Like many other industries and markets, the food restaurant industry has evolved. Today, restaurants wish to serve their clients in the most convenient manner. Coping with the changing trend, many Asian restaurants began serving food in Chinese takeout boxes. A box to conveniently take-away and carry food from a restaurant. However, unlike the name, such boxes aren’t found in China. This is for a number of reasons.
An American invention
The US is the economic-hub of the world and is usually the birthplace of all new trends and inventions. These Chinese boxes, which are now commonly seen across the world, were actually first seen in America. These packages, which attempt to imitate the Asian culture by using the often-witnessed red color in the culture that books, magazines, and movies depict, as well as Chinese style calligraphy, made their debut in Chicago.
The Americans are a very busy nation. Working hours in America are quite long, which shows how economically developed the country is. However, the quality is low, recreation is not something that every American can afford, not in monetary terms, but because they do not have time for it. One of the ways to support this claim is that Americans do not have enough time to enjoy a delicious Eastern Cuisine meal in a restaurant with a Chinese-styled ambiance. Keeping this lack of time as well as the need to maintain the Eastern styling in mind, the US-based restaurants serving the Pan-Asian cuisine began offering food in custom Chinese take out box. As a result, these restaurants were able to maintain a high number of sales despite the fact that Americans scarcely had time to eat peacefully in a restaurant; therefore, it is not wrong to say that usage of these boxes was a tactic solely for the US market. Since this unique packaging technique was a marketing strategy purely for the US-based audience, therefore, you will barely find these boxes in China.
In fact, the idea of these Chinese boxes isn’t derived from there either. Usage of boxes to carry and hold food was initiated from Japan. Origami is a vital part of Japanese culture. It refers to folding and molding cardboard and paper to form various kinds of figures. Taking this idea to an entirely new level, the Americans began using this technique for forming packages and boxes to allow consumers to enjoy food handily and at their comfort. Soon this idea was particularly inculcated and synced with the Asian food; subsequently, these take-away boxes came into existence.
Eating out isn’t a norm
The Chinese culture, though rich, is still simpler than many cultures of the world, without much razzmatazz. One of the main pieces of proof is the relatively lower demand for dining-out, even in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai. Many households prefer prepping their food at home. This attitude does not compel restaurant owners and food companies to serve in Chinese take out box. Keeping this pattern into consideration, such boxes aren’t a regular and common visual in China.
Introduction of Strict Anti-Pollution Measures
China has witnessed excessive amounts of pollution over the last few years. Its metropolitans have topped the lists for the world’s most polluted cities in the world. Though the usual custom Chinese take out box is made out of paper, it could still contribute to land and water pollution. These boxes are dumped rather than recycled by most of the users, thus adding to the pollution levels in these cities.
The government has lately taken extensive measures to reduce pollution as it poses a major threat to not just the current but the generations to come. These health and pollution-related aftermaths could be presented as one of the major reasons why such packages are a rare sight.
These boxes, which pose to be related to China, are not even loosely linked to the country, rather are a pure marketing strategy. The fact that most consumers of the Asian cuisine in the world have been fooled into eating food in these boxes by claiming that this is how the food is served originally shows the impact that successful packaging can make. These boxes are one significant reason for the massive numbers we see on these restaurant’s financial reports. The success of these boxes is also mainly due to globalization. Inter-cultural information has allowed people around the world to know about other cultures. This is why some particular traits are linked to culture. Capitalists take full advantage of this cross-cultural diversity and market their product accordingly. So, if you are also a business owner and wish to maximize your profits, you must invest in good packaging facilities.
