With the quick-service restaurant market estimated to be worth 577.71 billion by 2028, according to a Global Newswire Market research report, consumers of the future are driving industry trends, giving brands even more reason to be forward thinking in meeting those demands. According to Digital Media Solutions, mobile ordering is expected to account for 10.7 percent of sales this year, with food delivery as a whole expected to generate $365 billion by 2035. If the numbers are any indication, the quick-service restaurant culture is ever expanding.
The recent shift to mobile ordering and curbside pickup speaks to the ongoing need for efficient portability, while the trend toward healthy, innovative menu choices and sustainable packaging speaks to consumer and environmental well-being.
Here, Teresa Leonard, head of national accounts for sustainable packaging solutions company Huhtamaki, weighs in on the top three strategies to keep consumers of the future safely on the move and well fed.
1. Food safety on the go
With more people dining off-premises than ever before, the safety of our food largely depends on its packaging. Huhtamaki, whose aim is to have more than 80 percent of its raw materials be either renewable or recycled by 2030, uses high-quality renewable virgin fiber to ensure safety and hygiene.
“Whenever there’s a global situation like the pandemic, it truly caused everyone to pivot to pay attention to what food and food safety really means. The one thing that gives people pleasure—food and sharing a table—became the cornerstone of how we’re going to survive this thing. The quick-service restaurant market exploded for a good period of almost nine months when the only option was drive thru,” Leonard says.
This uptick also facilitated a boom in product bundles—an increase in value in tandem with the increase in transactions as entire families were ordering meals at once. And more transactions means more packaging.
“You need for the integrity of food to remain from point of service when the burger or chicken or what have you is placed in the box to when the consumer opens the package,” Leonard says. “The functionality of packaging would include vents, for instance. The other prong is tamper-evidence. Not only do consumers want the chicken inside to be crispy, you want to make sure no one spit on it. I know it’s gross, but it could be a lot worse. The pandemic especially accelerated the demand in marketing packaging for both integrity from a taste standpoint and from a safety standpoint.”
2. Marketing the whole package
Part of the global stewardship of manufacturing sustainable packaging is drilling down to meet the demands of shifting perspectives within local municipalities.
“We have to remain neutral in how we perceive the marketplace,” Leonard says. “We have to deal with the facts and not the interpretation of facts.”
Indeed, successfully using packaging to brand products involves understanding consumer demographic demands. In the South, for instance, where it’s hot and humid, brands require cups that don’t sweat, whereas Northeast brands might require cups with more insulation.
Every brand, big or small, wants to show it invested in its packaging for the consumer. Leonard cites two main uses to brand through packaging: “First, to communicate who they are, and second, for limited-time offers, which promote a new product launch or certain activities that they brand toward, such as seasonal or sports events like March Madness.”
Using innovative sustainable solutions is another marketing strategy to tout those certifications. Leonard agrees: “The other way to use branding is to communicate a brand’s culture commitment, especially to sustainability, the amount of recyclability, if it’s compostable, uses raw materials, or if trees are replanted. Packaging feeds into a brand’s cultural pillar of their sustainability. I don’t think it’s cynical but rather smart to drive business branding to answer that call.”
3. Sustainable form and function
Recyclable, renewable, compostable, plant-based—all these words go beyond mere euphemism. Consumers of the future refuse to partake in anything that contributes to an increased carbon footprint. They require sustainability both for the environment and their own bodies and minds. And they want it wrapped up tech-savvy, quick, and affordable. This is all possible with sustainable packaging. High-quality fiber, for instance, can be used up to seven times before it loses its strength—a used paper cup becomes an egg tray becomes a bottle protector, and so forth.
The pandemic seems to have accelerated and justified the cost effectiveness of sustainable packaging. “The biggest change was seen not only in the expectation of packaging but the acceptance of its cost implications,” Leonard says. “This goes hand in hand with consumer awareness—what they’re eating, what’s in it, how it’s been transported.”
Nowadays, quick-service restaurants don’t need to compromise cost or sustainability in lieu of food-safe packaging or effective marketing. Leonard concludes, “There’s a lot more pressure to address the generational shift and clearly create a portfolio of products that are sustainable to impact the system. Our goal globally is to be the largest manufacturer of sustainable products. We take that role very seriously. At the end of the day, we are where the market is going.”
To learn more about how packaging can help you meet the needs of your future customers, visit the Huhtamaki website.
By Jocelyn Winn
