To all of the owners/managers out there, where are you ordering your togo cups from? I found a good deal on Choice brand cups but I am worried the quality of the cup is too low.

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Not really striking me personally dude, just that I get tired of all the treehuggers in this world dogging something that doesn't make sense to them. I had one idiot on another forum asking me not to use the "F" word when discussing cups hot/cold cups. 
Got to agree with Bryan. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (and I think they found one in the Atlantic Ocean recently) is loaded with Styrofoam. The beaches after storms, are covered with Styrofoam. Dead sea birds are filled with Styrofoam. I often fill my pockets with the stuff when I go into the water. I would politely suggest going with paper, or cornstarch, sugarcane pulp, anything but Styrofoam.

Bryan Wray said:

 

Wow... didn't mean to strike such a personal note with you.  Easy on the exclamation points.

 

Styrofoam is a petroleum product, paper is a wood product, wood is a truly

renewable resource and the paper cup could also be made from post consumer

 

recycled material. The paper cup would take between 5 -15 years to

 

breakdown in a landfill. I don't know if Styrofoam will ever breakdown, most sources state it takes about 500 years for foam to break down, something I'm not okay with.

 

I understand that from a cost standpoint foam cups can't be beat, but at some point it isn't about cost anymore.  I know plenty (tens of thousands actually) of customers that recycle paper cups.

Also, paper cups have the potential to be made from recycled product, where a foam cup cannot.

 

Correct, Chris was asking where we get our cups and what we use.  I told him my opinion, exactly how you told him yours.  Sorry mine differed,
from now on I'll be more discrete in offering my opinion so as not to offend
you.  I've personally had dozens and
dozens of the cups fail, I hate how they feel and I hate how the foam taste
bleeds into the finished cup.  That is my
opinion, that is why I posted it.

 

Jeez...

 

-bry

 

 

Shadow said:

So what the Darts are foam!?! Tell me exactly how any other cups are better for the environment. So you don't think all those hot cups/sleeves are tossed and filling up landfills just the same? And don't bother telling me "well the paper breaks down over time"... or so many people recycle used paper coffee cups!

 

I've used thousands of the Fusion cups and have never had a failure, with me handling them or by the customer. We even have customers that keep them for weeks, washing and bringing them back for refills. Yeah, I don't see that happening with flimsy hot paper cups!  

The Insulair might be what some consider the best cup on the market (opinions always vary), but I for one have to balance function and COST. For me the Fusion is the perfect hot cup and that is what the OP was asking.

 


Bryan Wray said:

I haven't used the Fusion cups for about 2 and half years, but I remember we stopped using them because 1) they are foam and

2) we had a number of our customers crush the side walls.  Sure they're thick (or advertised as thick) but foam is flimsy.

 

They're expensive but the best to go cup on the market is definitely the Insulair cup.  Built in sleeve and then rewrapped.  Plus you aren't filling up our landfills with styrofoam, there is no need to double cup because of the double paper walls already built in, and you don't have to mess with sleeves because, again, there is already one built in.

 

That said, we use Solo cups with free sleeves from Britevision :)

-bry

Im leaning towards going with Solo paper cups.  I want to use paper for the environmental reasons and because I plan to use branded sleeves.  Webrestaurant store seems to have decent prices on them.  Anyone know of any other good vendors?
I'd check and see if there is anyone local that carries them. The store I work at now gets weekly deliveries from a paper products company of cups/lids/napkins/straws. You'll pay for the delivery, but if there's a good one in your area, they should be able to undercut the cost of shipping. The other advantage of this is you'll be able to order more frequently/when you run out of something unexpectedly and not have to worry about waiting a week for it to get there. There's nothing like being out of a size while you wait for cups to arrive...

Chris said:
Im leaning towards going with Solo paper cups.  I want to use paper for the environmental reasons and because I plan to use branded sleeves.  Webrestaurant store seems to have decent prices on them.  Anyone know of any other good vendors?

I wouldn't consider myself a treehugger or an idiot, it's just that to me it actually DOES make sense.  As a business owner, I understand that cost comes into play and it's sometimes hard to justify spending as much as two times the money for one cup verses another.  An outside example: there are times when I would really like to snatch up a particular lot of green coffee, take a Kenya for example, but really can't afford to pay $5.50-$6 for beans before they are roasted, my customer base wouldn't support $20+ per pound coffee right now.  On the other hand, when it comes to cups, I know that I would hear a great number of complaints from customers in my area about using foam cups.  In a much less "green" area back in Michigan I still heard complaints when we were using the Fusion foam cups.

 

I would consider myself informed and not blind to obvious things.  Dennis lives in Hawaii so he sees firsthand the results of styrofoam ending up spread out across our planet in the examples he listed.  I see these things to a lesser extent when I visit the coast, but even if I saw nothing, the reports from people that do see these things are enough for me.

 

Doing a little research into the different Garbage Patches found on our planet is truly an eye-opening revelation.  I didn't even know about the Garbage Patches until the much televised and reported on venture by the "New Horizon" vessel in 2009.

 

The fact that even the smallest, lowest volume operations are going to contribute hundreds of thousands of cups to a landfill every year means to me that we need to get our heads out of the clouds and realize that we have a pretty strong impact whether we think we do or not.

 

I suppose that's just my opinion, but there are a lot of facts that follow that opinion closely.

 

-bry


Shadow said:

Not really striking me personally dude, just that I get tired of all the treehuggers in this world dogging something that doesn't make sense to them. I had one idiot on another forum asking me not to use the "F" word when discussing cups hot/cold cups. 

Chris, Sysco is a giant corporation that divides it's different warehouses up into little local businesses focusing on what they can get from nearby, and then spreading nationally when they need to if a high demand item is unavailable locally (obviously this is more related to produce and other food products than cups, but still...).

 

Sysco is in every area I can think of and because they are the size that they are, their prices are pretty damn good for a delivery service, usually the cheapest or really close to it.

 

We go to a local business supply store to get our cups.  It's a once a week deal and because it's located between a couple of our locations, doesn't really take any more time out of our schedule.  It saves us a delivery charge and the cups themselves are about 1-2 cents cheaper per cup (which is how Sysco makes it's money for it's business).

 

At some point it's usually not practical for a business to go out and get their own supplies anymore as they get bigger and bigger and time because more and more valuable, but for us, right now, it's the most sensible option we have.

 

-bry

I've been using Solo cups (12, 16 & 20 oz) from the beginning. Never had (or heard of) a leak. All three use the same cover, which fits tightly and can be a little tricky to put on.

 

Ron, the Country Guy

 

Note: I am aware of the other ongoing discussion regarding which cup sizes to offer. Just relating what is working for us.

Of course we all have our own beliefs, theories, blah blah. Let me see, what about all the trees cut down used to make these paper cups? I'm guessing most of you are OK with millions of trees being wasted because obviously that wouldn't impact the environment... God forbid a swirling pool of styrofoam in the ocean is so much more detrimental...

 

Bottom line is we all use what we think is best/most affordable. If a person chooses not to buy a cup from us because of the material used then so be it. If people were more conscientious they'd be using travel mugs/tumblers much more often. We highly encourage customers to bring their own cup as that saves us and the environment one cup/lid.  

While I agree that they both are not as ideal as someone bringing their own cup or mug, I think the point was that paper is a renewable resource.

Shadow said:

Of course we all have our own beliefs, theories, blah blah. Let me see, what about all the trees cut down used to make these paper cups? I'm guessing most of you are OK with millions of trees being wasted because obviously that wouldn't impact the environment... God forbid a swirling pool of styrofoam in the ocean is so much more detrimental...

 

Bottom line is we all use what we think is best/most affordable. If a person chooses not to buy a cup from us because of the material used then so be it. If people were more conscientious they'd be using travel mugs/tumblers much more often. We highly encourage customers to bring their own cup as that saves us and the environment one cup/lid.  

Agreed that paper is indeed a renewable resource, but not as much recycling takes place as some believe due to cross contamination, expense, etc. I know this for a fact as my wife previously worked in county government for the waste management division. Also, not all paper products compost/recycle equally as it depends on exactly what is used in the production of these items. Here's a link I found containing a great description/material breakdown of the Insulair cups... http://www.keysan.com/sku/sku9441288.html  You should notice that polyethylene is used as a coating inside these cups and it has to be screened out manually during recycling as it won't break down over any length of time. Have found a few other companies that offer similar ideas in hot cups, with the Solo DuoShield being one.

 

After doing more research I have reached the conclusion that I will stick with the Fusion cups. Cost considerations are the biggest influence, costing approximately .07 per 16 oz. cup. If I made the switch to Insulair (great concept on the cup I must admit) that cost would be driven up to approximately .25-.28 per 16 oz. cup. Those figures don't include shipping costs. I simply can't justify the added cost at this point and can only hope the public will be as environmentally responsible as possible.

Shadow those are great points.  Whether or not it is a renewable resource is not relevant to that information though.  The point of the renewable resource argument is that you can plant new trees.

Shadow said:

Agreed that paper is indeed a renewable resource, but not as much recycling takes place as some believe due to cross contamination, expense, etc. I know this for a fact as my wife previously worked in county government for the waste management division. Also, not all paper products compost/recycle equally as it depends on exactly what is used in the production of these items. Here's a link I found containing a great description/material breakdown of the Insulair cups... http://www.keysan.com/sku/sku9441288.html  You should notice that polyethylene is used as a coating inside these cups and it has to be screened out manually during recycling as it won't break down over any length of time. Have found a few other companies that offer similar ideas in hot cups, with the Solo DuoShield being one.

 

After doing more research I have reached the conclusion that I will stick with the Fusion cups. Cost considerations are the biggest influence, costing approximately .07 per 16 oz. cup. If I made the switch to Insulair (great concept on the cup I must admit) that cost would be driven up to approximately .25-.28 per 16 oz. cup. Those figures don't include shipping costs. I simply can't justify the added cost at this point and can only hope the public will be as environmentally responsible as possible.

Biodegradable hot/cold cups from cornstarch or sugarcane. This is one of several companies:

http://www.cnbiodegradable.com/Biodegradable-Cups/p_1_176.htm


Chris said:

Shadow those are great points.  Whether or not it is a renewable resource is not relevant to that information though.  The point of the renewable resource argument is that you can plant new trees.

Shadow said:

Agreed that paper is indeed a renewable resource, but not as much recycling takes place as some believe due to cross contamination, expense, etc. I know this for a fact as my wife previously worked in county government for the waste management division. Also, not all paper products compost/recycle equally as it depends on exactly what is used in the production of these items. Here's a link I found containing a great description/material breakdown of the Insulair cups... http://www.keysan.com/sku/sku9441288.html  You should notice that polyethylene is used as a coating inside these cups and it has to be screened out manually during recycling as it won't break down over any length of time. Have found a few other companies that offer similar ideas in hot cups, with the Solo DuoShield being one.

 

After doing more research I have reached the conclusion that I will stick with the Fusion cups. Cost considerations are the biggest influence, costing approximately .07 per 16 oz. cup. If I made the switch to Insulair (great concept on the cup I must admit) that cost would be driven up to approximately .25-.28 per 16 oz. cup. Those figures don't include shipping costs. I simply can't justify the added cost at this point and can only hope the public will be as environmentally responsible as possible.

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