“You should expect a lot from your packaging,” said Kurt Richars, director of market development and sustainability, Anchor Packaging. “There are so many things good packaging can do for an operator.”

Richars’ list includes effectively displaying your food (“when customers see more, you sell more”), creating reduced waste by keeping food good longer, making food prep easier and migrating food from the hot case to the cold case, among others. The most important component Richars cites is the consumer experience—“bringing the customer back.”

People are looking for value today, Richars said, but that’s not just price point. “Value can mean was it convenient? Did it taste good?”

Of course, retailers have to constantly weigh costs and operational efficiency. During all the disruptions around the pandemic, that wasn’t always easy.

Jeannine Scherzer, the marketing director (Americas) for Graphic Packaging International, a manufacturer of paperboard and paper-based packaging that works with numerous c-stores, said she thinks there’s a new normal in the food packaging industry.

Not all stores were equipped with the right packaging to handle those disruptions. But organizations have since had time to step back and look at what the long-term trends are and how they can remedy some of the issues that arose.

“I think a lot of restaurants and convenience stores are now able to figure out what package is going to work best for the food items that they’re serving,” Scherzer said. “It’s all about preserving the quality of the food during transport. … [Companies] want to see how the package performs—and not just in their operations and out the door, but how does it function for the first 30 minutes going to somebody’s house or being in somebody’s car?”

“A lot more [companies] are putting more attention on how things are going to fit in a bag,” she said. “They always have [paid attention to it], but now it’s more important because they’ve heard the complaints about the delivery companies dropping food all over the place.”

Philip Santini, the senior director of foodservice and advertising at Rutter’s, said post-pandemic food packaging considerations have included ventilation and temperature.

He added: “I believe that the packaging of items—specifically how they are layered into bags or the vessel in which they are handed to a guest—should be a priority for all food service operators.”

Other considerations for Rutter’s include condiments: How should they be included? Santini said the industry standard is just to throw the ketchup and mustard in the bag with the rest of the items. But Rutter’s is thinking about whether there is a way to incorporate condiments into the rest of its food packaging.

Santini said, “We’re constantly considering: What can we offer? How can someone enjoy this in their car or while on the road? How will it travel well to meet these demands? I believe this is more of a challenge than simply providing a quality burger. It’s about ensuring that guests have the opportunity to enjoy their order exactly as they imagined.”

How can someone enjoy this in their car or while on the road?”

There’s plenty of other innovation happening in the food packaging industry. Scherzer said consumers are focusing more on specialized beverage offerings and want packaging that can make a c-store feel like a specialty destination.

She said, “Some of that beverage innovation we’re really watching out for is that balance from a c-store operator between what am I going to offer and what’s the right package, but what’s also the most convenient because they only have so much shelf space.”

Graphic Packaging International has had more customers look into consolidating to a one-cup set to carry out drinks. The company has started looking into whether it could have a hot and cold beverage in the same set if the sizes line up. And while there’s plenty of research into insulation needs on the beverage side, insulation advances are starting to seep into general packaging, too.

A Retailer Revamp

While Rutter’s knows food packaging is crucial for proper function, the retailer has also played around with form. In August 2023, Rutter’s released revamped food packaging for its “Made For You” menu with a modern design and the company’s colors. Santini said that because the menu items are designed for customization, packaging had to also provide a fun, personalized feel.

Customers have said they like the look, and Rutter’s has explored how to make the packaging more interactive, such as telling customers how to eat a particular product and which bite to take next.

Coming up with the design involved lots of back and forth with vendors and included customer commentary via social media interaction. Santini said the process was “a lot of looking at what we already had on hand and saying: Is this the best fry cup that we can get? Is this the best package for the items that are going to be served in it?”

He added that the crucial part of the experience is ensuring that a guest doesn’t receive a package that is ripped, broken or packed incorrectly. “From a user experience perspective, I believe that opening the packaging and finding an item that meets your expectations is the most thrilling part of it all,” Santini said.

Rutter’s will continue to explore its food packaging.

“We will strive to do everything within our power to meet our goal of serving a product to our guests in the most suitable manner of container possible,” he said. “We haven’t completely solved it yet, but we’re striving to come as close as we can to achieving that.”

Thinking Sustainably

Santini said a social responsibility factor has increasingly moved to the forefront for retailers, even though an emphasis on sustainability can increase costs.

Scherzer said a large portion of customers are focused on putting their dollars in places where they believe in what a company is doing. And customers are increasingly expecting brands to do “the right thing.” Graphic Packaging International sources most of its wood fiber from sustainably managed forests, and the majority of the energy the company consumes comes from renewable sources.

Sustainability is starting to become a bigger and bigger requisite.”

“We saw sustainability take a little bit of a backseat when Covid first started because consumers [tended to] prioritize their health and safety and security and financial stability over sustainability,” Scherzer said. “But now that consumers are in a much better place, we’re starting to see sustainability return to the top.”

She added, “No one is expecting perfection. But consumers want to see an effort. They want to see progress. And the concept of having recycled content in something is very easily understood by many consumers as, ‘Hey, there’s something that went into this packaging that contributed to a circular economy.’”

Another company exploring sustainable food packaging options is Placon.

Scott Newton, a sales director at Placon, said the rise of a younger, more eco-conscious generation has prioritized sustainable options.

“In the ’90s and the 2000s, people didn’t want to pay extra for anything sustainable,” Newton said. “The marketing behind it now is different. … The transition to these different generations made things a little bit smoother and easier for us.”

Keith Schrage, Placon’s sales director for its stock food line, added, “Sustainability is starting to become a bigger and bigger requisite for the packaging that’s going into these different locations. In the c-store world … they’re all buying [amounts of sustainable packaging] at different levels.”

Schrage said some retailers might care about sustainability but don’t want to pay the increased cost, while others look at sustainability as a chance to market themselves differently and set themselves apart in a crowded market.

“Because we’re sustainable, we are a little bit more expensive than the next, so we have to offer a different level of value,” Schrage said of Placon’s packaging.

Newton said a trend is telling a story about the product or the packaging. A QR code on the packaging can take customers to a website tour of Placon’s EcoStar facility, where a video can explain the process and educate people on what they’re getting with the packaging and why the item is packaged the way it is. The company is excited about a new material called OxyStar, an oxygen barrier material that can be put back into the PET recycling system.

OxyStar has a No. 1 recycling symbol, meaning it can be consistently recycled for use—most barrier solutions have a No. 7 symbol, which is much harder to recycle. OxyStar, according to Placon, is designed to reduce direct oxygen contact in a more sustainable manner via its multilayer PET and oxygen scavenging agent.

Schrage said sustainability is also about curbing food waste. That means consumers are asking: What kind of packaging can we use to extend the shelf life of our product?

Richars echoed that. The food itself represents a far larger investment of energy than the packaging. Richars shared that most food waste happens between the operator and the house. In other words, someone decides to stop eating those chicken tenders or stop drinking that coffee. Good packaging protects the quality of the food, which reduces food waste, which creates a more sustainable foodservice operation.

Richars pointed to reuse as a trending path towards sustainability. About three in four consumers report reusing containers. So a higher-quality container that can endure repeated use at home has an important sustainability angle.

As a whole, resealable packaging is also becoming more important in c-stores. Food packaging is moving away from clam shells and into trays with resealable packaging so the item can be put away and taken back out hours—or days—later.

“[Peel and reseal] is changing in the marketplace as we speak,” he said.

Packaging Trends

Food packaging must be both tamper-evident and “tamper-simple,” as Schrage put it, meaning the package is secure but easy to open.

“It drives me crazy when you walk through the store and see there are blueberries missing out of a package and blueberries sitting on the shelf because somebody wanted to give their kid 22 blueberries while they were shopping,” he said.

“Just about everyone wants [tamper-evident packaging] just because of the food safety aspect of it—especially in convenience stores because you have so much foot traffic in and out,” he said. “[Having] something there for the safety and security of the consumers is huge. … [Tamper-evident] is no longer a value add, it’s a necessity.”

“That assurance you get with tamper-evident is a really important thing, particularly with grab-and-go food. People want to know that no one has touched this since the kitchen closed it,” Richars said.

Another trend making its way into food packaging is an increased priority on health and wellness. Rutter’s has a number of healthier options and is exploring further venturing into that area. As a result, the retailer has discussed what that might mean for its food service program—and for how those items are packaged.

For Graphic Packaging International’s Scherzer, that means the company is making sure its fiber-based options will still keep a sandwich or salad crisp and in tip-top shape.

“If you want to buy something healthy, you have a little bit of a freshness expectation to it,” she said.

Other trends Placon’s Schrage and Newton have noticed are that customers are looking for packaging in smaller sizes that’s convenient, simple and easy to open—something that has multiple products in it, maybe in a four-cell or three-cell container.

Food packaging companies are also paying attention to how they present themselves.

“There are a lot of studies out there as well about consumers’ purchasing decisions being influenced by packaging design,” Newton said. “What you’re seeing now is anything that looks more natural, anything that looks minimalist, is popular. It seems to be once again generational to some degree, but this natural, minimalist packaging is eye-catching without overdoing it. And it’s picking up our sustainability story.”

“Customized packaging is big in our industry because it’s a shelf differentiator,” Newton said. “So how do you look different than everybody else? It’s labeling, it’s graphics but it’s also packaging style and design.”

Now that the food packaging industry has stabilized some, companies and retailers are both looking forward to how they can innovate to best serve their customers.

“We are always striving for the unicorn package—anything that can keep a sandwich colder or french fries and mozzarella sticks crispy or a sandwich from getting soggy,” Scherzer said. “But if we can’t get the unicorn package, at least we can continue to strive for enhancements that preserve food quality [and] insulation products that keep [food] warmer or cooler.”