In today’s foodservice landscape, packaging isn’t simply functional. It’s a brand differentiator. Your packaging can enhance your guest experience, improve sustainability, and even boost operational efficiency. Foodservice brands that invest in smarter packaging have an opportunity to align with consumer values while addressing real business challenges.
For example, operators looking to scale up off-premise business can use packaging to support those goals. Tamper-evident seals for delivery, compostable containers and heat-retaining designs can all support brand integrity and environmental goals. Brands like Sweetgreen have embraced custom, compostable packaging that reinforces their brand story and appeals to eco-conscious consumers. Even the simple, recyclable brown paper bags and foil burger wrappers at Five Guys minimize waste and protect food quality after an order leaves a store.
Beyond sustainability, packaging can also drive loyalty and shareability. Custom-designed containers, QR codes for promotions, or packaging that doubles as a social media prop can turn a takeout order into a marketing asset. A brand like &pizza, for example, stands out on social media simply because of its unusual oblong pizza boxes.
Operationally, innovations like stackable designs or smart packaging can reduce waste, streamline prep, and improve food quality in transit – key concerns in the age of off-premise dining. Domino’s designed its pizza boxes to retain heat and maintain crispness during delivery with venting and a corrugated design – a critical need for its delivery-centric model. Their packaging is also optimized for stacking and driver efficiency, reducing delivery time and order damage. There are higher-tech solutions starting to emerge in mainstream foodservice too, like time-temperature freshness indicators that change color based on how long a package has been exposed to temperature fluctuations.
Packaging innovation can be a strategic lever that gives foodservice brands an edge when it comes to customer perception, operational performance and brand equity. What does your packaging say about your brand?

​The demand for off-premise restaurant food is going strong – but restaurants are still trying to find their footing when it comes to packaging. Bans of single-use plastic in some cities, along with guest demands for environmentally friendly options, are leading more operators to try compostable containers. But as Los Angeles-based operators have been finding in light of the city’s forthcoming ban on disposable plastics, some of the compostable packaging alternatives can soak up sauces and otherwise alter the taste of a dish. As you consider alternatives to plastic in the packaging you use for catering and takeout, test how the material interacts with (and impacts the quality of) the ingredients you’re packaging.

Before the pandemic, restaurant delivery packaging was making strides toward sustainability as greener containers, no-cutlery-included policies and reusable containers were all on the rise. While those efforts stalled a bit amid lockdowns and supply chain challenges, industry analysts expect sustainable packaging to rebound in a big way this year. It helps that consumers have expressed greater willingness to pay for it than in the past: A McKinsey study found that 60-70 percent of consumers said they would pay more for sustainable packaging. Further, how the packaging communicates sustainability is important too: Approximately 35-36 percent of the survey respondents said they would buy additional sustainably packaged products if they were more available in stores, available for more products, and better labeled to indicate green packaging. In terms of materials used, consumers are interested in recyclable and recycled plastic packaging, fiber-based packaging, higher levels of recycled content in the products they use, and increased compostable packaging options. In your business this year, how can you improve your sustainability and communicate it through your packaging? Consider not only adopting new packaging materials but also offering reusable options, labeling the green packaging you use to demonstrate your efforts to guests, promoting those efforts on your website and social media, and encouraging guests (via your website and digital ordering channels) to be mindful of the environment when using takeaway packaging.

Shortages of to-go packaging rank among the top supply concerns for restaurant operators right now. Prices, accordingly, have increased along with the shortages: A 2021 operator survey by Datassential found that 72 percent of respondents said the price of their takeout packaging had climbed significantly. Adding to the challenge is that some regions are cracking down on the use of packaging materials like Styrofoam, all while consumers are also taking greater notice of restaurant packaging and supporting brands that have managed to find environmentally friendly solutions to the problem. (One case in point: apps like Jybe, which enables consumers to search specifically for restaurants that are making Earth-friendly packaging choices.) Could this year be the year your restaurant gets into reusable packaging options? Increasingly, it’s becoming a feasible alternative for large multinational brands and smaller independents alike. For example, Restaurant Hospitality reports that in addition to Burger King testing reusable Whopper containers and Starbucks testing a cup-rental option, small chains like Tiffin in Philadelphia are offering delivery containers that can be returned to a delivery driver on a subsequent order. Other smaller operators are partnering with the growing number of third-party suppliers offering food and drink containers that can be used, returned and reused.

Your to-go packaging says a lot about you: Before a customer even sets foot in your restaurant, your packaging immediately communicates messages about not only your brand identity but also about how much you value customer safety, the environment and the quality of your off-premise food. Now that we’re emerging from the pandemic, more operators are picking up where they left off with innovating the packaging and cutlery they include with their off-premise meals. Shake Shack, for one, recently announced it is testing sustainable cutlery and straws from AirCarbon, which includes no synthetic plastics or glues in its products, doesn’t need food crops in its production process, and produces items that are home-compostable, soil-degradable and ocean-friendly. Edible packaging is on the rise too, with materials like mushrooms being fashioned into bowls and seaweed being tested as a plastic-like but biodegradable alternative to traditional plastic cutlery. If you’re currently evaluating the carbon footprint of your menu, consider the entire carbon footprint of the meals you provide (including the containers surrounding them). Of the 78 million tons of plastic packaging produced around the world each year, only 14 percent is recycled, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Off-premise dining isn’t showing signs of slowing down, and in the months and years ahead, the way you present your food for consumption off-site is likely to play an increasingly important role in how customers perceive your business.

Any chef would love to have their dishes prepared, plated and enjoyed by customers within a period of a few minutes. But these days, that is an unusual scenario. The pandemic has not only spurred reinvention in restaurant service structures. It is also necessitating changes in how food is prepared due to the lag time between when a food is cooked and when a customer is eating it. Pret A Manger has met that challenge by incorporating sous vide into some of its ghost kitchens. The brand just partnered with Cuisine Solutions to launch a sous vide ghost kitchen in New York, the Spoon reports. By cooking and keeping food at a stable temperature, sous vide helps ensure a food doesn’t lose quality during the lag time between preparation and consumption – think of a chicken breast that becomes dry and rubbery if it’s not eaten soon after grilling. In Pret A Manger’s case, sous vide also helps ease labor strains by having food prepared centrally and minimizing additional work required by kitchen staff. Throughout the past year, you have no doubt reviewed and reworked your menu to ensure it travels and represents your brand well when consumers aren’t eating your food on-premise. If there are popular and profitable (but not very portable) items you have had to remove from the menu until customers feel safe about eating in your dining room, are there preparation or packaging adaptations that could enable you to bring those items back and preserve the experience consumers have when they eat a meal in your dining room?