Korean Palace was already using as much reusable foodware as they thought possible for their dine-in and banquet customers. As part of a community case study, we like to add one restaurant that makes small changes in their reuse plan, like Korean Palace, that only needed to convert disposable chopsticks and sauce cups. We can see even with small changes there is a large impact.
With the help of our ReThink Disposable Zero Waste Specialists, Korean Palace is eliminating 240 pounds (the weight of a competition winning pumpkin!) from the waste stream, and the business is saving $444 annually that can be reinvested into other upgrades to the space. We can see that they were able to cut their dine-in disposable usage by 19%, now only utilizing single-use for take-out. Korean Palace is now diverting over 10,000 pieces of single-use disposable foodware from the waste stream annually!
With generous support from Silicon Valley Community Foundation, our team has taken ReThink Disposable to San Jose. We teamed up with three restaurants in the San Jose community — Korean Palace, La Enramada, and Thai Chili — to reduce single-use disposable waste by over 381,376 individual pieces and over 5,695 pounds annually. After the conversions to resuable items, this group of restaurants will collectively be saving over $17,000 every year by purchasing fewer disposables — dramatically reducing plastic pollution in their operations, and providing real-time examples of businesses that are both eco-friendly and economical in San Jose.
Business Profile:
Korean Palace is a family-friendly restaurant and banquet hall in San Jose, California. They enjoy hosting events and welcome community to enjoy their delicious Korean cuisine. Their best sellers are the authentic Hot Pot BiBimBap and their delicious seafood pancakes. The restaurant utilizes an Auto-Chlor dishwasher and has been able to seamlessly incorporate their new reusable foodware with their system.
Packaging practices prior to ReThink Disposable:
- Branded disposable chopsticks
- 2 oz. Plastic sauce cups
- 4 oz. Plastic sauce cups
Recommendations Implemented:
- Stainless steel chopsticks
- 2 oz. Stainless steel sauce cups
- 4 oz. Stainless steel sauce cups
2297 Stevens Creek Blvd
San Jose, CA 95128
United States
The Bottom Line
Korean Palace switched 19% of their disposable foodware to reusable for their dine-in guests, which corresponds to over 10,000 individual single-use items that are no longer being thrown away every year.
$444
10,235
240 lbs
We’re thrilled to switch to Rethink Disposable’s reusable chopsticks, rests, and sauce cups. The heavy weight and elegant styling feel just like what we use at home. Our only worry? They’re so nice, someone might want to take them! Still, we’re excited to make this change and help reduce the number of trees being cut down.
Reducing Single-Use Food Packaging
ReThink Disposable works with local governments, businesses and institutions, and consumers of single use food packaging to inspire a cultural shift away from single-use "throwaway" lifestyle.