In the restaurant and hospitality industry, "going green" was once a mission only the most future-focused brands would adopt. Today, sustainable restaurants are also the most competitive brands, valuing the forward-thinking practices that increase food delivery sales.

Customers are calling for more eco-friendly efforts to heal the planet and support their spending. Using sustainable packaging for online orders shows them a mutual concern and connection. BUt, it really starts with learning how to make a sustainable menu.

Then, through recycled or reused materials, restaurants reduce carbon footprints from the production of plastics, paper, napkins, and other disposables. Such forward-thinking business practices ensure your packaging offers a positive customer experience through contactless hospitality. And, it helps to halt your restaurant's contribution to landfills, greenhouse gases, and global climate change.

Find the F&B industry's eight best uses of sustainable packaging for online orders below. You can also enhance market acquisition, customer retention, and other restaurant KPIs with sustainability technology inside Revolution Ordering.

Key Takeaway: Sustainable packaging enhances brand image, attracts eco-conscious customers, and protects resources to maximize revenue for restaurants.

Sustainable Packaging: Why Eco-Friendly Deliveries Matter

The food and beverage market is the largest participator in the global green packaging movement. At the same time, the global population, by 2050, will reach well over 9 billion, putting even more emphasis on the importance of sustainability.

This meets with the push for more social responsibility as millennials and Gen Z consumers seek brands that reflect their identity and ideals. Explore real trends in restaurant sustainability to become more creative and compelling while packaging fresh, healthy fare for customer satisfaction.

Customer Behavior Statistics on Sustainability in Restaurants

When customers shop, one of their most valued criteria has quickly become sustainability. In fact, over 60% of all your potential customers use eco-friendliness to pick between brands, products, and offers. Will you be one of them?

As the public pushes for "greener" dining experiences (whether off-premise or on-premise), restaurants must know their restaurant sustainability and showcase their knowledge. Some studies strongly suggest that around 73% of customers will change their product or purchase order if it has a negative environmental impact.

More specifically, two out of every three customers already say sustainable packaging matters significantly. According to the same research, most people (55%) under 44 years old take packaging sustainability into account at some point. And, on average (65%), even more people will be willing to pay more for products sustainably packaged at your restaurant.

9 Sustainable Packaging Solutions for Restaurant Orders

Are you ready to create sustainable deliveries, save costs, and help the environment?

Explore these sustainable packaging solutions tailored for enterprise restaurants. Each idea will help you delight customers, cut restaurant food waste, and maximize profits.

1. Know your partners and sources.

Choose vendors who prioritize eco-friendliness in their designs and production. Ensure, for example, that your packaging producer makes biodegradable boxes, disintegrating drinking straws, and generally bolsters your green profile with exciting materials.

Most pollution actually comes into production before service ever engages the customer. Your choice of partners, sources, and providers signals your sustainability to conscious consumers.

2. Avoid over-packing deliveries.

Slim packages reduce emissions by cutting unnecessary waste and keeping the transportation of delivery service. Restaurants using compact, well-designed boxes and bags can charge up their operational efficiency, create cost reduction, and shrink environmental damage.

3. Use recycled, reused materials.

When you think of packaging, do you think of speckled recycled materials? Probably not. But, every study and published paper since the close of the pandemic has shown customers really care.

Prove your commitment to sustainability and target eco-conscious customers who can increase restaurant sales with recycled, reused, and responsible materials.

4. Add plant-based utensils.

Including cutlery has become optional. Some restaurants see the opportunity to reduce waste and save on operating expenses by keeping forks and spoons. Technically, this is a move toward sustainability.

Others offer convenience and consciousness. Plant-based utensils replace plastics that drive customers to go to more forward-thinking competitors. Use even the slightest detail to enhance customer loyalty programs.

5. Identify plastic alternatives.

Seek natural options like seaweed, bamboo, or mushrooms to replace your plastics. Scientists and designers have engineered innovative materials that protect the planet while intriguing and impressing your customers.

Create a one-of-a-kind dining experience for your restaurant through little details with a great impact. You can create buzz around your business using a small touch of sustainability in the right place, at the right time.

6. Try edible, plant-able paper.

Customers will get in line to try the taste of edible wrappers and plant restaurant receipt paper in the soil. Spark excitement about sustainability and your restaurant by increasing engagement through packaging that's highly shareable.

This bridges your restaurant marketing on social media with your sustainability strategies to drive restaurant business plans.

7. Invite customer recycling.

Use a reward system for customers who return elements of your packaging that can be safely reused or honored. This reduces waste, but it also encourages repeat business, amplifying profits by keeping customers coming back to get more orders.

Otherwise, simply use promotional copy on your packaging to encourage customers to protect the environment alongside your brand. Invite them to share the sustainability experience online and spread awareness about corporate responsibility.

8. Advertise restaurant sustainability.

No matter which angle you choose, no matter how slight, always promote your sustainability efforts. Use restaurant marketing strategies to highlight online ordering, sustainable packaging, and other ways to create lower carbon emissions and a more secure future.

9. Incorporate online ordering integration.

Finally, if you're serious about sustainability, use restaurant technology to amplify its effects. Online ordering platforms help businesses like yours accelerate the process of digital transformation, enabling a competitive edge.

Through Revolution Ordering, you allow customers to control more of the dining experience. You also save them from the guilt of needless waste by allowing them to elect for cutlery, packaging, napkins, meat alternatives, and so on. In the end, adding control to convenience often means more customers.

Frequently Asked Questions About Sustainable Packaging

To understand what makes sustainable packaging so important, effective, and responsible, get the answers to the most common questions among restaurant owners.

We support your effort to reduce your carbon footprint and safeguard the bottom line. See where sustainable packaging begins for your brand. Explore packaging types, plastic alternatives, and helpful practices below.

What is sustainable packaging at restaurants?

Sustainable packaging for restaurants produces less pollution from manufacturing, shipping, use, disposal, and recycling.

By choosing plant-based, compostable, or "plant-able" order packaging, any restaurant can show a strong commitment to our precious environment. Customers are increasingly interested in conscious shopping, planet-friendly products, and putting pressure on restaurants to compete.

What types of packaging are sustainable?

Sustainable packaging usually means containers, wrappings, and cutlery made from recycled materials. Materials like PET, plastic, cardboard, and paper can all be recycled into restaurant packaging materials that make a positive impression on new customers.

Shredded, melted, reformed, or remolded, these customer-centric resources can be used again and again to minimize environmental consequences.

What is a sustainable alternative to plastic?

Finding sustainable alternatives to plastic involves sourcing materials like bagasse or innovations with “seaweed straws" and "mushroom fiber."

Such unique, sustainable materials can be invaluable restaurant equipment. These natural materials are as flexible and robust as petroleum-based plastics, but without the cost to our atmosphere. Customers enjoy them, recycle them, plant them, and feel sustainable in reordering.

How do you make order packaging sustainable?

Making restaurant packaging sustainable means taking a hard look at the containers, cutlery, napkins, and supplies sitting before your staff. It also means choosing plastic alternatives, recycled materials, and repurposed products to enrich order fulfillment.

To impress customers, dress your orders in the sustainable materials mentioned above, and encourage customers to participate in returning or recycling your order packaging. Take the process a step further by enhancing ordering with sustainability technology for restaurants.