Cybelle's Pizza is a fast casual Bay Area pizza chain with eight locations. The restaurant that participated in the program is located in a very urban area of San Francisco. 50% of their business caters to take-out and delivery and they do about 300 transactions per day. Customers select from a menu board and place orders with the cashier. The cashier asks if the order is for dine-in or to go. Tables are generally bussed by staff but a trash can is available to the customers as well.
Packaging practices prior to ReThink Disposable:
- Pizza served on disposable paper plates and individual pizza slice boxes for on-site dining
- Disposable plastic water cups used at the self-serve water station
- Bulk napkin dispensers on every table
Ayman, the owner of Cybelle’s Pizza on Bush Street, has been historically challenged to implement reusable food service ware in his fast paced grab and go style of restaurant. 50% of his business caters to delivery and customers grabbing a quick slice to go. But he recognized the potential for cost savings if he were to implement reusables for his on-site diners.
Recommendations implemented:
- Replaced disposable paper plates and pizza boxes with reusable plate for dine-in
- Replaced disposable plastic cups with reusable cups for the self serve water station
- Reduced napkin usage by placing one centrally located efficient napkin dispenser
The ReThink Disposable recommendations targeted disposable packaging for the dine-in portion of the business. The long and late hours and turn-over in staff and drivers made this business a unique challenge. The use of reusable items is easiest during lunch, more difficult at dinner with more customers and a less committed evening staff, and extremely difficult during late night/early morning hours and on weekends due to the “lively” crowd that comes in at those times. Even faced with these challenges, the results of this program showed a significant drop in disposables. Ayman will continue to work with staff create higher usage rates of reusables during the late night and weekend shifts.
Minimal set up costs totaled $84.43. The bottom line results:
Reduced 162,946 disposable food ware items per year
2,146 pounds of waste reduced annually
$1,579 annual cost savings
This is a great help to small businesses to lower the cost of operation through reduced purchasing costs and reduced disposal costs.
Ayman Shehadel, Owner
