Sealed Air's CRYOVAC brand is launching ZeroPrep, a pre-filled flexible hand-dispensing pouch designed to replace squeeze bottles and rigid condiment containers in foodservice back-of-house operations. The product targets one of the more tedious and underscrutinized labor drains in a restaurant shift: the filling, cleaning, and sanitizing cycle tied to traditional condiment vessels.
The ZeroPrep pouch features an easy-open seal, a resealable semi-rigid spout, and hermetic closure until first use — meaning no transfer to secondary containers, and no cross-contamination risk from repeated refilling. Package sizes run 8 to 16 fluid ounces, produced on a dedicated CRYOVAC vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) system at up to 80 packs per minute. Sealed Air reports product yield of up to 97%, which directly addresses the chronic condiment waste that accumulates across high-volume dayparts.
Why Operators Should Care
For multi-unit operators and high-throughput independents alike, the squeeze bottle prep routine is a hidden labor cost that rarely appears on a P&L but shows up in labor hours and food-safety audit findings. Filling bottles from bulk containers, labeling them for FIFO compliance, cleaning them between shifts, and replacing cracked or contaminated units adds up — especially across locations running lean teams. ZeroPrep is built around the premise that pre-filled, hermetically sealed, ready-to-use pouches remove that entire workflow from the shift checklist.
Joe Lambert, Sealed Air's North America vice president of food, framed the launch around operator feedback: the goal is removing a tedious task that erodes both efficiency and the employee experience. In a labor market where retention and task simplification remain procurement priorities, packaging that reduces prep steps carries real operational weight — not just a sustainability or yield story.
Market Context
The broader shift toward pre-portioned, ready-to-use back-of-house formats has been accelerating across the foodservice supply chain. From pre-portioned proteins to single-use sauce packets, operators are increasingly willing to pay a packaging premium to recover labor minutes. Flexible pouch formats have gained ground in food manufacturing and retail — their move into foodservice condiment dispensing reflects a maturation of that format's capabilities. For distributors and broadline buyers, ZeroPrep represents a SKU category worth evaluating alongside existing squeeze-bottle and portion-cup programs, particularly for accounts with documented labor or food-safety friction.
Sealed Air will debut ZeroPrep pouches and the VFFS system at PACK EXPO International 2026 (booth S-2844), October 18–21 at McCormick Place in Chicago — a trade venue that draws packaging procurement decision-makers from across the food and beverage manufacturing sector. Operators sourcing through broadline distributors should expect ZeroPrep to enter the conversation through their foodservice packaging reps in Q4 2026.
For operators building out packaging and BOH efficiency procurement criteria, ZeroPrep is worth a spec review. And for brands evaluating how packaging supports food safety and labor reduction positioning, the 97% yield figure and hermetic-seal claim are the numbers to test against your current condiment program costs.
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.
