Packaging Is the New Plate: How Portability, Presentation and Profit Are Reshaping the Retail Food Sector.

 

Time and time again, retail foodservice clients call and ask the same question: “What’s new?”

My answer is usually the same: Differentiation does not necessarily mean different. It means familiar—with a twist that according to Steven Johnson, The Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based  Foodservice Solutions®.

Today, that twist increasingly comes from something retailers and restaurants have historically treated as an operational necessity rather than a marketing asset: the package.

From the perspective of the Grocerant Guru®, packaging is no longer simply what holds the food. It is part of the foodservice experience, part of the brand, part of the value proposition—and increasingly, part of the reason a consumer chooses one meal over another.

The transformation is particularly important because the lines between grocery, restaurant, convenience store and home eating continue to blur.

The Package Has Become Part of the Product

Think about the last restaurant meal you carried home.

Did the container protect the food? Did it keep hot food hot and cold food cold? Did it prevent sauces from leaking? Could you eat directly from it? Was it easy to carry? Could you put it in the refrigerator? Did it look good enough to photograph?

Those aren't packaging questions anymore.

They're foodservice marketing questions.

The National Restaurant Association's 2025 Off-Premises Restaurant Trends research found that 90% of off-premises customers would be likely to order a greater variety of food if upgraded packaging helped preserve temperature, taste and quality. More than half of consumers—and 60% of Gen Z and Millennials—said they would pay more for takeout or delivery when packaging helped maintain food quality.

That is a remarkable finding.

The package isn't merely protecting the product.

The package can expand the menu.

From Mason Jars to Modern Meal Architecture

Several years ago, concepts such as Ancolie in New York demonstrated the potential of serving salads, bowls, desserts and other foods in reusable glass jars.

The appeal was about more than sustainability.

The transparent container transformed ingredients into visual architecture.

Layers of vegetables, grains, proteins, sauces and toppings became visible. The consumer could see freshness, variety and portion before opening the container.

That idea remains relevant—but the opportunity has evolved.

Today, foodservice packaging is moving beyond the novelty of a mason jar toward purpose-built packaging ecosystems designed around portability, visibility, reheating, stacking, merchandising, delivery and reuse.

The important lesson isn't that every retailer should put food in a jar.

It is that packaging should be designed around the occasion.

A breakfast eaten in a car needs a different package than a family dinner carried home.

A lunch eaten at a desk needs a different package than a dinner placed on the table.

A salad needs different packaging than fried chicken.

A meal designed for delivery needs different packaging than a meal designed for grab-and-go.

Packaging should follow the consumer—not the other way around.

Grocery Has Become a Restaurant Competitor—and Packaging Matters

This matters enormously to grocery retailers.

FMI's Power of Foodservice at Retail 2025 report found that the share of consumers choosing deli-prepared foods instead of restaurant meals increased from 12% in 2017 to 28% in 2025. Even more revealing, 53% of Americans now use a hybrid approach, combining deli-prepared foods with items from their own kitchens.

In other words, the grocery deli isn't simply competing with another grocery deli.

It is competing with restaurants, takeout, delivery and the consumer's kitchen.

And the package is increasingly sitting in the middle of that competition.

In 2025, retail foodservice sales reached approximately $52.1 billion, with prepared meals and items accounting for about $19.6 billion; prepared-food dollar sales increased 3.7% over the measured period.

Then came another important signal.

McKinsey's 2026 grocery research found that convenience and saving time were the two leading reasons consumers purchase prepared foods from grocers, at 74% and 68%, respectively. Frequency of prepared-food purchases also rose 9% year over year from August 2024 to August 2025.

Convenience is no longer simply about where the consumer buys the food.

Convenience is also about what happens after they buy it.

Can I carry it?

Can I store it?

Can I reheat it?

Can I eat it without a plate?

Can I share it?

Can I reseal it?

Can I recycle it?

Can I see what I'm buying?

That is where packaging becomes a competitive weapon.

Sustainability Is Important—But Performance Still Wins

There is another major shift occurring in packaging.

Sustainability remains important, but consumers don't want sustainability at the expense of performance.

Foodservice companies are experimenting with molded fiber, recyclable materials, improved lids, reusable systems and other alternatives. GlobalData's 2025 foodservice packaging analysis identified plastic reduction and reusable packaging as continuing areas of innovation, while also noting that reusable systems require effective logistics to work economically.

The 2026 Foodservice Packaging Institute State of the Industry report reinforces the complexity of the marketplace: more than 35% of packaging manufacturers and suppliers reported volume growth, while 65% said profits either worsened or remained flat in 2025 compared with 2024.

This is important.

Sustainable packaging isn't automatically profitable packaging.

The package has to work operationally.

It has to protect the food.

It has to survive transportation.

It has to merchandise well.

It has to fit the supply chain.

And ultimately, the economics have to work.

Packaging Is Becoming a Marketing Medium

One of the most significant developments in 2025 and 2026 is the recognition that packaging itself can communicate value.

L.E.K. Consulting's 2026 packaging research found that foodservice companies are investing in packaging innovation around sustainability and food safety. The firm also describes packaging as a compelling investment because it communicates the brand message while representing a relatively small portion of total retail value.

That is exactly how I see it from the Grocerant Guru® perspective.

The package is a miniature billboard that travels with the consumer.

It can communicate:

·       Fresh

·       Local

·       Premium

·       Healthy

·       Convenient

·       Sustainable

·       Heat-and-eat

·       Ready-to-eat

·       Shareable

·       Portable

·       Recyclable

·       Reusable

·       Brand identity

And unlike an advertisement, the package is physically attached to the product the consumer purchased.

That makes packaging Hand Held Marketing® in its most literal form.

The Clear Package Advantage

There is also a psychological component.

When consumers can see the food, packaging can become part of the merchandising strategy.

Colorful vegetables.

Visible layers.

Sauce separation.

Premium toppings.

Fresh proteins.

Distinctive grains.

Beautiful desserts.

A package can make the food look more abundant, fresh and premium before the customer ever opens it.

That matters because grocery retailers still have an enormous opportunity to improve the visual appeal of prepared foods.

FMI research found that roughly half of consumers consider their primary grocery store's deli-prepared foods only "somewhat appetizing."

That should be a wake-up call.

If the food looks ordinary in the package, the consumer may assume the food is ordinary.

Packaging Can Create New Meal Occasions

This is where I believe the biggest opportunity exists.

Don't ask:

“What container should we put this food in?”

Ask:

“What consumer occasion are we trying to create?”

A well-designed package can turn:

·       a side dish into a snack;

·       a salad into a complete lunch;

·       a dip into a party solution;

·       a deli entrée into a family dinner;

·       a breakfast item into a commute meal;

·       leftovers into tomorrow's lunch;

·       a dessert into an impulse purchase.

This is the essence of the grocerant niche: fresh prepared Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat foods competing across channels and occasions.

The package can help bridge those channels.

Three Grocerant Guru® Insights

1. Packaging is no longer a cost center—it is a sales tool.

Retailers should measure packaging against more than unit cost.

Measure whether better packaging increases:

trial + frequency + menu breadth + perceived value + willingness to pay.

If 90% of off-premises consumers say better packaging could make them order a greater variety of foods, packaging has moved directly into revenue generation.

2. Design the package around the occasion, not the department.

The deli should stop thinking only in terms of "salad container," "chicken container" or "dessert container."

Think instead:

Lunch Package. Commute Package. Family Dinner Package. Desk Lunch Package. Game-Day Package. Picnic Package. Late-Night Package.

The winning package may cross departments because the consumer's meal does.

3. The next grocerant battleground will be the “last three feet.”

The first three feet are merchandising.

The next three feet are selection.

But the last three feet are what happens between the display case and the consumer's mouth.

Can the customer carry it?

Open it?

Eat it?

Save it?

Reheat it?

Share it?

Dispose of it?

Reuse it?

That is where packaging converts food into an experience.

And in the increasingly competitive grocerant marketplace, the experience is becoming the product.

The Bottom Line

The old definition of foodservice packaging was simple:

Put the food in something and get it to the customer.

The new definition is much more powerful:

Package the food so the customer wants it, understands it, can use it, can transport it, can enjoy it—and remembers the brand.

The future isn't necessarily glass jars.

It isn't paper.

It isn't molded fiber.

It isn't plastic.

It isn't reusable packaging.

The future is packaging designed around the consumer's life.

That's why I believe differentiation doesn't mean different.

It means familiar—with a twist.

And sometimes that twist isn't in the recipe.

It's in the package.

Success does leave clues.

Foodservice Solutions® is the global leader in grocerant niche business development. We help food retailers, restaurants, convenience stores and foodservice operators identify, quantify and qualify new food retail and foodservice opportunities.

Has your company had a Grocerant ScoreCard®, Grocerant Program Assessment, or Grocerant Niche Product Ideation completed?

Want one?

Contact Foodservice Solutions®
253-759-7869
Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us
www.FoodserviceSolutions.us