Foodservice Brands Have Made Sustainability Their Packaging North Star

Sustainability has been — and, at least for the next three years, will continue to be — a top consideration for foodservice companies when it comes to choosing, and choosing to change, their packaging. Both consumer packaged goods (CPG) and foodservice brand owners have been prioritizing sustainability in their packaging since 2022, and around 72% of brand owners surveyed expect to achieve all of their related goals by 2030.

Those were among the core findings from L.E.K. Consulting’s survey of 450 U.S. brand managers and packaging stakeholders in the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026 for our proprietary U.S. Brand Owner Packaging study, which broke out foodservice companies for the first time in eight years.

Foodservice companies are most concerned about sustainability and the environment

 In foodservice, sustainability and environmental concerns are overwhelmingly the primary considerations when selecting packaging (around 84%), followed by food safety and compliance (around 55%) and cost (around 28%) (see Figure 1). 
 

Sustainability’s primary importance to foodservice companies is not new. While approximately 99% of CPG brand owners expect to make changes to their packaging over the next three years, about 48% cited moving to sustainable packaging as the top reason. But foodservice brands have already been making sustainability their top priority when it comes to packaging. Of the approximately 79% of foodservice organizations that changed packaging substrates in the past three years, meeting sustainability goals was the No. 1 reason for approximately 83% of them (see Figure 2). 

Packaging innovation continues to be a top priority for foodservice companies

Packaging innovation is another area of importance for foodservice brands, as some 72% have invested in packaging innovation over the past three years — a number that is expected to rise to roughly 79% through 2028. Currently, the vast majority of foodservice operators (roughly 81%) cite improving cost efficiency as among the approaches they’re taking, followed by transitioning to sustainable materials (roughly 69%) (see Figure 3).

Be sure to read the fourth and final article in our 2026 packaging study series, which delves into how brand owners’ sourcing strategies are evolving. And don’t miss our breakdown of how brands are leveraging digital tools and AI across the packaging value chain and our overview of how packaging is impacting brands’ success.

If you would like access to the full results of the study, please contact us.

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