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Thinking ‘outside the box’ on sustainability
Dusty Knuckle, a thriving pizza restaurant and takeaway in Cardiff, has been operating for four years. Launching as a pop-up before opening a permanent site in 2016, sustainability has always been a central part of the business’ focus.
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Owner Phill has seen the business go from strength to strength but he has also been very aware of the environmental impact that his business could have. So his restaurant is furnished with reclaimed materials such as wooden pallets and old tyres, he stopped using plastic straws and only offers glassware and crockery on site.
However, the issue that Phill decided to really focus on was the pizza box.
Growing pizza sales in the restaurant meant an increase in the number of takeaway pizza boxes in use. So, to stop a large volume of packaging being thrown away, Phill set out to find an eco-friendly solution. He came across an interesting packaging option in Italy – a reusable, takeaway, aluminum pizza box.
Following several conversations with the box manufacturer, Dusty Knuckle trialled the boxes and also got customers involved by gathering feedback on whether the reusable box was a viable solution.
What were the challenges?
The new aluminum pizza boxes came at a higher cost, and at first Phill was unsure how customers would react to a £2 charge per box. However, these new boxes not only came with a lifetime guarantee, but they can also be reused multiple times – and are fully recyclable.
Customers liked the concept but to help get even more customers on board, Phill added a further incentive: a 50p discount on pizzas when customers used their aluminium box.
Phill said the response from customers was overwhelmingly positive. He explains: “Don’t underestimate support from customers, they’re looking for this. It pushes you to do more! Interesting and environmentally-friendly initiatives build brand loyalty. Dusty Knuckle has become a natural “go to” choice for many pizza eaters now as they believe in our principles and ethos.”
What were the outcomes?
Phill saw some great outcomes in addition to supportive customers. The initiative created interest in local, national and international media, but most importantly he was able to reduce the amount of packaging going to landfill.
The new initiative boosted sales, not only for Dusty Knuckle, but for the box manufacturer too. It was also the start of a new partnership as Dusty Knuckle now sells the aluminium boxes to other takeaway restaurants, having become the official UK distributor. Phill said: “As soon as the press release went out, we saw an incredible response from businesses across the UK wanting to get involved. We had learnt how tricky and time-consuming it was to import the boxes, so we thought we could make the process much simpler for other UK companies by becoming the UK distributor.”
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