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5 pizza box brand benefits worth opening up to

In today's ever-growing landscape of online ordering and home delivery, pizza brands need to play up the prizes inside their pizza boxes more than ever to capture a bigger slice of the home-delivered pie.

March 20, 2019 by Phil Bagdasarian — President, Packwire

When it comes to delivery of restaurant brands via online ordering, pizza brands pretty much run circles around other food categories, with recent Morgan Stanley research indicating that pizza alone in the U.S. "accounts for some 60 percent of the online food delivery market." 

That said, delivery providers like UberEats and GrubHub are bringing many more restaurant brands into the at-home delivery market on a daily basis, which is why the packages that pizzas come to the customer in, are possibly more important now than ever in gaining a share of the overall home-delivered restaurant market. Here then are six approaches that pizza brand leaders should consider when reconsidering that humble, but potentially pivotal and profit-making pizza box.

Stand out

From the moment a pizza is delivered, customers interact with the pizza box. Consumers spend an average of 10 minutes interacting with the box itself, so it is imperative to take advantage of this interaction by building a crucial connection with the client. 

Opting for a predictable and uninspiring box design won't create a memorable experience or solidify engagement, while resorting to the use of the traditional and expected, like the use of Italian flag colors, is a redundant strategy that will easily get overlooked. 

Instead, brands should use the box to convey why they are different and better by customizing the box design, including the logo, brand colors and eye-catching graphics. Draw attention to your brand and highlight its qualities by using a bold central image (or logo) on the main panel with other fundamental elements in a supporting role. 

Other attention-getting approaches might include the use of creative content about a great backstory or well-guarded family recipe. The key is to pinpoint what makes a business unique and then communicate it directly on the box. It follows then that if your brand boasts about its crust alternatives, fresh ingredients or innovative toppings, the box is the place to play that up. 

Be 'share-able'

Pizza customers now expect great food along with an adventurous and memorable experience. Most important here is that you give them a way to share that 'adventure' with their friends through social media. 

Brands can harness real power by producing pizza packaging that packs a punch with customers' pals. Create packaging that thrills customers so much they want to jump online and share it by creating photos and other content that is generated by your best walking promotion, your customers.

Next, be sure to sync this with your brand's social media strategy to highlight your boxes' oh-so-photogenic appearance online by urging customers to post their photos of the same. Consider even adding personalized touches inside the pizza box, like handwritten thank-you notes, drawings or other touches that tell customers they are valued and appreciated. It's been shown time and again that diners trust other diners' recommendations far more than a brand's own messaging so take time to perfect this kind of strategy.  

Don't get 'boxed in'

Remember that brands today are not necessarily "boxed in" to the box shape since technological advances in digital printing allow for die-cutting and creasing of corrugated fiberboard in short runs that are cost effective. Custom shapes like hexagons, circles or corner-cuts are making the current design possibilities nearly limitless. 

Brand leaders should also consider options like reconfigurable boxes that enhance function and convenience. Some examples include boxes that convert into lap trays and lids that fold into serving trays, which eliminates the need for plates. Likewise, square or wedge-shaped containers can be created for use as storage containers. 

Stop 'soggy bottoms' 

The goal in pizza delivery is, as it has always been, to deliver a hot, fresh-from-the-oven  pie to the home or office customer. Airflow has been proven to help with this task and prevent soggy-bottomed and sometimes even soggy-topped pizzas. Brands should make box venting a priority because it not only prevents sogginess, but also prevents the box from imparting a "cardboard flavor" to the pie. 

New venting designs allow trapped steam to escape through small holes in the box that adequately ventilate pies without robbing essential heat. Unlike traditional ventilation holes that direct airflow through holes on the side, new packaging technologies use top-centered perforations to pull moisture from the center of the pizza, where it rises from the sauce. 

Venting methods can also be applied to the bottom of the box through misaligned venting holes that remove the steam through the corrugated fiberboard's fluting. Finally, ridged and dimpled boxes can also alleviate moisture problems in pizza boxes. 

Suited for sustainability 

In the U.S. alone annually, 3 billion pizza boxes are tossed in the trash. Pizza, with its oils and cheeses can't help but share some of those two ingredients with the delivery boxes they occupy, thus they are unable to be recycled typically. 

But brands should not under-estimate the importance of ethical and environmentally suitable box options for pizza customers, who are often greatly swayed by a brand's sustainability practices when it comes to pizza boxes. Although pizza boxes are traditionally manufactured from 100-percent recyclable materials, customers feel businesses need to do more to prevent waste. 

One simple and proactive solution to this problem is to include grease-proof paper inserts with a brand's pizza boxes. Note, also, that numerous other solutions are coming through the pipeline including biodegradable and compostable boxes made of sugarcane waste and bamboo.

Second chances

Second-life packaging isn't just an effective marketing tool, it also adds value to the product and provides an important eco-friendly factor. By upcycling brands can innovatively combine the need for sustainable business practices with brand messaging to create items like boxes that convert into soccer balls or movie projectors for smartphones. 

Last Halloween, for example, Boston's pizza created a box with a Ouija board inside, simultaneously delighting customers, helping to harvest the rush of pizza business every Oct. 31 and possibly even summoning the dead. 

Photo: iStock