diff --git a/api/.env-ci b/api/.env-ci
index b86656ba5dd2..811320c89728 100644
--- a/api/.env-ci
+++ b/api/.env-ci
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/postgres
 ANALYTICS_DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/analytics
 PYTEST_ADDOPTS=--cov . --cov-report xml -n auto --dist worksteal
-
+GUNICORN_LOGGER_CLASS=util.logging.GunicornJsonCapableLogger
diff --git a/api/.env-local b/api/.env-local
index c2f46f18b903..84b43f8720a3 100644
--- a/api/.env-local
+++ b/api/.env-local
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:password@localhost:5432/flagsmith
 DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=app.settings.local
-PYTEST_ADDOPTS=--cov . --cov-report html -n auto
\ No newline at end of file
+PYTEST_ADDOPTS=--cov . --cov-report html -n auto
+GUNICORN_LOGGER_CLASS=util.logging.GunicornJsonCapableLogger
diff --git a/api/Makefile b/api/Makefile
index da2496478537..26d30475f35c 100644
--- a/api/Makefile
+++ b/api/Makefile
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ django-collect-static:
 .PHONY: serve
 serve:
 	poetry run gunicorn --bind 0.0.0.0:8000 \
-		--logger-class ${GUNICORN_LOGGER_CLASS:-'util.logging.GunicornJsonCapableLogger'} \
+		--logger-class ${GUNICORN_LOGGER_CLASS} \
 		--reload \
 		app.wsgi