Food packaging plays a vital role in ensuring the dish reaches the customer safely and doesn’t become a soggy mess. When that happens, your customers will praise your service and will likely order from you more often.
However, concerns about sustainability and the impact of food delivery on the environment are on the rise. For example, 67% of customers consider it important that their products come in recyclable packaging. Therefore, it’s time to think about packaging more than ever.
Take a look at how you can make your restaurant food delivery services stand out with the packaging.
1. Customizable Box
Creative custom boxes can help you stand out and provide a memorable experience to your customers. It also enables you to personalize the customer experience, improving their opinion of your restaurant.
For instance, if you know a customer with kids at home, you can use a food container with cartoon stickers. You can even consider personalizing the box into a collectable item featuring various designs. Or you can write the customers’ names to add a personal touch with every order.
Also, don’t forget to mention that the container is recyclable. This will encourage people to use it again, saving the environment.
Nostro Gastronomy, a gastropub in Budapest, created customizable packaging that enables customers to carry both cake and coffee in one hand. It also has a removable cup holder. It also has a special insert inside the box that prevents cakes from sliding into each other during transport.
Note: Buying customizable boxes could be a little costly but are perfect for ensuring your food reaches the customer safely.
2. Food Package Design With a Twist
You don’t necessarily need a unique idea to stand out from the competition. Instead, a simple packaging design with a twist could do the work. For instance, you could make little changes to your original packaging for online food delivery.
3. Fun Packaging
The best food delivery service is all about ensuring the dish reaches safely with some fun twist. It is also a great opportunity for restaurant branding.
Fun packaging could be anything from humorous quotes on the packet to colorful designs. However, make sure that it shows what the content is and needs to be handled carefully.
4. Edible Wrapper
Edible wrapper became popular when KFC invented a 200% edible wrapper to pack their popular double down sandwich.
Made up of rice paper and edible ink, the edible wrapper allows you to pack your dishes in a way that reaches the customer safely and doesn’t hurt the environment.
For dishes that cannot be packed in edible wrappers, you can use eco-friendly or seed-infused packaging.
5. Seed-infused Packaging
Seed-infused packaging is one of the most innovative and eco-friendly packaging solutions. Instead of disposing of the packaging material, the customer can use them to grow plants.
Depending on your location, you can choose from small plants to the ones that require a garden to grow. For instance, if most of your customers live in apartments, you can select plants that don’t need much space to grow. However, if you live in county regions where most of your customers have a garden, you can choose plants that require more space to grow.
This way, your packaging not only protects the environment but also supports it.
6. Eco-friendly Packaging
If you’re looking for a more cost-effective packaging solution, you can use biodegradable containers. However, make sure it doesn’t affect your restaurant food delivery services.
Eco-friendly packaging doesn’t have a negative impact on the environment and helps you attract people who want to be more sustainable. There are various eco-friendly packaging options for online food delivery. For instance, you can choose:
- Glass containers
- Bamboo
- Rice husk
- Gelatin films
- Banana leaves
- Paper or cardboard
- Bioplastics
Van Eigen Deeg, a Dutch Bakery, uses 100% compostable packaging for cookies. Its packaging is made from the remaining stems and leaves and can be disposed of as organic waste.
7. Minimalistic Packaging
Minimalism has become a huge trend in the food packaging industry. It involves keeping the packaging simple by adopting simplistic and clear labeling.
Do away with branded materials and focus more on providing value. This will make your packaging look neat and clean. And since you won’t be using too much ink, it will positively impact the environment.
8. Personalized Packaging
Personalized packaging can help build a long-lasting relationship with customers. By focusing on small details like their name, you can show that you care for them. It’s not just personalizing for the customer. Instead, you can make your packaging personalized to your restaurant.
For instance, if you own a multi-cuisine restaurant, your packaging design could reflect that by being more put-together and minimalistic.
9. Reusable Packaging
As mentioned above, reusable packaging encourages customers not to dispose of the container. This way, customers not only get an additional container to use, but it also shows that you care for the environment.
Besides, reusable packaging is a great way to make your restaurant more recognizable. Since customers will be using your containers regularly, chances are their friends will also start noticing your brand.
Wrapping Up
The best restaurant delivery service is all about how good your packaging is. Even if your food is the best in town, if your packaging isn’t great, you will likely lose customers in the long run. So, take advantage of the nine ideas mentioned above and become the talk of the town.
By the way, we can make managing online orders easier. Eatance is the leading restaurant online ordering system that lets you manage every aspect of online ordering, including receiving orders, customizing menus, tracking orders, and more. Plus, we provide you with a custom-made free restaurant food ordering website.
Sounds intriguing, right? Talk to one of our experts today!
