewer opportunities for material wastage during manufacture, although we have not measured that exact reduction as a percentage.”
One of the intermediate designs included a resealable zipper, which presented a different problem.
“The resealable zipper sounded useful on paper, but it narrowed the opening and added almost two minutes to packing each pouch,” Beer said.
“We removed it in favour of a simple tear-open top, recognising that our portions are often eaten in one sitting.”
The final format is a flat-bottom pouch with a tear notch, using a 140-micron-per-wall laminate of printed film, brown kraft paper and PLA. While the supplier documentation describes the outer film as biodegradable, Aussie Chocolates is taking a cautious approach to environmental claims.
“The journey towards more sustainable packaging is a long one. Although we’re stoked with the progress we’ve made to reach this point, we’re cautious about calling this version perfect,” Beer said. “We’ll continue to iterate and improve with every order. It’s still early days, and we’re running our own tests to see how the pouches perform over time and how the materials biodegrade. Until we have those results or commission laboratory testing, we’re hesitant to describe the finished pouch as compostable,” Beer said.
Balancing barrier and shelf life
Barrier performance became another consideration as the team evaluated the available material structures.
“We explored aluminium-containing barrier structures but did not proceed with those proposals because we wanted to keep pursuing our compostability objective,” Beer said.
“The revised pouch still allows some transmission through the film. Our experience so far is that the effect on the shelf life of our chocolates is modest, but barrier performance remains an area we are exploring with the manufacturer.”
Rocky Road previously carried a six-month best-before period in the BOPP pack. In the revised pouch, this has been shortened by approximately 30 days because of the effect on the product’s marshmallow component. The other products in the range have retained their existing best-before periods.
“One key lesson from this experience was the importance of conducting our own tests and assessing the long-term performance of both the materials and the finished packaging. Our supplier was great to work with and willing to innovate in an area that was new to them, but some of the claims did not always match what we observed in practice,” Beer said.
Counting the whole cost
The redesigned workflow also changed the economics of packing.
“Compared with our original BOPP workflow, we estimate a saving of around five minutes per bag, with the revised process taking less than a minute,” Beer said.
“Moving to preprinted pouches removed manual labelling and finishing steps.”
The project also broadened the way Aussie Chocolates evaluates packaging costs.
“The cost lesson was to look beyond the purchase price of an empty bag and include labels, finishing, labour, set-up and freight,” Beer said.
“The new pouches cost around 60 cents each landed and take about one minute to pack. By comparison, our old bags cost around 10 cents each landed, plus another 50 cents for custom labels, and took about five minutes to label, fill and seal. So, while the direct packaging cost was broadly similar, the greatest benefit of the new pouches was the substantial reduction in labour,” Beer said.
Beer said the lessons extended beyond the choice of material.
“Test the whole packing process early, with the real product and the people who will fill the bags,” he said.
“A window or resealable top can look attractive in the design stage but introduce manufacturing difficulties, slow filling or compromise product protection.”
The new pouch may not resolve every end-of-life question, but the process has given Aussie Chocolates a pack that works better in production and a clearer view of what still needs to improve.
