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Both packets and portion cups used to dole out condiments to individual customers "are seeing rapid gains so far in 2020," said Jennifer Mapes-Christ, consumer and commercial group leader for the Freedonia Group, a market research firm.

The coronavirus has turned the overall pet industry forecast upside down: Packaged Facts predicted pet products would rise by 5% in 2020. Once the pandemic hit, the forecast changed to negative.

Plastic was expected to “lose its share of the global foodservice single-use product market to paper and other more eco-friendly materials through 2024,” according to a study update from the Freedonia Group, “Foodservice Single-Use Straws, Bags Boosted by COVID-Related Suspension of Bans.” That changed somewhat earlier this year as COVID-19 caused even the most strictly regulated markets, including California and the United Kingdom, to suspend regulations on single-use plastics, said the Freedonia report. “This will provide a short-term boost for the global single-use foodservice product market, which totaled $58 billion in 2019.”

Another reaction to the pandemic has been an increased interest in modular housing. Modular or system-built housing hasn’t been as popular with the market as site-built homes, but the COVID-19 pandemic might be changing that. According to Freedonia Group, demand for modular housing is forecast to rise 5.2% annually to 23,700 units in 2024.

Packaged Facts estimated the retail dollar sales of the U.S. salty snacks category at $24 billion in 2017, and are expected to reach $29 billion in 2022.