Roastar VS. 

Having been in the flexible packaging business for over 30 years, many of our clients will tend to ask similar questions such as what is the best material for my printed coffee bags or who makes the best gas release valves for coffee packaging, etc.  In this blog post we are answering a question we heard recently and that was even more direct, “Which company is better for printed coffee bags, Pacific Bag or Roastar?  I hope this information is helpful.

Roastar is based in Wausau, Wisconsin and Pacific Bag is in Woodville, Washington

Available Styles:

Roastar makes their packaging in 2 main styles, Quad Seal-Fin Seal(fold over bottom) and traditional stand up pouches.  The Fin Seal comes in two sizes, and the stand up pouches come in 4 sizes.  They even have a flat 3 side seal coffee bag in a 2 ounce version. 

Pacific Bag can make their pouches in any number of styles from Quad Seal to Side Gusset (similar to Quad Seal) as well as stand up pouch styles and even the newest flexible box flat bottom styles…at Pacific Bag they refer to these as Block Bottom Bags.  Pacific Bag also can make 3 side seal flat bags.

Available Sizes:

Roastar has 2 available sizes for Quad-Fin seal coffee pouches, and they are 5-8 ounce and 12-16 ounce.  Regarding stand up pouches, they have a few more available sizes and they are 2 ounce, 5-8 ounce, 12-16 ounce and a 32 ounce size.

Pacific Bag has a number or stock pouches for sale however for custom printed bags they can make any size imaginable, from 2 ounce to 5 pounds and more.

Available Barrier Materials:

Roastar has 2 available materials, glossy laminated white film and matte laminated film.

 Pacific Bag has many material options to choose from, from laminated foil structures, metalized film, laminated kraft paper, laminated clear film, even a biodegradable one made from renewable resources such as wood pulp.

Available Features:

Roastar’s Quad-Fin style printed bags can come with or without a tin tie and with or without a gas release valve.  On their stand up pouches style coffee packaging a ziplock is available.

Pacific Bag offers just about anything that is available from tin ties to gas release valves, hang holes, ziplocks, resealable tape, and even bag clips.

Print Capability:

Roastar describes themselves as a process color printer.  CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black) are the colors Roastar uses in their printing process versus RGM (Red, Green, and Blue) the colors used by screen displays such as your computer monitor.  To ensure that what you are seeing on your screen  closely matches what is produced on their printing presses, Roastar recommends that your files be created in CMYK color mode.  Per Roastar, creating files in RGB color mode may produce unwanted color shift, as many bright values seen on screen cannot be reproduced in print.

Pacific Bag can print up to 8 colors and this includes spot and process colors.  According to Pacific Bag it is always better to use Pantone colors if possible.  Pantone colors provide a specific color match and are used universally around the world.  They are more consistent from production run to production run and are also used to help prevent banding/striping for the ink.  Further, from Pacific Bag, process colors (those made with CMYK) should only be used when there aren’t enough cylinders available for the number of colors used in the artwork.

Quantity:

Roastar will print as few as 100 bags.

Pacific Bag has a minimum run for their printed coffee bags of 20,000 pieces approximately depending on the size and style.

Lead Time:

Roastar will print and ship within 1 week.

Pacific Bag for new printed coffee bags the lead time is 10-12 weeks after artwork approval.

In closing, both of these companies have what many would consider advantages and disadvantages for printed coffee bags.  Roastar has a quick turnaround and a low minimum run but with a very high per piece price whereas Pacific Bag has a higher minimum run, a lower lead time, and a much lower per piece price.  Which is better, this depends on your particular application.  As always, trust your packaging partner for guidance and direction.