Sealed Air's CRYOVAC brand food packaging is introducing ZeroPrep, a pre-filled flexible pouch designed to replace squeeze bottles and rigid condiment containers in commercial foodservice back-of-house operations. The launch targets a perennial pain point for chain and independent operators alike: the labor time burned filling, cleaning, and cycling squeeze bottles through every shift.
How the Pouch Works
Each ZeroPrep unit features a patented easy-open seal and semi-rigid spout that allows one-handed dispensing without tools. The spout reseals between uses to prevent drips and cross-contamination. Because the pouches arrive hermetically sealed and pre-filled, operators eliminate the transfer step — decanting bulk condiments into secondary containers — that creates both labor drag and food-safety exposure. Sealed Air claims product yield of up to 97.0%, a figure that matters when protein and condiment costs remain elevated across the industry.
The pouches are formed on a companion CRYOVAC ZeroPrep vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) system, which combines two specialized CRYOVAC films to produce the pouch's shape and seal architecture. The machine handles package sizes from 8 to 16 fluid ounces at speeds of up to 80 packs per minute, a throughput rate that positions it for mid-to-large commissary and co-packing environments serving multi-unit operators.
BOH Labor in Focus
The product enters the market as foodservice operators continue to scrutinize back-of-house labor efficiency. Minimum-wage increases across major metro markets and persistent hourly-worker turnover have pushed chains to audit every low-skill repetitive task on the prep line. Condiment bottle management — filling, sanitizing, dating, discarding — is exactly the category of work that multi-unit operators have been trying to systematize or eliminate through pre-portioned and ready-to-use supply formats.
"ZeroPrep reflects this ongoing commitment by removing the tedious task of squeeze bottle prep and cleaning, helping restaurants improve efficiency and the employee experience while supporting food safety," said Joe Lambert, Sealed Air's North America vice president of food. The comment aligns with a broader packaging-industry pivot toward operator-facing value propositions — not just shelf life and food protection, but measurable labor reduction at the unit level.
For supply-chain context, the ZeroPrep system builds on Sealed Air's existing Liquibox brand liquid systems, which already serve bulk beverage and sauce dispensing in foodservice. The VFFS equipment infrastructure also positions the company to sell both the packaging film and the filling system as a bundled solution to processors and co-packers supplying chain accounts — a model that supports recurring revenue on consumables rather than one-time capital sales.
What Operators Should Watch
ZeroPrep pouches and the VFFS system will debut publicly at PACK EXPO International 2026, running October 18–21 at McCormick Place in Chicago (Sealed Air booth S-2844). Operators and procurement teams evaluating the format should weigh pouch unit cost against the fully-loaded labor and waste expense of conventional squeeze-bottle programs — a calculation that increasingly favors pre-filled formats as hourly labor costs remain a top line item in restaurant operating budgets.
Chain buyers sourcing condiment programs at scale will also want to assess the 8-to-16-ounce size range against their daypart throughput and storage footprint. For high-velocity condiment SKUs — ketchup, mustard, sriracha, specialty sauces tied to LTOs — the hermetic seal and freshness consistency claim could support menu quality standards across distributed franchise and multi-unit systems.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
