reVessel officially launched its first reuse partnership with zero waste and plant based restaurant, The Plot in Oceanside, CA enabling customers to enjoy their plant-forward meals in safe, guilt-free packaging.
Two husband and wife duos, Davin and Jessica Waite of The Plot and reVessel’s Jessica and Eddie Bell, bonded over their mutual aspiration to provide safer and more sustainable options for consumers.
“Our shared commitment to finding real-life solutions to environmental waste and promoting community and global health brought us together,” Jessica Waite said of the partnership with reVessel. “We’d long been trying to solve the problem of takeout packaging waste and, while we were using best known biodegradable to-go containers, we weren’t satisfied; we were still producing waste. When we learned about reVessel, it was a resounding, ‘yes!’ This is what we’d been waiting for.”
Here’s how the program works:
Step 1: Each reVessel container can be purchased directly from The Plot or online for $35 (patrons receive a $15 coupon off their first meal if purchased at The Plot).
Step 2: Each time to go orders are placed via phone or online, customers are prompted to indicate if they are using a reVessel (one meal per container).
Step 3: When orders are picked up, used reVessel containers are swapped, and meals are packed in a fresh, sanitized vessel ready to take home and enjoy!
"What is most exciting is that for the first time, the consumer gets a choice how their food is packaged with better alternatives that prioritize health. For those that never knew reuse was an option, it plants a seed to create awareness of the issues affecting the health of our planet and its inhabitants and both restaurant and consumers see an immediate benefit," says Bell.With reVessel, restaurants and diners experience:
- More expansive menu options able to be transported holding large portions in crush-proof, oven-safe packaging
- Sauces that remain inside the spill-proof packaging; not getting absorbed by cardboard
- Food that stays fresher longer creating a better dining experience
- Containers that are cleaned and sanitized on site for best hygiene
- Improved safety preventing known chemicals of concern from migrating into food that is linked to reproductive development harm, cancer, obesity and other endocrine disrupting diseases
- A positive Impact on the health and wellbeing of the people and communities exposed to these chemicals during manufacturing
- Employee engagement and customer loyalty
- Quick ROI and increased margins
- Ability to offer loyalty programs for return visits
Thanks to point of sale platform, Toast, a cloud-based restaurant software company, restaurant owners can now integrate options into the ordering process to engage customers in the program with just a few clicks.
To get the program off the ground, the two companies coordinated efforts to promote on social media, field inquiries and attend press events, develop retail packaging and involve team members in training to ensure a smooth launch. Decals adorned windows at the venue to visibly express the commitment to creating a pathway to ditching toxic disposables for good.
"We’re seeing there’s a better way and we're putting it into action; it just comes down to the value we place on finite resources, the importance of a healthy world and a paving a viable path to implementing new behaviors," says Jessica Bell.
Conscious business leaders in the restaurant industry have been ecstatic as have customers, Community leaders and others looking for solutions. Communities have long been burdened by the total cost of dependence on takeout packaging, including low-income communities and communities of color who suffer disproportionately when exposed to the toxins at manufacturing facilities who process these single-use items.
"When developing reVessel, we wanted to create products that prioritized safety, environmental health and versatility for at-home and commercial use,” said reVessel owner Jessica Bell. “To witness plastic clamshells, bags, silverware, straws and now masks strewn throughout our community is heartbreaking. We know these microplastics break down in our environment, but what is most alarming is these endocrine disruptors are not just present in our food, but also recently discovered in human placenta (source). We have to ask what legacy we are leaving for our children."
Recycling continues to be the falsely marketed solution by the plastics industry, while overproduction accelerates. This promotes wishcycling for consumers who cannot recycle their way out of the problem with less than 10% actually getting recycled and the remaining 90%+ ending up in the environment, a landfill or incinerator, releasing more toxins into the air, soil and water.
Pre-pandemic, containers and packaging made up a major portion of municipal solid waste (MSW), about 82.2 million tons of generation in 2018. Aptly named the “Plastic Pandemic,” this new tidal is slated to be one of the most wasteful in history, with consumption of single-use plastics increasing by 250% - 300% since the pandemic began, with a 30% increase in waste attributed in part to disposable foodware (source) and the Plastic Industry Association pushing to prevent reusable options (source).
It was time to prove out infrastructure that was effective, affordable and sanitary. This partnership ensures that reusability isn’t just for eco-warriors, but for those concerned about adverse health impacts from exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals or EDC’s that play a role in reproductive and developmental disease, cancer and obesity. Now, individuals can have an impact on their own health and create a ripple effect in their communities.
With restaurant owners, there is a growing openness to shift mindsets around endless costs associated with disposables and consider eliminating the need. The Plot envisions a world where everyone can use a reVessel container to pick up meals.
Holding dear an ethos of designing products for life and longevity, reVessel's products are tested in commercial kitchens, outdoor spaces and the home kitchen. Despite these demanding environments, the products are expected to endure thousands of uses. The company plans to support additional locations in the near future.
To learn more and inquire, visit, reVessel.com/pages/wholesale.