Packaging guide
Ice Cream Tub Sizes: ml, Scoops and Lids for Parlours and Vans
Tub sizes in millilitres and scoops, pint tubs, lids, freezing and how to pick a range of three sizes.
How are ice cream tubs sized?
Ice cream tubs are sized by volume in millilitres, measured to the brim. The number on the quote is the brim volume. The amount of ice cream inside depends on how high you fill it and how much it domes over the top.
A scoop of ice cream is usually 60 to 80 ml, which is about 50 to 70 g depending on the mix. A tub described as two scoops should hold two of those with a little room for a sauce or a flake.
The sizes that come up most for parlours and vans are 120 ml, 250 ml, 500 ml and the pint tub. This guide gives the scoops per size, the lids and what each size is for.
Soft serve is the exception. It is dispensed by weight or by pull time rather than by scoop, so a soft serve parlour sizes tubs by the swirl it wants to show. A 180 ml tub holds a standard swirl with room for a flake and sauce.
How many scoops fit in each tub?
The table gives scoop counts for an average 70 ml scoop with a light dome on top. If your scoop is a big 100 ml one, drop a scoop from each line.
A tub is sold on the menu by scoops and ordered from us by millilitres, so keep both numbers on the counter card. The printed paper ice cream tubs are made in all of the sizes below and anything in between.
| Tub | Brim volume | Scoops | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taster or kids | 120 ml | One scoop | Kids cones in a tub, samples, toppings |
| Single | 180 ml | One generous scoop | A single with sauce and a flake |
| Double | 250 ml | Two scoops | The standard parlour serve |
| Triple or sundae | 350 ml | Three scoops | Sundaes with sauce, cream and toppings |
| Take-home | 500 ml | Six to seven scoops | Tubs to take home from the counter |
| Pint | 568 ml | Seven to eight scoops | Retail-style tubs and freezer sales |
What is a pint tub, and when do you need one?
A UK pint is 568 ml, so a pint tub is a little bigger than a 500 ml tub. Both are take-home sizes that go in the customer's freezer, and both need a lid that stays on in a bag.
Parlours use pint tubs for the flavours people want to take home, and for pre-packed sales from a freezer cabinet by the door. A van uses them less, because people at a van eat on the spot.
The pint tub also suits a small ice cream maker selling into cafés and farm shops. The pint ice cream tubs with lids take full colour print for a retail shelf.
Which lids fit which tubs?
A tub eaten on the spot needs no lid. A tub that leaves the shop does. Paper lids press on and seal against the rim, so the lid size has to match the tub rim to the millimetre.
The 120 ml and 250 ml tubs often go out open, with a lid available for takeaway. The 500 ml and pint tubs almost always go out lidded, because they are going into a freezer.
Order lids with the tubs, not separately later. Rim sizes vary between makers, and a lid from one tub rarely fits another. Lids can be printed to match the tub or left plain.
Lid colour is worth a thought. A white lid on a printed tub keeps the print visible from the side in a freezer. A printed lid makes the tub readable from above in a chest freezer.
How do paper tubs behave in the freezer?
Paper tubs are made to go cold. The board is coated so it does not soak up moisture, and the seams hold at freezer temperatures. A tub filled at the counter and frozen overnight stays firm and keeps its shape.
Two things to watch. Fill the tub, lid it and freeze it before stacking, because a soft tub stacked under weight squashes. And do not refreeze a tub that has thawed, as the board softens with the ice cream and the lid loosens.
Frost on the outside of the tub is normal once it leaves the freezer. Full colour print stays bright under it, and the coated board wipes dry.
The tubs also insulate a little. A paper tub holds its shape for a short walk home on a warm day better than many people expect, but it is not a cool bag. Hand a take-home tub over with a reminder to get it into a freezer within twenty minutes.
What do cones and holders add for a van?
A van sells more cones than tubs, and cones have their own packaging. A printed sleeve around the cone keeps drips off the customer's hand and puts your name in every photo at the seaside.
A sleeve is sized to the cone. A standard wafer cone is about 110 mm tall and 50 mm across the top, and a waffle cone is taller and wider. The printed ice cream cone sleeves are cut to the cone you buy.
Cone holders are the other van item. A card holder with two or four holes lets one person carry cones back to a bench or a car, which turns one cone into a family order.
A cone holder also doubles as a point of sale piece. Printed with a short message, it sits on the counter and shows the customer that cones come in fours.
How do you choose a range of three sizes?
Three sizes cover almost every parlour. More than that confuses the counter, slows staff and leaves half-used sleeves of tubs. Here is how to pick the three.
- Start with your standard serve, usually two scoops, and size that tub at 250 ml.
- Add one size below for kids and tasters, at 120 ml.
- Add one size above for sundaes or take-home, at 350 ml or 500 ml depending on which sells more.
- Check that the three tubs use at most two lid sizes.
- Check that all three stack inside each other for storage behind the counter.
- Print the standard serve first and keep the other two plain until you know the split.
What mistakes do parlours make with tub sizes?
The common mistakes are all about matching the tub to the scoop and the lid to the tub. None of them shows up on a proof, so check them with a real scoop before approving.
A tub that is a size too big makes a generous serve look mean. A tub a size too small means the scoop sits above the rim and the lid will not go on.
- Sizing by millilitres without checking the shop's own scoop size
- Ordering lids later and finding they do not fit the rim
- One tub for sundaes and singles, so singles look lost
- Filling to the brim on take-home tubs so the lid pushes the ice cream out
- Stacking soft, freshly filled tubs before they have frozen hard
What about sundaes, waffles and desserts?
A sundae needs height for cream and toppings, so a 350 ml tub with straight sides works better than a wide 250 ml. Keep the sauce below the rim and the cream above it, and the lid can still go on for takeaway.
Waffles, crêpes and churros share the counter with ice cream in most parlours and need their own packaging. A waffle served with a scoop goes in a shallow box with a lining, not a tub, because the waffle has to lie flat.
Matching the print across tubs, waffle boxes and cone sleeves makes the counter look like one brand. The waffle boxes for ice cream parlours take the same colours and logo as the tubs.
How do you order printed ice cream tubs?
Tell us your scoop size, your three serve sizes and whether each one needs a lid. Attach your logo, and each tub and lid comes back as a free design proof before anything goes to print.
Tubs are quoted in writing from £0.25 per unit, in the quantity each order calls for. Food-contact materials available on request. Making them takes 4 to 6 business days after the proof is signed off. Free tracked delivery to the parlour or the van then takes 2 to 3 business days anywhere in the UK.
Order before the season starts rather than in the first hot week, when every parlour wants tubs at once. The ice cream and dessert packaging range lists tubs, sleeves, holders and dessert boxes together.
