While most restaurant owners spend years perfecting their recipes, very few pay as much attention to their packaging. The reality is your takeout box is the final impression that your customer has before they taste your food. If it leaks, collapses, or is cheap looking, it’s worthless, no matter how good the food inside is!
Takeout packaging is more than a container. It’s a walking ambassador of your brand straight into your customers’ homes. Correctly delivering this will result in positive reviews, repeat orders, and increased brand loyalty.
Match Your Packaging to Your Food First
This is what most restaurants get wrong from the get-go. What works great for fried chicken doesn’t work at all for a curry dish. When selecting any packaging, ask yourself what my food really needs?
Here’s a summary:
The boxes for saucy or oily foods must be leak-proof and grease-proof
- Packaged hot foods must be packaged with an insulated package to maintain their heat within the package during transit.
- Cold items should have breathable materials that will not let condensation build up.
- Standard boxes (either Kraft or cardboard) can be adequate for dry foods.
If your package is appropriate for your food, your food will come in the way you planned, fresh, undamaged, and beautiful.
Choosing the Right Material Makes All the Difference
When it comes to a good custom design takeout box, material is key. The most popular choices each have their own set of advantages:
- Cardboard is tough, can be printed, and is inexpensive, making it a good option for most types of restaurants.
- The Kraft paper has a natural, premium look and is great for brands that would resonate with a more organic or artisan vibe.
- Although plastic provides visibility and moisture resistance, it is becoming less popular because of environmental issues.
- As customer and government demand for sustainability increases, eco-friendly or biodegradable materials are fast emerging as the new standards.
The three things it should do well are protect the food, maintain the temperature and look presentable when it arrives.
Size Matters More Than You Expect
Boxes are too large – makes food look small and can cause movement during transit. Small boxes crush and tear your prettily prepared meals. Both of these benefits your customer.
Right-sized packaging:
- Ensures food is safe and attractive
- Minimizes waste of material
- Reduces packaging expenses in the long run
- Enhances consistency of portion sizes.
Measure the most popular dishes, and get boxes that fit these. It’s a little money that can translate into customer satisfaction.
Leak-Proof Design and Heat Retention is a Must!
Leaking packages and cold take-out food on delivery are the top two complaints in customer reviews. With the right box, both problems can be entirely circumvented.
Search for take-out boxes with the following features:
- Secure lids that won’t open when being transported
- Oily or saucy dishes come with an inner lining that is resistant to grease.
- As a bonus, the double wall is designed to improve the thermal insulation.
- Fried food can be crispy if the right ventilating tool is used.
When food comes hot, safe, and just as ordered, the client is aware of it, and they return.
Your Takeout Box Is a Branding Opportunity
Once again, plain white boxes are a lost opportunity. Custom printed take out boxes are an advertisement for your restaurant on the go.
Your logo, brand colors, website, or a quick message makes it an unboxing experience that will not be forgotten. When the food comes to your doorstep, customers will probably post photos of your meals on social media, as will your packaging.
Good packaging creates brand awareness, it instills trust, and it makes it easier for people to remember your restaurant in a large market.
Convenience Builds Customer Loyalty
No matter how pretty the packaging is, it doesn’t work if it’s not user-friendly. The box you take out should be easy to carry, easy to open and easy to dispose of or recycle.
Details such as built-in handles, stackable shapes, easy-open lids, etc., make a difference to customer experience. So when people feel the ease of your packaging, they begin to equate that good feeling with your brand.
Eco-friendly packaging is no longer a choice, but a requirement
Sustainability is no longer a trend, it is now a demand of customers. Increasingly, consumers make conscious decisions to patronize establishments that employ responsible packaging while refusing to go to those that do not.
Any restaurant that changes to take out boxes that are recyclable, compostable or biodegradable is making a statement that you care more about your restaurant than just its profits. It generates goodwill, helps to bring in eco-friendly customers, and future-proofs your business as the laws that restrict the use of single-use plastics keep getting stricter and stricter worldwide.
Determining the optimal level of cost and quality
Budget is the key when it comes to small and independent restaurants. However, with packaging at the lowest price, the product will be at the highest risk of being damaged, of being reviewed negatively, and of losing future customers all at an increased cost over the long term.
The better way to tackle this is to spend money where it has the greatest impact: on leak resistance, temperature retention, and brand image, while you look for savings elsewhere, such as bulk buying or a streamlined design. A good package doesn’t need to be costly! It must be suitable to your food and brand.
Final Thoughts
Finding the right takeout box is one of the most useful business decisions that can be made by a restaurant owner. It can directly impact on the quality of food that arrives at your venue, the customer experience, brand reputation, and even your online reviews.
If packaging is not just a necessity to be kept to a minimum, but an integral component of the restaurant experience, you are providing your restaurant with a competitive edge. Keep in mind the right material, right size, functionality and brand. That’s the secret that makes a takeout box a strong business arsenal.
