Want takeout but don't like disposable containers?

Article response by Natasha Gaffer, Forever Ware CEO

Read the article here: Want takeout but don't like disposable containers?

Regarding the $104,000 in grant funds that is mentioned in the story, we raised this funding over about two years. The funding has been utilized to run three pilot studies, test 13 reusable container types, build asset tracking software as well as cloud data storage, design a suite of in-store marketing materials and so much more. We couldn't have made it happen without these early funds. Since then, we've raised $75,000 from the Food Foundry Accelerator by Relish Works in Chicago and nearly $50,000 from family and friends.

“Forever Ware’s project filled a gap in our community. Some restaurants have reusable dishes within the restaurant, but the story changes when that food leaves the building for delivery or customers order to-go. A reuse system didn’t exist. We liked the idea of a simple system that multiple restaurants could opt into to prevent takeout packaging waste, and especially single-use plastic items. We wanted to bring this to our residents and therefore funding innovators and early adopters could help make this a reality.” Amy Maas, a waste reduction and recycling specialist for Hennepin County.

Forever Ware works this way: Restaurants and coffee shops pay between $25 and $200 a month to license Forever Ware’s software that allows them to check out and track stainless steel containers and mugs that contain identification tags for tracking. Merchants also pay 5 cents per checkout. Customers, meanwhile, pay a $5 refundable deposit to start using the containers that they can return (and check out new containers) at restaurants and coffee shops that also use Forever Ware.

With 80% of his sales being to-go orders, the software system has been an added benefit with little cost, he said. In the last three months, one-third of his shop’s 11,000 to-go sales were checkouts using Forever Ware. Peter Poire-Odegard, owner of Roots Roasting in St. Paul

Since mid 2021, Forever Ware has grown to more than 450 active users in Minneapolis and 900 users nationwide in states including Illinois and New Hampshire. Usage rates and new customers have more than doubled in the last five months compared to the previous year.