Tetra Pak VP Marketing interview summary: What challenges and shifts are shaping the industry?
- Global food and packaging companies face rising geopolitical risk, supply‑chain disruption and higher oil costs, increasing inflation pressure without allowing compromises on quality, taste or price.
- Consumer expectations have fundamentally changed, with buyers demanding more value across functionality, formats, flavours and portion sizes in every purchase.
- Differentiation is critical as shoppers move away from conventional flavours toward unique and experiential options, such as dessert‑inspired or regional flavours.
- “Healthier” is no longer enough, with products expected to deliver multiple benefits like added protein, vitamins, fibre and functional nutrition.
- Ambient, shelf‑stable packaging continues to gain importance because it lowers logistics risk and cost compared with chilled distribution.
Tetra Pak has a widespread footprint in the global packaging and food solution sections, but even with the Swedish multinational’s 70-odd years in the industry, current geopolitical and economic uncertainties across the globe – as well as consumers far more informed than any before – are presenting an unprecedented set of challenges.
“Food, beverage and packaging trends are shifting faster than ever, and there are also global disruptions to supply chains and the rising costs of oil coming into play,” Lusher told FoodNavigator when queried about the biggest industry challenges she sees today.
“If the current situation [in the Middle East] continues, we can expect more disruption to come for all players in the supply chain as well as possibly inflation concerns, which all food firms will need to deal with carefully as there can be no compromise on product cost, quality or taste either.”
Having spent two decades with Tetra Pak across multiple markets and continents, from the United States to South America, Luscher sees that consumers at this point in time want more out of their purchases than ever before, and demands in this space are appearing in accordance with not just a few megatrends but instead a range of different requirements.
“The fact is that consumers today want more from their food and beverage spend, and this appears across many different facets from functionality to formats to sizing,” she said.
“Among the many shifting trends today, there are some which are very applicable across markets worldwide: One of these is the rising need for differentiation, which can be seen in consumers no longer wanting conventional flavours like strawberry and chocolate but instead turning to unique ones like sticky toffee pudding.”
This is also reflected in terms of the functionalities expected from a single product — No longer is ‘healthier’ a sufficient draw.
“Everyone wants their purchases to do more — saying a milk is low fat, for example, is no longer enough, it also has to have added vitamin D and protein; similarly a juice being low sugar is also not enough and needs to be enriched with vitamin C and fibre,” she added.
“Protein in particular is the demand of the hour, as consumers of every age group are looking for this, from younger athletes who want to fuel their workouts to elderly seniors who want to ensure they don’t lose muscle mass.”
Such a shift in increased demands has major implications for all players in the food manufacturing chain from ingredient producers to manufacturers to packaging suppliers, as there is clear and direct impact on how the end-product is designed and produced.
“One of these areas is in terms of product sizing — downsizing is another major trend we are seeing worldwide, and industry has had to really redesign, innovate and adapt accordingly,” she said.
“This ties in very closely with many consumers today looking for food and beverage products easy to access and suited to an on-the-go lifestyle, which can give them a one-shot boost to their day such as a ready-to-eat snack or a ready-to-drink beverage — but at the same time, this convenience cannot be devoid of tastiness and deliciousness, and this is still a very important factor in the purchasing decision process.”
Ambient advantages
Logistical challenges and other ongoing global uncertainties have led to the costs of many products going up, and Luscher believes that the current situation is not only similar to but could go beyond what was seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The real stand-out category of products that was most in-demand during the pandemic were foods and beverages in ambient packs, as everyone wanted to stock up on products that could be stored at room temperature in case logistical challenges led to food shortages,” she said.
“What we are seeing now is a continuation of sorts of that, because everyone is even more keenly aware that chilled distribution is expensive and has become even more so with the current blockages, not to mention carries more risks, so right now innovations based on ambient solutions are really at the forefront of most industry minds.”
Travelling via the tongue and eyes
That said, she opined that food and beverage has a unique advantage in these trying times as an ambassador of sorts of the region they originate from, making these more in-demand when more consumers are grounded at home.
“It has become less easy to travel than before due to the rising prices of oil and plane tickets and all of that, so F&B has emerged as a key conduit for people to ‘taste the world’ even though they may not be able to actually go on holiday to the country that food is from, e.g. making sushi instead of heading to Japan for sushi,” Luscher added.
“Food is how most people get to the heart of a culture and really experience it, and it is also how the industry can bring the different cultures to different parts of the world, allowing consumers to travel via their food.”
In this area, she believes that in food and beverage innovation today it is particularly important that companies are able to differentiate themselves from the competition, because not only is supermarket shelf space limited but being able to stand out among hundreds of other products is becoming increasingly difficult.
“Even with the rise of digital advertising and social media, the fact remains that on supermarket shelves the products themselves are their own sitting billboards that serve to promote themselves, and brands need to ensure their packaging reflects this awareness,” she said.
In short, Luscher highlights the increasing need for food firms to make the most of their strengths amid ongoing disruptions and rising oil costs.
“There is no one-size, global solution to meeting consumer demands — for us at Tetra Pak, we have reach all over the world but have realised that it is crucial to localise the way we work in each market, so Thai teams in Thailand, Swedish teams in Sweden and so on when it comes to product design and innovation,” she said.
“This is because the consumer experience in every market needs that local touch that cannot be replicated by any other market and we have learnt that as a global food company, the right way forward is to pick the positive experiences we have found in one market and localise these — with local input — for proper application to other markets.”
