Results of a Survey of Catering Businesses Regarding Aluminum Foil Cutlery

(1) Most restaurants in Beijing still use plastic lunch boxes for food delivery and packaging
According to the survey statistics, among the 50 surveyed restaurants, 40 companies currently use plastic lunch boxes and packaging boxes, accounting for 80% of the total, and 7 companies use paper lunch boxes, while 7 companies use paper lunch boxes. There is only one catering company with aluminum foil lunch boxes. No restaurant uses foam cutlery.
The survey found that the smaller the restaurant, the more common the phenomenon of meal box fees. 28% of restaurants charged customers separately for using the take-out box. Basically, the charges are between 0.8-1 yuan. Large and extra-large restaurants, medium-sized restaurants, and small-scale restaurants charge separately for packaging boxes, accounting for 18%, 27%, and 35% of the total number of enterprises of this type, respectively.

(2) Catering companies also pay the most attention to safety when choosing lunch boxes
In the question “What aspects do your company pay attention to when choosing disposable lunch boxes?”, “food safety” accounted for 62% of the total, followed by “environmental protection of lunch boxes” (44%) . In addition, there are also 12 small restaurants that have chosen “catering efficiency”, accounting for 66.7% of the total number of small restaurants, which is related to their small scale but large flow of people. Restaurants also consider customer willingness and ease of use as important reference factors. A quarter of restaurants mentioned a “cost factor” as well.

(3) The main factor restricting the entry of aluminum foil lunch boxes into restaurants is the lack of understanding
The survey found that 68% of restaurants believe that the most important factor restricting the use of aluminum foil lunch boxes is “lack of understanding of aluminum foil lunch boxes”, and they don’t know where to get such information. The second reason is the high cost, accounting for 30%. 20% of restaurants said that the “lack of purchase channels” and “inconvenient packaging” of aluminum foil lunch boxes are also important reasons for restricting their use.

(4) The person in charge of the catering company is not fully aware of the advantages of aluminum foil lunch boxes
Most of the restaurant people interviewed are managers, store managers or owners. It can be seen that they have little or no contact with aluminum foil lunch boxes, so their knowledge is not comprehensive. The characteristics known to the workers of catering enterprises are its good sealing, high temperature resistance and recyclability. There are also 26% of the respondents believe that the use of aluminum foil lunch boxes can help improve food quality and corporate image. However, as a practitioner in the catering industry. There is little understanding that aluminum foil lunch boxes are already competitive in cost compared with standard lunch boxes of other materials. Almost no one knows that related companies have developed mechanized packaging and heating equipment to improve the production efficiency of catering companies, and they do not know what practical benefits the use of aluminum foil lunch boxes can bring to their own companies.

(5) Catering companies are relatively cautious about whether to use aluminum foil lunch boxes and containers in the future