A Short Journey through the History of Pizza Boxes
Who doesn’t loves pizza? You do?
Here is a little trivia for you then.
Do you know on an average day Americans eat 100 acres of pizza, which makes 350 slices per second? According to American Business Lists, Omaha, Nebraska; there are 61,269 pizzerias are operational in our country. Approximately 3 billion pizza are sold each year in the U.S.
Hot pizza straight from the oven. That sounds like heaven to your taste buds right?
But straight from the oven is not a possibility each time. In fact, out of these 3 billion pizzas, 1 billion are home delivered in a corrugated cardboard packaging box.
Pizza chefs were using copper containers ‘stufas’ to deliver hot pizza pies in the neighborhood. Stufas were like stoves that kept pizzas hot, given copper’s heat dissipation capacities. With lids that had covered vents that maintained the steam pressure.
100 years later, in 1905 Lombardi’s (first licensed pizzeria in the U.S.) started takeout pizza in Manhattan. They sold pizzas at a room temperature, rolled into a cone, all warped and tied. Stufas however, wasn’t brought to America.
Prior to World War II, paper bags with a corrugated sheet used to transport pizza but that was a compromise on the heat. In those times, pizzas were the size of tortilla and were made for a single person serving. Popular among the common folk, the pizza was a popular street food.
After the war when mobile and frozen food became a necessity for newly settled suburban families. That’s when pizzas became really popular because of their convenience. Added orders necessitated added piles which meant that paper bags were no longer an option. That’s when paperboard pizza boxes made an entry and they stayed… for a while.
The problem with paperboard pizza boxes was that they weren’t proof against intense moisture. They collapsed under their own weight when keeping for too long. The founder of Dominos, Tom Monagham is credited with the idea of the first corrugated cardboard box in 60’s. He wanted a box that folds yet retains its form. So, folks, Dominos has quite an important imprint on the history of pizza in the United States. Their corrugated cardboard boxes are still being used worldwide to deliver pizzas without damage.
But the pizza boxes’ evolution isn’t dead yet.
Check out https://www.engadget.com/2017/05/18/apple-patented-and-made-a-pizza-box/ to make acquaintance with Apple patented pizza box.
God bless Italians who gave us pizza!