More Than Just Numbers – What Is Our Industry’s Impact on the US Economy?

It goes without saying that we believe the foodservice packaging industry is a positive contributor to the economy — both nationally and within each state. But, how do we know for sure? How can we quantify the value of the foodservice packaging industry in a way that makes sense to more than just the folks in our industry.

The answer: FPI’s Economic Impact Study.

FPI has about 90 percent of the foodservice packaging industry within its membership, so it initially made sense for us to look at conducting the study internally. However, the more we thought through and discussed the various parties and components we realized it would take more than just our membership to get to the true value of the foodservice packaging industry. In order to capture the full impact of our industry, we needed some experts in the field, So, we worked with John Dunham & Associates to execute our study.

While there was a TON of data collected, analyzed and dissected, by our consulting partners Dunham & Associates, we wanted to narrow down our focus. Choosing which data points would best show the industry’s impact turned out to be straightforward. We decided to showcase the overall economic impact, jobs, wages and taxes generated.

The study offered a really good look behind the curtain. It quantified the direct impact of the foodservice packaging industry, as well as the indirect and induced impact, in order to provide a total industry snapshot. To break it all down, direct impacts are those jobs, wages, or economic output solely attributable to our industry. Indirect impacts include those effects that result from our industry purchasing goods and services from other industries. And, induced effects occur through re-spending of income received by payments made to employees and business owners measured in the direct and supplier parts of the economy.

In total, the foodservice packaging industry generates approximately $103 billion in total economic impact and $34.7 billion in direct economic impacts. Other highlights from the study include the nearly 75,000 direct and 350,000 total jobs across the country and $8.4 billion in taxes generated by the foodservice packaging industry. Who knew the industry played such a role in the U.S. economy? (We did. We just needed the data to back it up.)

Once we determined the best data points, we created an easy-to-read infographic that can be customized to show results on the national and individual state level. Members can access this information on our website and use it to help them show their economic impact.

Thank you to all our members who helped with this endeavor, as well as the team at John Dunham & Associates. We couldn’t do it without you.

Members can access the study on our resources page.