Every once in a while, we are asked about the weird mesh thing that we put under the pizzas in our delivery boxes.

Photo by ‏@Great_Local

As strange as they may seem, a lot of science went into the mesh liners, and ultimately they help ensure that our delivery pizzas arrive tasting as delicious as possible.

Many pizzerias just place the pizza directly onto the corrugated cardboard. The reality is that the average pizza sits for 15-30 minutes in a cardboard box (which sits inside a thermal delivery bag). You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to realize that a hot pizza in this environment will produce a significant amount of steam and condensation, resulting in a pizza that has lost much of the crispness that OTTO fans enjoy.

The mesh liner raises the pizza off of the cardboard, which allows air to circulate freely around (and under) the pizza. Pizza sitting directly on cardboard tends to allow grease to seep into the crust, and the crust will often absorb some of that cardboard taste. Ew, right?

This modern scientific wonder also happens to be heat resistant and cut resistant, and made from an FDA-approved material.

While food quality is most important to OTTO, we also care about the environment and sustainability. OTTO’s mesh liner is not just re-usable — it’s also recyclable.

At OTTO, we’re always looking into new ways to approach age-old challenges. We welcome suggestions and feedback from our guests on ways we might improve their experience.