With „PizzaBow“, Herford-based SingleBow GmbH presents a reusable plastic solution for transporting pizza. It is intended to be an alternative to the ubiquitous pizza boxes.
A small commercial building at the end of an industrial street in Herford, East Westphalia, is set to be the starting point of a small pizza revolution. This is where the company founded a year ago SingleBow GmbH. The logo of the main product adorns the outer wall: PizzaBow.
PizzaBow is a reusable solution for Pizza packaging. Invented by Hendrik Single. The name says it all: The PizzaBow consists of a plastic tray and a cardboard tray, which is comparable to a sheet of paper, and therefore significantly reduces cardboard waste compared to standard pizza boxes.
Every product starts with an idea. It was the same for Hendrik Single. He was annoyed by the many pizza boxes that - brought by delivery services or picked up from the fast food restaurant himself - soon fly around the flat after use or are put in the wrong bin. Paper waste be disposed of. „This is an ever-increasing problem for waste disposal companies,“ says the young entrepreneur. As he is also a man of action, he asked himself: „How can I reduce this paper waste?“
Only real with the removable cardboard tray
„I come from a plastics family.“ This is how the graduate of Lemgo OWL University explains why plastic plays a prominent role in his product idea. His father Michael Single runs the plastics manufacturing company Singleplast GmbH. The son, who has a Master's degree in Production and Management, sat down with a trusted design engineer and developed the stackable Reusable plastic tray, which, in combination with special cardboard inserts, eventually became the PizzaBow.
PizzaBow trays consist of Polypropylene (PP), have eight corners and a diameter of around 30 centimetres. For the time being, they are grass green, but can be customised in colour to suit customer preferences. Four PizzaBows stacked on top of each other, each filled with a 28-centimetre pizza, fit perfectly into one of the standard delivery boxes made of EPP. A fifth tray acts as a lid for the delivery stack.
„As long as the reusable plastic components are not thrown away, the plastic is in the right place.“
Hendrik Single, inventor of the PizzaBow
PizzaBows are only original with the thin cardboard tray. The octagonal basic shape is complemented by four fold-up tabs. These make it easy to lift the pizza out of the plastic tray. During the development of the Cardboard trays a regional corrugated board specialist contributed its expertise. Recycled paper was used for the corrugated sheet, while the two blankets in contact with the food are made from virgin fibres.
50 PizzaBows are enough for a daily delivery volume
The PizzaBow concept is economically and ecologically advantageous, emphasises Hendrik Single. With the disposable paper tray, users save a lot of paper material. This is because it only weighs around 30 grams, whereas a Delivery carton weighs more than three times as much. In addition, the surface area is 55 per cent smaller, Hendrik Single has calculated. Accordingly, the Mountains of residual waste.
The Material costs. Hendrik Single calculates that a conventional box costs the pizza baker around twelve cents. A PizzaBow tray would cost around two euros plus the cost of the cardboard trays in the low cent range. The Reusable system pays for itself very quickly, he summarises.
A Pizza delivery service with a daily delivery volume of 200 to 250 pizzas could ensure its operation with just 50 PizzaBow trays. Some are delivered, while others are cleaned and prepared for the next delivery. The time and labour required to fold each individual pizza box is eliminated. Storage space requirements are also reduced, as no storage space is needed for the boxes. The cardboard trays could be stored in a much more space-saving manner.
Deposit system as for reusable coffee cups
Aren't these product advantages diminished by the fact that the reusable bowl is made of plastic? Hendrik Single takes a differentiated view of this question: The important thing is Reuse of the pizza peel. If handled correctly, they have a very long life expectancy.
The ideal Utilisation cycle he outlines as follows: „The pizza delivery man drops off the trays of pizzas at the front door. The customer takes the delivery into the house while the delivery man waits outside. Inside, the cardboard trays filled with pizza are lifted out of the tray. The delivery person takes the plastic trays back to the delivery service, where they are cleaned and then await their next delivery.“ Also conceivable is a Deposit and return system, as we know it from reusable to-go cups, for example.
The Plastic component certainly still has potential for optimisation. More recyclate could certainly be used in the next development. There are also experiments to reduce the use of plastic by adding chalk.
PizzaBow needs to grow for international customers
The PizzaBow test phase has now been successfully completed. Hendrik Single is now in regular dialogue with potential customers. His target customers are delivery services of all sizes, but also restaurants with other out-of-home sales, he explains. PizzaBow has already attracted a lot of international attention at the important industry trade fair „Parizza“ in Paris. There - as well as during a test run in Austria - the East Westphalian pizza tray entrepreneur gained important insights into regional peculiarities. Austrians and the French prefer to eat larger pizzas. The standard pizza there measures 32 centimetres in diameter, whereas it is four centimetres smaller here.
In the East Westphalian home market, word of the practical reusable pizza trays has now spread. Three Herford Delivery services are already working with the new reusable system. Companies such as the staff of a local car dealership also use PizzaBow for lunch orders, says Hendrik Single.
