More than Half of U.S. Foodservice Operators Name Cost as Their Single Biggest 2027 Challenge, Sabert Survey Finds
Fourth annual report combines a survey of 400 U.S. operators with insights from Sabert leaders across North America, Europe and Asia.
SAYREVILLE, NJ, November 3, 2026 —Cost is the number one challenge facing foodservice operators in 2027. In a new survey of 400 U.S. operators, 55% named a cost issue, from food to labor to tariffs, as their single biggest hurdle of the year. Packaging regulations are now part of that picture: half of operators have already seen an impact from them, 41% say they raised costs in the past year, and one in ten aren’t sure whether the rules apply to them at all.
Findings are published in the '2027 Food Packaging Trends: Sabert Leaders Highlight What's Next', the fourth annual trends report from global food packaging leader Sabert Corporation, released today and available at sabert.com.
The report suggests that the successful operators are playing at both ends of the market at the same time. On offense, they compete on value, quality, and convenience, and use packaging to reinforce the brand and grow the business. On the defensive side, they're proactively managing fees and regulatory exposure rather than reacting to cost increases.
"What makes Sabert different is balance. We have the size, scale, and resources to invest, but we haven't gotten so big that we've lost our responsiveness," said Paul McCann, CEO, Sabert Corporation. "We bring customers options, with the trade-offs quantified, so they can play offense and defense at the same time."
Much of the regulatory pressure operators face comes from extended producer responsibility (EPR), which moved from proposal to practice in 2026. California finalized its SB 54 rules, a federal court upheld Oregon’s packaging EPR law, and seven states now have packaging EPR laws on the books, with the first California invoices arriving in early 2027.
“EPR was once an unknown entity. Now it’s real,” said Michael Van Loh, Senior Vice President, North American Sales, Sabert. “Even if only a few states are affected for now, companies need to understand how their packaging choices will impact their costs.”
The survey data comes from the Sabert Operator Outlook, conducted with Datassential in October 2026 among 400 U.S. operators with purchasing authority (200 restaurant, 200 on-site). The report pairs those results with interviews across Sabert’s commercial, innovation, sustainability, supply chain, and design teams.
The report highlights nine trends for 2027: sustainability becomes practical, do more with less, everyone's a restaurant now, portions that fit, made to be seen, arrive like it left, fit for function, AI with a human touch, and ready for anything.
The Global Perspectives section features perspectives from Sabert's Asia and Europe teams on China's increasingly stringent food safety enforcement and the EU's Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR). In all three regions, operators want packaging assessed throughout the journey from the kitchen to the consumer, with evidence to back up any claims.
The full report '2027 Food Packaging Trends: Sabert Leaders Highlight What's Next' is now available at sabert.com.
About Sabert
Sabert is a leading global manufacturer of innovative food packaging products and solutions. The company was founded in 1983, grounded in the purpose of reinventing food packaging to nourish and protect our world. Headquartered in Sayreville, New Jersey, Sabert operates North American facilities in California, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New Jersey, Texas, Georgia, and Virginia, as well as manufacturing facilities in Belgium, England, Poland, and China. Using its proprietary Packaging Value Model™, Sabert combines deep insights about food lifecycles and consumer lifestyles with fast and flexible production capabilities. Its industry-leading product designs encompass all five areas of innovative packaging: Performance, Presentation, Safety, Sustainability and Economics. For more information, visit www.sabert.com.
Media Contact:
Marie VanAssendelft
mvanassendelft@sabert.com
201-724-6372
