Why don't more restaurants use Chinese take-out boxes?

[ipsedixit]

To me, they are the perfect contraption for take-out orders or for leftovers.

They are easy to carry, with that nice little handle.

They open easily and serve as a nice dish/bowl.

They are unitary in constructions, with no separate parts, e.g. lid and dish.

They are microwaveable (at least the new ones with the cardboard handles, like the picture below).

So what gives? How come more restaurants (i.e., non-Asian ones) don't use these boxes?

Like today, my leftovers from lunch were "boxed" up in a tinfoil platter bowl with a plastic top. It's clumsy and messy to handle, can't be microwaved, and it comes with separable parts.

[wayne keyser]

More Chinese restaurants are using foam clamshells or those black plastic bowls with clear plastic snap-on lids - a lot of the time it depends on what's cheapest at the local restaurant supplier.

[LARaven]

Yeah, I have always seen those on tv but had never been to a place that had them. Now one place I know in Watts uses them, at least for single items like shrimp fried rice. Another place in Cudahy uses them when you get the single items.
I guess its cost effective for one thing. But also so many of these Chinese places are mainly pushing the 2-3 item combos and just put everything in a regular take out box.
Another thing I had seen on tv but never really got to experience where I live is Chinese places that deliver. There is one Thai place, that will deliver but they act like its a major inconvenience.

[Neely_Ohara]

You'd only seen them on TV? That's interesting...For some random, non-quantifiable and non-researched reason, it *seems* to me that these little containers that OP describes are somewhat more prevalent on the East Coast than other places.

And FWIW, I've also noticed that more Chinese restaurants (here in LA) are now using the foam clamshells.

[Melanie]

that's interesting. I feel like I would get them/see them all the time when I lived on the west coast (San Francisco). Now that I am in New York, I hardly ever see them, but rather notice that the foam boxes, as mentioned above, are prevalent.

[Neely_Ohara]

Huh. Then maybe it's just an overall, industry-wide shift toward foam boxes...

Another way to say it: The little cartons are another fond, childhood memory!!

[pescatarian]

Growing up in Toronto, the only time I would really see those containers was on TV, usually where something takes place in NY. There is a takeout place in TO that uses a variation of those containers, but in general, most places use the bigger round or rectangular foil containers with the cardboard lids. I've seen a couple places that use clear plastic containers. Even though the type of container the OP shows are not used in my area, I still associate Chinese food with them.
Don't know why other cuisines don't use them, in any event. Probably b/c they are small and not suitable to all types of food.

[SomeRandomIdiot]

I associate those paper boxes with chinese food. It would be weird to get something like an order of spaghetti and meatballs in one of those boxes.

[coll]

A place I know uses them for chicken wings. But in NY, it could just be a nostalgia thing.

[justagthing]

sometimes i wonder if i should bring my own containers or keep some in my car b/c i too hate some of the containers that restaurants dish out, ditto on the messy and clumsy

[JMF]

I don't like them. They are unstable, they leak if they tip over and have liquids in them. They tab tears off sometimes when you try to open them. If sauce gets on the outside they get soggy fast. Otherwise they get soggy slow in the fridge overnight. I don't think they serve as a nice bowl. They are too tall to easily get the food out with chop sticks or a fork. You end up getting sauce on your hands. Also it looks cheap and tacky to eat out of them. I have never seen ones with a non-metal handle, which are not microwaveable. As a matter of fact I have only seen people eating out of them on tv.

In my area Chinese take out only use them for the rice. Otherwise they use the plastic bowl containers that have the clear tops and black bottoms (I can't remember the real name). These seal completely, open easily, and don't leak even upside down. And they are microwaveabl, reusable, and can be recycled.

[MeAndroo]

This pretty much summarizes my thoughts as well. While my family still uses the boxes for items other than rice, anything with sauce WILL spill, so we always end up having to bag them anyway. Once we get home, the leftovers go from the boxes to tupperware.

My problem with them is that you can't separate multiple items in a single container like you could with a different kind of container.

[Ike]

Agreed here too. I don't like the traditional white Chinese take-out boxes. They leak, leak, leak! And I've never seen ones with non-metal handles. But many of the other "doggy bag" styles also leak. (I mostly take home doggy bags, rather than ordering delivery.) Especially the aluminum plate ones with plastic tops that you secure by folding over the aluminum "lip" They're terrible. Only the "clear tops and black bottoms" (just a few inches in diameter) work well, or the similar entirely-clear tupperware-style ones -- I've got some of these that I've re-used (pictured below), and some of them say "3-1 Newspring Made in U.S.A." or "16-13 Newspring Made in U.S.A." on the bottom, or "1 C-P", or "V-16 Plastic Packaging Corp W Spfld MA". There's probably a gazillion others. They're all recycling code #5. There are also some flimsier, slightly more translucent ones that are similar, but more easily bent and dented. Don't like those.

Found this page on the web:
http://www.pactiv.com/products_na/new...
That's probably just one of many, many suppliers of this stuff.

[marmite]

Actually a couple of years ago my mother told me they had started coating aluminum containers with something that makes them microwave safe. I tested it out, and lo and behold, no sparks or fire! I always keep a careful eye on the microwave though when I test containers from places I haven't been before, because theirs might be different.

DISCLAIMER: marmite sincerely hopes everyone will use careful judgment while testing this for themselves. marmite cannot afford to replace microwaves or fingers damaged by non-coated restaurant containers.
:o)

[coll]

I think it actaully has to do with newer microwaves, manufactured after a certain year. Sometime in the 90s I think.

[ML8000]

On the West Coast a lot of places use cardboard carry out boxes...similar but differently shaped then Chinese take-out boxes. I've gotten a few doggy bags in cardboard boxes.

Part of it is they're easier to store (they store folded flat) and partly some cities (Berkeley, SF and a few others) have banned styrofoam and/or eco-friendly places think they're a better choice. The main incredient in plastic clamshells is polystyrene which is nonbiodegradeable and animals eat the stuff. Yeah, it's left coast hippie stuff but if it costs 2 cents more...I'm for it.