diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 3f17d0f11..c5856bcfa 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ RUN apk add --no-cache postgresql-libs postgresql-client gettext zlib libjpeg li
 #Print all logs without buffering it.
 ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED 1
 
+ENV DOCKER true
+
 #This port will be used by gunicorn.
 EXPOSE 8080
 
@@ -33,6 +35,12 @@ RUN apk add --no-cache --virtual .build-deps gcc musl-dev postgresql-dev zlib-de
 #Copy project and execute it.
 COPY . ./
 
+# collect the static files
+RUN /opt/recipes/venv/bin/python manage.py collectstatic_js_reverse
+RUN /opt/recipes/venv/bin/python manage.py collectstatic --noinput
+# copy the collected static files to a different location, so they can be moved into a potentially mounted volume
+RUN mv /opt/recipes/staticfiles /opt/recipes/staticfiles-collect
+
 # collect information from git repositories
 RUN /opt/recipes/venv/bin/python version.py
 # delete git repositories to reduce image size
diff --git a/boot.sh b/boot.sh
index ae3dbb51d..ab5d7fddd 100644
--- a/boot.sh
+++ b/boot.sh
@@ -67,12 +67,21 @@ echo "Migrating database"
 
 python manage.py migrate
 
-echo "Generating static files"
+if [[ "${DOCKER}" == "true" ]]; then
+    echo "Copying cached static files from docker build"
 
-python manage.py collectstatic_js_reverse
-python manage.py collectstatic --noinput
+    mkdir -p /opt/recipes/staticfiles
+    rm -rf /opt/recipes/staticfiles/*
+    mv /opt/recipes/staticfiles-collect/* /opt/recipes/staticfiles
+    rm -rf /opt/recipes/staticfiles-collect
+else
+    echo "Collecting static files, this may take a while..."
 
-echo "Done"
+    python manage.py collectstatic_js_reverse
+    python manage.py collectstatic --noinput
+
+    echo "Done"
+fi
 
 chmod -R 755 /opt/recipes/mediafiles