Going for Gold

Nescafé Gold Blend is a premium coffee. First launched in Switzerland in 1928, the coffee gained popularity amongst the US forces during WWII. After the war, Nescafé was exported to France, UK and the US, and the American troops became brand ambassadors, spreading their love of the coffee. Today, Nescafé is enjoyed in over 180 countries.

Nescafé Gold is a prestigious brand filled in 3 plants across Europe (France, UK and Switzerland) and using 3 sizes of Jars ( 200gsm, 100gsm, and 50gsm). Brand owners Nestlé wanted to introduce dual sourcing for their label supply to bring additional supply safety. The project, initiated in late 2018 was large and complex providing various challenges for the project team.

The technical challenges

The specified original base material, a metallised paper in 83gsm could no longer be utilised so Nescafé trusted the technical expertise of the team at MCC France to help them develop an alternative with similar features. Nescafé Gold only use 100% metallized paper with special brushed embossing which was not straightforward to work with. The team at MCC France had to engineer a new technical platform to deliver the same finished appearance whilst using different ink & varnish systems. The result had to be a Premium gold finish, with a deep black & white on the Nescafe Blend logo.

The second challenge was the neck label. This is common to all of the SKUs, hence ensuring that the gold color target remains within tolerance when comparing front vs back is key. The label set sits perfectly on top of the coffee jar and must be in full harmony with the jar’s top which is also gold. Last but not least, a UV fluo ink is incorporated into the neck label on the coffee Bean image. This ink responds to a machine check device and if UV is not present, the jar is rejected from the filling line.

The finishing touch

The finishing touch High quality expectations on this premium coffee label meant that every part of the process must be fine-tuned. MCC reviewed and made improvements to the finishing line in order to deliver die cutting excellence & efficiency.

MCC France is delighted to be associated with such a prestigious Nestlé Brand, the homologation process was challenging but we are extremely proud of the results.

Caroline Burgess, Key Account Manager, MCC France