Thursday, March 31, 2011

Look Who’s Using the GreenBox… Blackbird Pizzeria!



Today is the first edition of a new feature on the GreenBox blog, simply entitled “Look Who’s Using the GreenBox!”  In this wonderful feature, we plan to showcase pizzerias large and small around the country that are faithfully using our beloved GreenBox pizza box.  To that end, we decided to focus our first edition on Blackbird Pizzeria, Philadelphia’s first all-vegan pizzeria.

Founded by pioneering vegetarian chef Mark Mebus and graphic designer Ryan Moylan, Blackbird Pizzeria is already making waves in the Philadelphia pizza scene. And because Messrs. Mebus and Moylan are a pair of forward-thinking, 21st-century types, they’ve wisely decided to serve their culinary delights in a box that speaks volumes about their commitment to both their customers and the environment.

Check out recent review of the vegan hotspot in CityPaper; it gives a shout-out to the GreenBox and a nice description of Blackbird' Pizzerias signature pizzas, which use Daiya cheese and meat alternatives like seitan sausage and barbecue baked tofu. Another recent article in FlyingKite highlights the interesting backgrounds of both Mebus and Moylan, and shows some wonderful pics of the GreenBox in action to boot.  We’re particularly taken by this quotation:

“It's their punk-rock roots…that are most indicative of their willingness to challenge the long-held conventions of a food that's as popular for its simplicity as it is its consistent flavors.”

Well put, we think – using the GreenBox goes hand-in-hand with an attitude of progressive exploration. After all, the GreenBox is all about “challenging long-held conventions”. And it’s becoming increasingly obvious that smart, progressive business owners feel that it’s time to give their customers – and the planet – a pizza box that challenges the industry to be more responsible and to offer something of real value to the pizza-eating world.

Mark Mebus and Ryan Moylan are another fine example of the paradigm shift that is happening all over the industry, a shift away from waste and inefficiency and towards a product that does away with both - the GreenBox from Ecovention.