Sushi fans seek funds for boxes

Sick of filling their office rubbish bin with used sushi containers, a group of Auckland entrepreneurs have designed a reusable, collapsible sushi container.

Launching on Kickstarter today, the founders of Susheco are hoping to raise $75,000 to cover the cost of the materials and industrial moulds they need to mass-produce the containers.

Susheco founders have designed a reusable and collapsible sushi container.

Founder Barney Chunn said normal takeaway sushi trays were cheap, clumsy and environmentally irresponsible and they wanted to change the takeaway sushi market like the KeepCup did for takeaway coffee.

"There's a team of us working on it, one of them's my old flatmate and we'd both started working at an office," he said. "As you do when you're flatting, it's kind of a rush to work in the morning and we weren't very good at making lunch.

"We were eating quite a bit of sushi and then I realised that I was using what was essentially the same tray every day and then throwing it out.

"It just seemed kind of dumb, so we thought, why not come up with something that addresses that."

The team made three prototypes at $1000 each, but were offering the Susheco trays through their Kickstarter campaign for between $20 and $25. The containers compress to half their height when not in use and are also air-tight and dishwasher-safe. Chunn said Takapuna sushi restaurant Sushi Bian had agreed to stock the trays, as had Sushi Bi in Wellington.

"Everyone we've talked to, all the other stores, have been really positive about the product."

See the Kickstarter campaign here.