Looking back at 2016, the packaging industry took strides in more innovative, sustainable, and efficient directions. The top 2017 packaging trends for food and beverages include:
- sustainability
- textured packaging
- convenience for consumers
- fewer small packaging producers
Consumers of every age bracket are documenting their opinions and the details of their food truck orders with selfies, tweets and posts. This puts a little more pressure on today’s vendors to connect with modern consumers, and still fit functionality and sustainability with style into their offerings.
Because of this food truck owners need to understand that they are selling much more than their menu items. Packaging plays a key role in conveying your food truck brand and solidifies your connections with consumers.
2017 Packaging Trends For Food and Beverages:
Single Serve Sustainability
Single-serve and controlled portion packaging is becoming a thing in the mobile food industry. For food truck vendors, offering their products in different packaging formats enables them to appeal to different consumer demographics. For consumers, single-serve packaging allows them to walk away from a food truck without measuring or using math to figure out the nutritional content of a single serving size. As great as this packaging trend is from a market standpoint, for those concerned with packaging waste, this trend may be a cause of concern.
This trend appears to come from one of our 2016 packaging trends. Consumers are more concerned than ever about the environment. However, these consumers are passively green and they want food businesses that provide the meals they purchase to do the heavy lifting.
In the past few years, Styrofoam packaging has come under attack by environmentalists. As a result, some vendors have started using eco-friendly packaging for their food truck food. We have seen a gradual shift and growth of bio-based/plant-based plastic on the marketplace. Sustainable packaging is effective at alleviating consumer guilt, and this type of packaging has allowed some vendors to use it as a competitive tool to drive sales.
Textured Packaging
Textured packaging will continue to progress in the market, creating a different sensory experience for consumers. You will start to see more beverages are featuring embossed textures, textured printing techniques, and unique materials.
Consumer Convenience
Convenience is a major selling point for food and beverage packaging. An upward trending percentage of the US population lives in cities, and food truck for urban-dwellers should take into account that many of them walk and use public transportation. That means that food and beverage packaging must offer a range of sizes while still being sturdy, compact and lightweight.
Features such as ease of opening, re-sealability, portability, lighter weight, and no-mess dispensing are packaging benefits that influence consumers’ purchasing decisions positively.
Fewer Numbers Of Small Vendors
A number of big production companies are getting bigger by purchasing smaller, more specialized packaging vendors. Having a wide array of offerings and machinery allows these companies to provide a variety of services under one umbrella. While this means fewer small companies, it benefits food vendors looking for a one-stop-shop for their packaging.
RELATED: 2016 Packaging Trends For Food Truck Vendors
The Bottom Line
These 2017 food and beverage packaging trends will lead smart vendors to invest in solutions that not only maximize the value of their brands while simultaneously reducing their carbon footprint.
How will these 2017 packaging trends influence your food truck? Share your thoughts in the comment section below or on social media. Facebook | Twitter
