Takeout Food Becomes More Eco-Friendly
Tuesday, July 28, 2009 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TAKEOUT FOOD BECOMES MORE ECO-FRIENDLY
SEAMLESSWEB BRINGS ECO-CONSCIOUSNESS TO
NATION’S LARGEST RESTAURANT NETWORK
New York, NY — July 28, 2009 — SeamlessWeb, the nation’s largest online food ordering service, is launching a series of initiatives designed to reduce the environmental impact of ordering takeout and delivery meals.
SeamlessWeb allows customers to order meals online from more than 4,000 restaurant partners. With over 10 million orders now going through the site each year, the company is uniquely positioned to dramatically impact the manner in which restaurants prepare and deliver meals to customers. The company is currently focusing efforts on helping the restaurant industry reduce its environmental footprint by introducing a series of programs that help restaurants prepare and deliver food in a more eco-conscious manner.
Biodegradable Bags
Most of SeamlessWeb’s 4,000 restaurant partners have traditionally delivered meals in non-biodegradable plastic bags. SeamlessWeb has developed a program that helps its restaurant partners to buy biodegradable plastic bags at a fraction of the cost of traditional plastic bags. This program helps its restaurants partners to cut costs and also reduce their carbon footprint.
Eco-Friendly Ordering Tools
SeamlessWeb also recently launched a new website feature designed to reduce the extra packaging that accompanies so many delivery and takeout meals, preventing the unnecessary waste of millions of paper napkins, plastic utensils, and condiment packages.
SeamlessWeb users can now simply check a box on the website labeled “Do not include plastic utensils, napkins” and the restaurant preparing the meal will deliver the order with nothing except for the most basic packaging. SeamlessWeb launched the feature with all of its partner restaurants to prevent the waste of tons of paper and plastic, while also helping restaurant partners to save money in a difficult economy.
Going Online, Going Green
By simply using SeamlessWeb’s service, customers effectively eliminate the need for millions of paper menus every year, and these new programs reinforce the company’s commitment to make delivery and takeout ordering as eco-friendly as possible.
“As online food ordering becomes as commonplace as online travel reservations, we are delighted to find innovative ways to ensure that the millions of orders flowing through our Web site and mobile applications are processed in increasingly green ways,” said Jason Finger, President of SeamlessWeb. “Many of our restaurant partners share this vision, and are also excited about the cost savings that these programs can facilitate for them.”
“SeamlessWeb has done a commendable job of not only helping us grow our business, but also with helping us find ways to minimize our impact on the environment,” said Shiva Natarajan, owner of Chola, Dhaba, Little Thai Kitchen, and Tadka. “These new programs make it much easier for my staff to give customers exactly what they want without creating unnecessary waste.”
Some facts:
- Almost 1/3 of the waste generated in the U.S. is from packaging.1
- The U.S. population tosses out enough paper and plastic cups, forks and spoons every year to circle the equator 300 times.1
- New York City alone throws out enough garbage each day to fill the Empire State Building.1
About SeamlessWeb
SeamlessWeb is the nation’s leading food ordering service. Founded in 1999, the company powers a comprehensive e-commerce solution for thousands of restaurants via SeamlessWeb.com, SeamlessWeb.com mobile, as well as thousands of restaurant-specific transactional websites. Over one million individuals and many of the world’s largest companies have made SeamlessWeb their preferred service for online food ordering by placing more than 50 million food orders through the company’s websites.
Media Contacts:
Matt Johnson
646-666-2029
Lauren Schulz