With the Olympics coming to an end just as the football season starts, there is no escaping the reality that summer is nearing its end.
True, there is still a whole Test match series between England and Sri Lanka to go, but as August morphs into September, those attending cricket matches late in the season will increasingly swap sun cream for jumpers, sun hats for woolly hats and cold drinks for hot coffee.
Indeed, if you have a food and drink van that serves fans at or outside cricket grounds, you will probably not be serving many cool summer items by the time the last round of the County Championship (September 26th-29th) rolls around.
Be Ready For Change
This transition will be seen as sport-watching habits change and scarves and hats are accompanied by hot food and coffee as sports like football and rugby take centre stage. This will only increase as the days get colder and darker and the summer greenery is replaced by a cascade of golden leaves.
While the changes of the season are inevitable and unavoidable, what is not is a cascade of non-biodegradable packaging to accompany the autumn leaves. As people adjust their eating and drinking habits in accordance with the changing weather, you can stock up on sustainable takeaway coffee cups and other warm food and drink items.
Of course, used items should be placed in the bins provided, although we all know what public litter bins can look like on busy streets late on a Saturday night, outside football grounds or at major events.
However, whether the council sweeps it off the street or bags it with the other contents of the bin, what matters is it biodegrades instead of lurking in landfills for centuries.
Sustainability is a central matter, but autumn offers some opportunities for great new themed packaging. Anything summery will look pretty obsolete and anything left should go into storage for nine months, but the new season will bring plenty of opportunities.
Orange Is The Colour
Firstly, there are the colours to consider. Orange is the most obvious shade for anything autumn-themed, whether it references the leaves as they turn and prepare to drop from the trees, Halloween pumpkins or the flames of a bonfire on November 5th.
Pumpkin-related packaging is an idea you can definitely get creative with. It used to be that pumpkins were almost never seen in British stores until October, at which point they were sold for the specific reason of giving people something to carve a face out of and place a lantern in as October 31st approached.
However, that was as far as it went, with pumpkin recipes seldom finding their way onto the menu. Pumpkin pie was seen as something only Americans ate in the same way the French would eat snails.
That seems to have changed somewhat in recent years. Perhaps it is the influence of Americans living among us, the growth of interest in vegan food, or just curiosity. But with the likes of the BBC Good Food Guide publishing all sorts of pumpkin recipes nowadays, there is a clear opportunity for some clever orange pumpkin treat packaging.
This can emphasise the food itself as well as having a few traditional carved lantern faces, with orange tending to blend well with black as a colour, conveniently so given the return of dark nights and the association of events like Halloween and Bonfire Night with nocturnal activities.
Similarly, Bonfire Night-themed designs, which might be particularly popular when selling hot coffee at a public fireworks display, can feature elements like images of fireworks, Guy Fawkes himself and the bonfire.
Combining Specific Events With The Whole Season
Of course, you can seek to promote your products using more generic autumnal designs. While pumpkin and bonfire toffee have clear links to specific dates on the calendar in the same way Christmas puddings, pancakes and Easter eggs do, autumn is less about specific items and more about the reality that people will want more hot food and drinks.
This way, you can introduce some variations in your packaging, with perhaps one design for autumn as a whole, one for Halloween and one for Bonfire Night, but with consistent colour themes included.
Many will be a little sad that summer is nearing its end and it will certainly mean a significant shift for the catering sector away from products designed to keep people cool and serve them as they enjoy summer events like music festivals, flower shows and sports like cricket and tennis.
However, every season brings its opportunities and there will certainly be some every autumn. With the right sustainable packaging, you can offer attractive cups and wrappings while also doing your bit for the planet.
