Reusable to-go containers, like MyGo Containers™ , are becoming popular in a wide variety of settings across the US. Not only are these in place in colleges and universities where they can be integrated into the campus foodservice program, but there are subscription type programs in various cities including New York, San Francisco, Minneapolis and Portland. Some of these programs are specific to a restaurant and others are more like co-op programs that involve multiple restaurants or outlets that are participating. However they operate, they all have a single goal: to reduce the rising tide of trash generated by carry-out food.
Colleges and universities began implementing reusable food container programs almost a decade ago, and the programs and containers have evolved a great deal over that time. One of the most critical elements of implementation of these programs is end user buy-in which is driven by their meal experience when using the container. A good experience for the user promotes participation and growth of these programs.
MyGo Containers™ are not the first to market, but our goal was to create a better container using feedback gathered from organizations and individuals that already have practical experience with reusable carry out container programs. This research helped us to determine what features needed to be designed into the MyGo Containers™ to ensure that the end user; from college student, elementary school student, or long-term care resident to restaurant patron, would have a meal experience that was as good as if they were dining in.
In our research, we identified two issues that the individual actually receiving their food in the reusable to-go container cared most about. First, they wanted to know that their meal would stay in the container during transport, even if they didn’t handle it ‘with kid gloves’. Particularly with foods that have sauces or dressings, users didn’t want to have the container leak during transport. This was particularly important with students because often the container goes into a backpack and it is not held flat but may get turned upright. Knowing this, we focused on the MyGo Container™ lid design to solve for leak free transport. To meet this requirement, MyGo’s have an integrated soft plastic gasket that creates a secure, leak resistant seal on the container. Nobody wants to be anticipating a delicious meal of spaghetti with gravy and find the sauce every place but on their pasta. The second issue is almost a nuance of the first issue, and just as important. As much as people want their food to all stay in the container while they are heading to their final destination, they do not want the meal to get all mixed up inside the container. Back to our example, obviously, you want your pasta and gravy to be together, but if you have salad and bread with that, it becomes very unappetizing when they are all comingled – even if they do all end up in the same place eventually. While there are other reusable to go containers that have multiple food compartments, none of them; except the MyGo Containers™ have these compartments sealed off from one another. The walls of the interior compartments inside of a MyGo meet with the lid of the container, so foods stay separated. These are further secured by the enhanced seal of the soft plastic gasket. This keeps liquid ingredients like yogurt, sauces or dressings from leaking within the container as well as outside the container. The end user gets their food together in one container but separated within the container so that they can enjoy their meal as they would with a dine-in experience.
MyGo Containers™ come in seven different shapes and sizes and each featuring the exclusive gasketed lid to meals mess free during transport to create a better dining experience. A good experience for the user is the best way to increase usage of reusable to-go containers. The greater the buy-in, the greater the participation and reduction in packaging waste.
