Liner’s core business is takeaway pizza boxes, 1.2m of which are produced by the company every day, according to Stillman. The company sells to Italy and exports to mainland Europe, but Stillman has been tasked with helping it break into the UK.
While he joined the company earlier this year, he has spent the past few months researching the UK market and has only begun actively selling Liner’s products and services in recent weeks.
According to Stillman, Liner is one of the few pizza box manufacturers whose products meet all of the EU regulations in regard to food packaging.
The company also manufactures a wide-range of takeaway containers, including paper cups, boxes and trays and has developed its own certified food-grade board substrate.
Until now Liner has manufactured the board purely for it’s own use, but Stillman says it’s now available for other printers.
“The key thing is that it is thinner that conventional micro-fluting, so it’s not limited to corrugated presses, it can also be printed on conventional litho presses,” said Stillman.
Liner’s Nano Corrugated Board uses a specially developed micro fluting that enables it go down to 650mic.
However, Stillman’s key focus will be helping Liner break into the UK fast-food packaging market.
“Part of the reason they appointed me was because of my contacts, knowledge and expertise in the industry,” said Stillman, who is already talking to a number of leading fast-food brands and retailers.
Prior to joining Liner, Stillman spent the previous 10 years working as an independent business consultant both in the print industry and beyond.
“I’ve had my ups and downs in the industry, but you can now say that ‘Bill is back’ and I’m looking forward to making the most of the opportunity,” said Stillman.
He made his name in print as the owner of £3m-turnover Swan Packaging in Corby in the late 1990s.
Stillman continued to work with Swan Packaging for six months after selling to Guildford-based Karran Group in the summer of 2000. However, Swan fell into administration in 2002 amid a legal dispute between Stillman and the Karran Group, which ultimately came to nothing, according to Stillman.
Karran Group itself collapsed in 2004 after a failed CVA, leaving debts of circa £1m.
