What is the origin story of ForeFront Packaging? Why do we choose to operate as an outsourced packaging department? If you’ve reviewed our services page, you know what we do, but you may not know why we do it. To learn where our why began, we must hop into the way-back machine to the year… sometime in the early 1980s. ForeFront Packaging began as an idea that Laura Boucher had while working as a customer service representative in the packaging supply industry.
Our story begins when a large food manufacturer hired a savvy customer service rep to manage customer inventory. This was an age of Rolodexes, rotary phones, and typewriters: a very different business environment. Back then, hard-working teams crunched numbers and analyzed data before there were computers or even the worldwide web. Our founder Laura was that savvy customer representative, and it didn’t take her long to notice patterns in the types of issues she was resolving for her customers…
Repeatedly, Laura would assist customers dealing with late orders, over or understock issues, delays with design rollouts, and many other complications resulting from a lack of coordination. Suppliers were frequently not meeting the basic needs of their customers. As an outside observer, it was clear to her they were being underserved, and it didn’t sit right with her. She could tell there was a dire need for a single point of contact to manage and coordinate the packaging materials and related services, and she decided to be the change and become that point of contact for herself.
Her first customer was a growing wholesale bakery. As they launched new products and expanded to new locations, Laura offered to take care of all the little things that went along with their packaging and supply chain requirements. As new needs arose, she sourced other professionals to partner with her and support her customer, and we slowly built up the suite of services that we offer today. Eventually, there was more to do than she could handle by herself, and she grew her team. Finally, in 2004, Laura officially founded ForeFront Packaging, which we named after our commitment to keeping our customers at the forefront of their industry.
Today, our first customer is our largest customer, and we manage hundreds of items for dozens of food brands of varying sizes and specialties. “Customer Focus” and “Exceeds Expectations” are two of our company values because they started as Laura’s core values from the beginning. We consider our customers our partners and are proud to act as an extension of their business with a personal, hands-on approach to handling all their packaging and supply chain needs. If this sounds like the type of support you have been missing, please don’t hesitate to contact one of our representatives today.
ForeFront Packaging designs and implements packaging and supply chain solutions for food brands that free up time, relieve stress, and save money.
