Plant-based burgers are enjoying a major growth spurt.

It’s a burger boom time. While beef burgers have long been a family favorite and a key comfort food, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent rise in home-prepped meals is elevating interest and sales patties and grinds.

The numbers tell the story: Burgers are a bonanza for foodservice operators.

Pandemic cooks are looking to seafood to provide healthy, versatile dishes — but mostly, just to have a special treat during trying times. 

Sales are on the upswing as consumers look for products that meet their indulgent, nutritional and emotional needs, and meat and poultry selections are an increasingly popular part of the mix, according to Mintel Group, a Chicago-based global market research firm.

Chicken and turkey sales, like every meat category, posted impressive numbers for the 12 months ending Nov. 1, 2020, reports IRI, in Chicago. Chicken grew 12.7 percent in dollar sales to approximately $13.2 billion with volume sales up 8.3 percent. 

Typically, consumer trends are driven by things like innovative restaurants and world travel. This year, the restaurants aren’t open, and many people haven’t traveled further than their front door, thanks to the restrictions that the Coronavirus pandemic have placed on our lives.

“2020 was a below-average year with moments of terror,” says Steve Meyer, Ph.D, an economist with Partners for Production Agriculture, based in Ames, Iowa.

Not too long ago, consumer trends were leaning toward health and wellness and plant-based alternatives. But with the arrival of the coronavirus (COVID-19), consumers shifted their focus to safety, individually wrapped packages, value-added family bundles and comfort foods. Now, it’s hard to imagine eating any other way.

The market for meat packaging is expected to experience significant growth during the next five years, according to The Journey Ahead for the Meat Packaging Industry, a market study from Infiniti Research.