A consequence of the pandemic is that consumers are getting into the habit of having products and services delivered at home. And while seasonality plays a role in food delivery usage, its importance is going up, especially around the winter holidays.

The online delivery & takeaway markets skyrocketed in 2020

According to a Comscore.com feature on variations in online home food deliveries in Europe, 2020 compared to 2019, countries like France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK registered increases between 5% and a staggering 40%, depending on product categories, such as supermarket goods, fresh produce & grocery or fully cooked meals.

In terms of revenues, according to Statista.com, revenue in the online food delivery segment is projected to reach €18,496 million in 2020, with a +26,5% increase year-over-year, as compared to 2019 and the total number of consumers will reach 176,8 million, a +23,9% year-over-year increase, as compared to 2019.

Out of these consumers, the market’s largest segment is restaurant-to-consumer delivery, with a projected market volume of €12,713 million in 2020.

Pandemic reduces raw material availability for plastic food containers

Having all of the above figures in mind and dealing with the increasing customer demands, it’s no wonder horeca industry operators are struggling to find alternatives to the ever-increasing issue of lack of food containers made out of plastic.

This low availability is caused continent-wide by the lack in raw materials due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which in turn affects production of food containers made of XPS/EPS.

More acutely around the winter holidays, when industry operators are in the highest demand for such packaging solutions, this shortage in supply can prove quite troublesome.

The solution at hand – natural fiber food containers

The BFG Packaging team is witnessing first-hand the necessity for alternative food packaging to plastic container packaging – and this is where sustainable and eco-friendly packaging solutions come in.

Just as reliable in terms of quality, convenient for your needs, delivered faster than regular XPS plastic food containers.

Contact your BFG assigned account manager for a personalized offer for natural fiber range and hands-on support in the integration of natural fiber food containers in your supply chain.