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Green spotlight on Pickleman's Gourmet Café

One operator knows his college-heavy demographic will respond to an eco-friendly pizza box.

February 27, 2012 by Jennifer Wright — CFO, Ecovention, LLC

If you've ever spent time at college, or even crashed for a weekend in a friend's dorm, you'll know that pizza and college students go together like, well, pizza and college students. The Pickleman's Gourmet Café chain of stores knows this well and caters to this fact, with locations at St. Louis University's Grand Center campus and in such other college towns as Columbia, Mo.; Springfield, Mo.; and Lincoln, Neb.

Founder Doug Stritzel also knows that, like him, the college set cares about creating a more eco-friendly world. Here's what Stritzel has to say on the matter: "As a father, business owner, and leader in our community it is my responsibility to try to be a little more earth friendly, not for me, but for our children and our children's children ... just a little here and there adds up over time."

Well said, Doug! To that end, Stritzel made sure to introduce our 100 percent recycled, multifunctional GreenBox pizza box into his stores alongside his 100 percent biodegradable corn-based cutlery, cups, lids and salad containers and reusable soup bowls.  

Stritzel first opened Pickleman's doors in October 2005 in Columbia, Mo., and today the chain has 10 locations and counting across Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahama. He opened his first cafe as an upscale sandwich shop catering to students through late delivery hours, free WiFi and televisions tuned to sports.

In 2007, Stritzel took his student-friendly concept one step further by adding pizza to his menu. Now, we know what you're thinking, a sandwich shop that offers pizza can't have good pizza. But you'd be dead wrong in the case of Pickleman's pizza. Pizzas with chicken are the emphasis – and with the Asiago Chicken, Chicken Giardiniera, BBQ Chicken and Buffalo Chicken pizzas, you can't go wrong.

The Hog (for those that enjoy a little pepperoni and sausage) and The Veggie (the vegetarian option) top off the store's menu nicely – just check out the reviews... and stop by Pickleman's Gourmet Café next time you're in the Midwest!

About Jennifer Wright

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