Innovative supermarket operators are driving demand for customer-friendly packaging options through creative events and marketing.

Based in Encino, Calif., 27-store grocery chain Gelson’s is offering delectable dinners for two to-go for special holidays. A recent Valentine’s special included a decadent dessert of chocolate-covered sweet strawberries. Decadent hand-dipped strawberries made with Swiss Chocolate were also sold separately in four packs, six packs, and 10 packs.

General Mills Foodservice is helping retail bakeries offer premium baked goods with ease with the first Pillsbury-branded, retail-ready bakery item. Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls are pre-packaged with four, 3.5-ounce, pre-frosted cinnamon rolls in an eye-catching clamshell container complete with Doughboy graphics.

Ready to roll onto bakery shelves after thawing, Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls provide a low-labor way for retail bakeries to offer cinnamon rolls with homemade taste from the top brand in the category. Pillsbury also offers an extensive line of baking mixes and ready-to-bake items to help bakeries and foodservice operations maximize back-of-house labor to turn out high-quality, scratch-like baked goods.

“We want to give retail bakeries a new and effortless way to boost sales with scrumptious, classic cinnamon rolls in Pillsbury-branded packaging that helps seal the deal,” said Nicole Nelsen, director of retail foodservice at General Mills. “Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls are made all the more appealing in a clear clamshell that showcases the product and features the iconic Doughboy to give consumers confidence they are purchasing a high-quality item.”

Nelsen adds that the packaging for the retail-ready cinnamon rolls was optimized through consumer testing to stand out in the bakery area and encourage purchase intent: 88 percent of consumers indicated the packaging was “eye-catching,” and 83 percent said it looked premium.