When we remodelled our restaurant into a store and opened doors again last June, I was faced with a major packaging dilemma.

💚Most of our regular customers have been requesting that we get onto Deliveroo and offer a fast Grab’n’Go solution, which is why we changed our business model, but what to stock our food in? 🤔

♻️It felt like a no-brainer to go for the most eco-friendly solution so we put all the salads in recycled carton boxes.

It was a disaster.

If a juicy crunchy salad sits in that box for a couple of hours (which is every single meal), the dressing seeps into the paper, makes box super soggy and flimsy, while the salad becomes dry.

♻️Next option.

I researched compostables and although they were 5 times more expensive than carton- it felt like a worthwhile initiative and I was proud to be doing my bit for the environment.

I then learned something shocking.

The wonderful expensive compostables were not so wonderful here in UK at all.

Firstly- they are produced on the other side of the world and have to travel a long way, leaving a giant carbon foot print.

Secondly- if they are thrown into a recycle bin (what every conscious citizen would do), the bin will simply be sorted and compostables removed for the general waste bin.

Thirdly- when they do go to general waste, they end up in landfills, taking up to 80 years to decompose, while producing methane as they break down (a harmful greenhouse gas).

♻️So not only was biodegradable packaging looking worse than plastic, it wasn’t even sturdy enough (lots of lids fell off & boxes fell apart) so our customers weren’t even happy.

I really really didn’t want to revert to plastic as it was so badly perceived, but all of my research proved that if it’s produced close to home and recycled properly, it is literally the very best solution to a take away box.

♻️That’s what our stamp cards are all about. They work like a loyalty program, but not only do you receive a freebie when you return your packaging, you are helping the environment...

We take care of all of the recycling for you, making sure that every last lid gets recycled and never reaches a landfill or the ocean.

I think that’s pretty cool!