Takeaway Packaging for Restaurants, Cafés and Caterers

What does our takeaway packaging range cover?

This is the broadest range on the site. It covers ten items, from a single portion of soup to a catering box that feeds an office.

Some items are about the food: a noodle box with a wire-free fold, a bowl for poke, a pot with a lid for soup. Others are about the order as a whole, like the paper bag that carries three boxes to a car.

The table lists every item in the range with the job it does best.

Which restaurants and caterers use this range?

Any kitchen with a collection counter or a delivery app ends up ordering from this range. Restaurants use the meal boxes and bags. Noodle bars and sushi counters use the shaped boxes built for their dishes.

Cafés and lunch spots lean on soup pots, salad boxes and bowls. Caterers and event companies use catering boxes for platters and food boxes for meal kits.

Most kitchens start with a general-purpose lidded takeaway box for hot mains and add specialist items as the menu grows.

• Restaurants offering collection and delivery
• Noodle bars, wok kitchens and sushi counters
• Cafés selling soup, salads and lunch bowls
• Delivery-only kitchens with more than one brand
• Caterers supplying offices, meetings and events
• Food brands sending out meal kits and veg boxes

How do you pick a container for each dish?

Match the container to how the dish behaves, not just how big it is. A dry rice dish, a saucy curry and a cold salad all weigh about the same, but each one needs something different from its box.

Saucy dishes need a lid that sits tight and a lining that copes with oil. Noodles need room to be stirred with chopsticks. Salads need a window so they sell from a fridge, which is why salad boxes with a window lid sit in this range.

Work through the menu in this order and you will end up with a short list of four to six items.

1. Group your dishes into hot and saucy, hot and dry, cold, and liquid.
2. Note the portion size of each group in millilitres or ounces.
3. Pick one container per group, then check it fits the largest dish.
4. Add a bag size that holds your most common order.
5. Send the list and we price the whole set on one quote.

What sizes do takeaway containers come in?

Most takeaway containers are sized by volume. In the UK you will see both millilitres and ounces, often on the same menu, so the table gives both where it helps.

A main course portion of curry and rice often fills 750 ml. A side portion sits nearer 500 ml. A sharing dish or a family rice can need 1,000 ml or more.

All sizes are made to order, so these are a starting point. Fill your current container with water and measure it if you are not sure.

Which board handles sauce, steam and chilled food?

Hot saucy dishes are the hardest test. White or kraft folding board with a grease-resistant lining or coating on request keeps oil from soaking through to the outside.

Steam is the second problem. A tight lid traps it, which keeps food hot but softens anything crispy. Fried items do better in a box with a vent or a looser lid.

Liquids need their own container. Soup containers with fitted lids are built for soup, stew and chilli, which would leak from a folded box.

Cold food is easier. Folding board stays firm in a fridge, and a window cut-out on suitable styles shows the food without opening the lid.

Are noodle boxes better than flat takeaway boxes?

For noodles, usually yes. The tall pail shape keeps noodles deep enough to stir and lift, and the folded top flaps close without a separate lid.

Flat boxes suit rice dishes and curries better, where the food spreads out and is eaten with a fork. Folded noodle boxes for wok dishes are easier to eat from on the move.

Set-meal kitchens often use pails in several sizes for different dishes in one order. That is why the Chinese takeaway box range is sold in 8, 16 and 26 oz sizes that pack together in one bag.

What packaging suits sushi and cold lunches?

Sushi needs a shallow box with a flat floor so rolls sit in neat rows. Depth is often 40 to 50 mm, and the length follows the number of pieces.

Salads, grain bowls and cold pasta need a box or bowl that looks good in a fridge. A window lid or an open bowl with a separate lid lets people see what they are buying.

Bowls have become a menu category of their own. Paper food bowls for poke and grains are eaten from directly, so they need to be steady on a desk or a lap.

• Sushi: shallow box, rows of pieces, room for a soy sachet
• Salads: window lid on suitable styles, chilled shelf ready
• Bowls: wide base, often 750 to 1,000 ml for a lunch portion
• Cold pasta: lidded box with a grease-resistant lining for dressings

How do catering boxes and food boxes differ?

Catering boxes are built around trays or platters and are meant to be opened at a table. They are usually large, often 400 x 300 mm or bigger, and are designed to be carried by one person.

Food boxes are more general. They hold meal kits, veg deliveries, packaged products and gift boxes, and are made around whatever goes inside.

If you supply offices or meetings, catering boxes for platters and buffets are the right starting point. E flute corrugated, about 1.5 mm, keeps them flat under the weight of a full platter.

Why print the takeaway bag as well as the boxes?

The bag is the first thing a delivery customer sees and the last thing a passer-by sees. It travels down the street, sits on a doorstep and goes into an office kitchen.

Printing the bag lets you keep the boxes plain or one colour, which can lower the cost per order. Many kitchens do exactly that.

Size the bag to your most common order. Takeaway paper bags with handles are often made in small, medium and large to hold one, two or four boxes flat.

How should takeaway packaging be printed?

A consistent look across boxes, pots and bags makes a takeaway order feel like it came from one place. We set your logo and colours once, then fit them to each item.

One colour on kraft is the simplest and suits a lot of kitchens. Two colour gives more contrast. Full colour CMYK suits detailed artwork and photographs, especially on white board.

Lids show more than sides when boxes are stacked. Put the logo on the lid and keep sides simple. For pots and bowls, a wraparound pattern works better than a single logo.

What mistakes do kitchens make with takeaway packaging?

Most mistakes come from treating every dish the same. A single container for the whole menu rarely works.

Food brands sending meal kits make their own mistakes, usually around size. Food boxes made around your contents should be sized after you have packed a real kit, not before.

• Sending soup or gravy in a folded box instead of a lidded pot
• Sealing fried food under a tight lid on a long delivery
• Choosing a bag too small for the most common order
• Skipping a lining on curry and pasta boxes
• Ordering every size in equal numbers when one size sells most

How do you order takeaway packaging?

Send us the items you want, the sizes or portions, and a rough quantity for each. Tell us if you need a lining or window on any of them.

We reply with a written quote starting from £0.25 per unit, with quantities quoted per order and several items on one quote. Food-contact materials available on request, confirmed on that quote.

A free design proof comes next. Production takes 4 to 6 business days after you approve it, and free tracked delivery reaches any UK address in 2 to 3 business days. If anything arrives misprinted or damaged, photos sent within 10 days get it reprinted or refunded.