Pizza boxes are used to keep pizza hot for home delivery. They can be found also in the frozen products industry since frozen pizza is in almost all supermarket chains and hypermarkets.
In this article we tell you everything you need to know about pizza boxes.
What are pizza boxes and how are they classified?
Pizza boxes are durable boxes made of cardboard, foldable, reasonably priced, easy to store and suitable for pizza delivery.
Available in different sizes and designs, pizza boxes can be purchased from online and offline platforms. Companies that produce, sell or deliver pizza can print their logos on these packages as a marketing tool.
The main classification criteria for these boxes are the type, the materials from which they are made of and the printing.
Pizza boxes based on their type
Pizza boxes
Boxes for pizza slices (also called corners or triangles)
The materials from which the boxes are made
The most commonly used material is corrugated cardboard. It’s produced by combining two smooth sheets of paper with a corrugated layer.
The paper used and the blending process give the boxes greater strength as a whole than as individual sheets.
The ripples are also different. Depending on their size/depth, there are large, medium, fine and microwave waves.
In terms of size, manufacturers make boxes in both standard and custom sizes according to customer requirements.
Print type
Depending on the type of print, pizza boxes can be printed or unprinted. For box printing, offset printing, flexographic printing and screen printing are used most often, and the number of colour prints can be up to four.
Box printing has become, in particular in recent years, a way for pizza producers and sellers to convey their messages to the target audience as part of their marketing strategy.
Pizza Box Market
Sales of pizza boxes have increased in recent years, a trend that will continue, according to specialized projections, in the next period.
The pizza box market is expected to grow from $ 2.40 billion in 2021 to $ 3.58 billion in 2029. The growth of this market is mainly due to the increase in global food consumption, especially those ready to be served at home.
In addition, the pandemic has led to an increase in the number of restaurants that deliver pizza and of demand for pizza boxes.
The history of pizza boxes
In the early 1800s, bakers used copper containers with lids to carry small loaves of bread and pizza. Copper kept the temperature constant and the bakers’ sons often went through the neighbourhoods carrying mini-stoves in which the copper containers kept the pre-made pies and pizzas warm.
One hundred years later, pizza has become more and more popular in New York and other developing American cities. Legend has it the pizza was sold “to-go”, rolled in a cone, wrapped in paper and loosely tied with string. Slowly, pizza began to be sold at almost all bakeries in Italian immigrant neighbourhoods.
Following World War II, millions of Americans became acquainted with pizza in Italy, so interest in this food increased significantly when they returned home. In the 1940s, many vendors were offering packaged pizza. The thin structure of the bag that packed pizza allowed the steam to be released, but with it, so was the heat.
The ’50s brought pizza into American kitchens, and as demand for this food increased, so did pizza. Because the bags in which the pizza was transported did not stack well, the producers had to adapt. The boxes that stored bakery products, made of thin cardboard, were strengthened, giving birth to the “ancestors” of today’s pizza boxes. But due to the moisture created by the condensate, these boxes were damaged.
One of the defining moments in the history of pizza boxes is linked to the name of Tom Monaghan, the founder of the pizza company – “Domino’s”.
In the mid-1960s, Monaghan looked for a company to produce a foldable, corrugated cardboard box that would keep its shape under the impact of heat and condensation.
After several attempts, a Detroit company managed to create the box desired by Monaghan, a box that has become a standard in the industry and is used today for packaged pizza and more.
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