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For nearly a year now, restaurants in many jurisdictions have either closed for dining or operated at partial capacity. Consumers are relying on takeout, which has pressured the supply chain for takeout containers and driven manufacturers to innovate to create a new takeout packaging world.
"It has been interesting to see foodservice packaging innovations come back to their origin. Stopping the spread of communicable diseases was the reason foodservice packaging was created in the first place," Natha Dempsey, president of the Foodservice Packaging Institute, wrote in an email.
Restaurants, from fast casual to fine dining, upgraded their takeout packaging in 2020, according to the National Restaurant Association’s "State of the Restaurant Industry" 2021 report.