Allied Development Offers Study on Foodservice Packaging

Published: May 14, 2013

MINNEAPOLIS, MN | The “U.S. Foodservice Packaging 2013–2017” study from Allied Development Corp. reports 2012 industry sales totaled $9.8 billion for packaging that food processors use for products that are sold to foodservice outlets.

The study does not include packaging that is sold directly to foodservice outlets, such as clamshells for fast food hamburgers, trays and lids for takeout food, and clamshells for leftovers. The study projects that sales of foodservice packaging items within the US will reach US$11.5 billion by 2017. The total market Value of foodservice packaging will increase at an average annual rate of 3.3% through 2017, slightly faster than the projected 2.3%/annum increase in the Volume of foodservice packaging unit sales during the same time period.

According to the study, several factors are contributing to the growth in the projected total Value of foodservice packaging as compared to its projected Volume growth, including: the requirement for more costly barrier materials to protect more sophisticated food products; the increased popularity of ethnic food combinations that require special packaging solutions; the emergence of flexible pouches as an alternative to the less expensive Number 10 can for certain food product categories; and an overall increase in the cost of packaging materials.

Primary packages, those that come into direct contact with food products, lead all categories of foodservice packaging when Value is used as the basis of measurement.

The study reports that primary packaging accounted for 67% of the total Value of all foodservice packaging shipments in 2012. The study provides detailed market data for several hundred end-use categories of foodservice packaging, including primary packaging, closures, secondary, and tertiary packaging.

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