Hygienic pizza product specialist Pizza Packet has launched LLOCKED, the latest generation of its tamper-proof pizza box lock. The revolutionary new iteration is completely plastic-free and built right into the pizza box and all food delivery boxes and paper bags. Requiring no additional tapes or stickers, the solution is also positioned to lower costs and reduce waste.

The rollout follows on the heels of California legislation AB-3336, which requires food for takeout and delivery to be securely sealed before leaving the store.

“COVID-19 has forever changed how we handle food, especially when it comes to takeout and delivery,” David New, CEO of Pizza Packet, tells PMQ Pizza Media. “When ordering pizza to be delivered, 99% of the time it’s going to come with either a piece of tape or some sort of plastic seal. But the reality is, tape is ineffective, costly and harmful to the environment.”

Invented by Todd Wikstrom of Cobra Design, LLOCKED is a first-to-market solution, which uses perforations that the customer pushes down on to “unlock” their pizza. “There’s really nothing like it on the market,” New adds.

LLOCKED is certified AB-3336-compliant in California, meaning that it satisfies sealed food requirements for takeout and delivery. The technology has applications in a range of food packaging from oyster boxes to bags.

New says pilfering by delivery drivers has been a problem that existed long before COVID-19, but the pandemic heightened awareness about better hygiene.  “Ask any pizzeria owner and they will tell you about the countless number of customer complaints they receive regarding delivery drivers tampering with and mishandling their food.”

A 2019 survey of 500 delivery drivers conducted by food supplier US Foods revealed that 28% of delivery drivers admitted to tasting customers’ food. The same survey, which also spoke to over 1,500 U.S. adult consumers, found that 85% would like restaurants to invest in “tamper-evident labels” to help combat this problem in the future.

Wikstrom, the inventor, was born and raised in Seattle and has lived in Las Vegas for the past 20 years. He says he never ordered pizza delivery because he didn’t trust the process of food delivery, thanks to horror stories he has heard about hungry drivers, especially college students, pilfering toppings from pizzas. After catching a CNN story about the problem, he says he began researching online to learn whether a pizza company was using any type of a seal for delivery and found nothing. He then created a custom safety-seal for pizza boxes but never launched it because the glue-back-on seal never stuck properly. Instead, his brain went to work on a safety-seal alternative solution called PizzaLoc. When the plastic clip solution met resistance from the green community, he modified his tamper-proof invention and came up with PizzaLoc2.0 which is one of the many LLOCKED products. Wikstrom has filed multiple patents in the U.S. and abroad, some of which have already been approved and others patents pending.

For a full video demonstration and for more information, please visit https://www.pizzapacket.com/llocked.