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Downside of the Traditional Box

For the last 30 years the most widely used pizza package has been the square corrugated box with the double-panel, or roll-over, front wall that connects with the side walls at the front corners. We call it the Traditional Box. The box blank for it looks like this.

Pizza Hut, Papa John's, and thousands of other companies have used the Traditional Box for decades. It's so widespread that pizza people tend to view it as the “ideal carton.” In fact it's far from it!

While it has a couple strong points (e.g., good stacking strength), the Traditional Box holds a number of drawbacks. Unfortunately, it has been around for so long that most operators are oblivious to these problems. So for your convenience we describe them here.

The Traditional Box Drawbacks

1. Material inefficient. Due in large part to the double-panel front wall, the Traditional Box uses five to 10 percent more material than is necessary to create a sturdy, functional pizza carton. When most pizza company executives first learn of this, they're shocked and incredulous.

2. Relatively expensive. Due in large part to the five to 10 percent excessive material usage, the Traditional Box often carries a higher-than-necessary price tag (although many pizza company executives incorrectly assume that this box is the lowest-cost corrugated box option there is).

3. Crooked-stacking. Due to two tabs that project downward along the bottom of the front wall, the Traditional Box creates crooked, wobbly stacks resembling the leaning tower of Pisa.

4. Unfriendly to in-box pizza-cutting. Due to its permanently upright front and side walls, the Traditional Box is incompatible with doing in-box pizza-cutting with a rocker knife. Therefore, if a pizza company's chosen cutting implement is the rocker knife, the pizza must be cut outside the carton and then slid into the box — called out-of-box pizza-cutting. This requires extra motion and frequently results in a misshapen pizza. (To see the common result of sliding a cut pizza from a cutting board into the box, click here.) If, on the other hand, the chosen cutting implement is the pizza wheel, a pizza can be cut in the Traditional Box, but the pie must be positioned a couple inches rearward for cutting (so the cutter can clear the front wall) and then, after cutting, the pizza must be slid forward with a jerk of the box — often resulting in a slightly misshapen pizza. In addition, during the cutting process the cutter often runs over the side walls, resulting in creased side walls that bow outward, resulting in a sloppy-looking box.

5. Leakage-prone. Due to two holes in the bottom panel that receive the two tabs (mentioned in #3), the Traditional Box tends to leak “pizza juice” when it holds a high-moisture or high-grease pizza.

6. Accidental-opening prone. Because the Traditional Box lacks a positive interlock between the cover panel and the tray portion of the carton, the box frequently experiences “bottom panel droop,” or accidental opening, during the delivery transaction. This typically occurs when a driver hands a large loaded box to a customer. The customer receives the carton by grasping it at a rear corner with one hand. In so doing, the opposing front corner of the box (diagonal to the rear corner where the box is being held) drops down. With a box constructed of lightweight board and which holds a large deluxe pizza, it occasionally happens that the front portion of the lower tray actually “breaks,” or bends, along the side wall just in front of where it's being held. This projects a bad image to a customer. (Most pizza company executives are unaware of bottom panel droop because it occurs at a time and place remote from where they work.)

7. Floppy structure, low-quality look and feel. Because the Traditional Box lacks a positive interlock between the cover panel and tray portion of the carton, the box has a sloppy feel about it that connotes a low-quality image. In addition, bent side walls that bow outward due to in-box pizza-cutting create a sloppy, low-quality look to the carton, as well.

8. Hard to dispose of. Due to the permanently connected front corners, many people can't figure out how to “break down” the Traditional Box to fit into a trash receptacle.

If you're interested in exploring innovative pizza packaging concepts that eliminate all (or most) of the drawbacks of the Traditional Box, contact John Correll — 734-455-5830 or email john@correllconcepts.com. We likely can get you into such a box at no additional packaging cost to your company ... in other words, free of charge. Please note — Correll Concepts is a packaging design specialist, not a box manufacturer.

For some more interesting reading, go to Creating a Sales-building A-bomb.