Custom Butcher Paper
Custom butcher paper in the pink, white and peach grades, printed with your name, from 100 rolls or sheets. Unwaxed and uncoated so it breathes, strong enough wet to carry a brisket, and the paper barbecue cooks reach for specifically because it is not foil.
The paper that lets meat breathe while it holds moisture in
- Grades
- Pink/peach unbleached, white bleached, poly-backed steak paper
- Weight
- 30 or 40 lb basis; wet-strength resin, unwaxed, uncoated
- Widths
- 18, 24, 36 in rolls; 700–1000 ft; pre-cut sheets from 12 x 12 in
Get a price for Butcher Paper
Send the size and quantity — we reply the same working day with a price, a dieline and a date. Artwork optional at this stage.
- Free dielineThe flat drawing comes with the quote, before you commit.
- Proof before pressNothing is printed until you have seen it laid on the dieline.
- Die kept for reordersTooling is paid once. Every reorder skips straight to press.
- Quoted in four marketsUS, UK, Canada and Australia, in the delivery currency.
Pink, white, peach — and what the colors mean
Pink and peach butcher paper are the same thing under two names, and the color is from the unbleached pulp, not a dye. The important word on any of them is unwaxed: wax or poly on the meat side stops the breathing that makes the paper worth using. The coated version is a different tool, and it is on our freezer paper with a poly-coated face page.
| Pink (peach) butcher | Unbleached, wet-strength, food safe; the barbecue and meat-counter standard |
|---|---|
| White butcher | Bleached, cleaner look, same properties; delis and display |
| Steak paper | Poly-backed on one face; for wet display where the counter must stay dry |
| Freezer paper | Poly-coated one side, for freezing; a different product — see below |
Wet strength, which is the whole specification
Ordinary paper loses almost all its strength when wet. Butcher paper is made with a wet-strength resin so it holds together soaked in juices, at temperature, for hours — a brisket wrapped at 165 F and rested for two more is asking a great deal of a sheet of paper. We supply 40 lb basis weight as standard, which handles a full packer brisket, and 30 lb for lighter counter work where cost per foot matters more than strength.
Butcher paper is oven-safe to about 425 F and is not microwave-safe with metal clips or ties. It is not a substitute for parchment on a baking sheet; it has no release coating and will stick.
Rolls, sheets and dispensers
- Rolls in 18, 24 and 36 in widths, 700 to 1000 ft, for a cutting bench with a dispenser and a blade.
- Pre-cut sheets in 12 x 12 in and larger, for a counter that wraps a fixed portion.
- Narrow rolls for a food truck or a barbecue line, where bench space is short.
- A dispenser rack with a serrated edge, which is what makes a roll practical at speed.
Printing on it, and the smoke
Butcher paper takes a one or two color flexo print in food-safe ink, and a repeating logo down the roll is the standard — it shows on every wrap without needing registration to anything. Print is on the outside face only. A barbecue joint that wraps in printed paper gets its name on every table and every photograph, which is the cheapest advertising in the business. For the tray liner and the basket paper that go with it, our food wrapping paper for baskets and trays page covers the greaseproof grades that suit fried food better than butcher paper does.
Butcher Paper — specification
The rows that are specific to this build first, then what applies to every job we run. Anything not listed is a question, not a limit — send the brief.
This build
- Grades
- Pink/peach unbleached, white bleached, poly-backed steak paper
- Weight
- 30 or 40 lb basis; wet-strength resin, unwaxed, uncoated
- Widths
- 18, 24, 36 in rolls; 700–1000 ft; pre-cut sheets from 12 x 12 in
- Heat
- Oven safe to about 425 F; not a parchment substitute
- One or two color flexo, food-safe ink, outside face, repeating
- Minimum
- 100 rolls or sheet packs
On every job
- Print process
- Flexo in one to six colors, printed on the outer face only and before any lining goes on.
- Color
- Food-safe inks throughout. Kraft mutes color; a white board or liner is needed for anything photographic.
- Tolerance
- Cutting plus or minus 1 mm, and fit confirmed by filling a plain sample from your own kitchen or line.
- Tooling
- A cutting die per size, kept. Molded pulp needs a tool per shape, which is a longer lead and a larger one-off.
- Food contact
- Every board food-contact grade, with grease resistance built into the sheet and never a PFAS treatment.
- Sustainability
- Aqueous linings and unlined boards repulp with ordinary paper. PE-lined cups need cup collection, and we say which you have.
- Artwork
- Vector PDF or AI, 3 mm bleed, 4 mm safe area, fonts outlined. We check every file and send a proof before press.
- Dieline
- Supplied free with the quote, before you commit. Yours whether or not you order.
- Sample
- A plain unprinted sample at the finished size on request, for fit and construction.
- Reorders
- Skip the tooling and go straight to press at a lower unit price.
- Lead time
- Quoted with the price against your fill date rather than promised before we have seen the spec.
- Markets
- United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia — priced in the delivery currency, freight included.
Boards and films we build butcher paper on
Food packaging is chosen for what the food does to it: grease, steam, heat and time. Every board here is food-contact grade, and none of them uses a PFAS treatment for grease resistance.
Food-grade virgin board
Bleached board made for direct food contact. Clean, bright, no recycled fiber and no mineral-oil risk from recovered paper.
14–24ptGrease-resistant board
Resistance built into the sheet rather than sprayed on. Holds fries, pastry and butter without darkening. PFAS-free.
16–24ptPE-lined cupstock
Board with a polyethylene film for hot and cold liquid. Microwave-safe for reheating; recycled only where cup collection exists.
260–350gsmAqueous-lined cupstock
A water-based lining instead of PE. Repulpable in ordinary paper recycling in more places, and compostable; a slightly shorter hold time.
260–320gsmGreaseproof and glassine
Dense, calendered paper that resists fat through the fiber. Wraps, liners and interleaves; breathable, so pastry stays crisp.
30–55gsmFood-grade corrugated
E and B flute with a food-contact liner, vented where steam has to leave. Pizza, catering and anything hot and heavy.
E and B fluteMolded pulp and bagasse
Fiber pressed into a shape. Holds heat, resists grease with no lining, composts, and takes only an embossed or one-color mark.
Molded to shapeRecycled board
Post-consumer fiber. Used for outers, sleeves and anything that does not touch food directly — not for direct contact.
Non-contact onlyNot sure which? Say what goes in it and where it is sold — the material follows from that. Our notes on recycled, recyclable and compostable cover which claims each stock can honestly carry.
- 01
Send what you have
A dimension, a photograph beside a ruler, or the product itself. No technical drawing needed — that part is ours.
- 02
We quote and draw
A price, a dieline and a date come back together. If a different build would suit the product better, that is in the reply too.
- 03
Approve the dieline
The flat drawing is yours to check: which panel is the front, where the folds fall, how deep the cavity really is.
- 04
Artwork on the dieline
You place your design on the flat we sent, or we place it for you, and you see a proof before anything goes to press.
- 05
A sample if you want one
A plain unprinted sample at the finished size shows fit and construction — the things a drawing cannot.
- 06
Cut, printed, shipped
The die is cut once and kept, so every reorder skips the tooling and goes straight to press at a lower unit price.
Format
Vector PDF or AI where possible. Raster artwork at 300dpi at final size, in CMYK.
Bleed
3 mm past every trim line, so a fraction of drift on the cutter never leaves a white edge.
Safe area
Keep type and anything important 4 mm inside the cut and away from every fold.
Color
Convert to CMYK before sending. Uncoated stock prints lighter; a spot color is the only exact match.
Fonts
Outline them or supply the files. A missing font substitutes silently and the proof will not match.
Barcodes
On a light, matte, unvarnished patch with the quiet zone clear — a code on gloss fails the scanner.
Not set up that way? Send it anyway — fixing a file is a short conversation, and we check every one before press. Our guide to preparing print files covers each point.
Food finishes are limited by what may touch food, and that is the point.
Food-safe inks
Printed on the outer face only. Every food pack we make uses them, laminated or not.
Uncoated kraft
No coating at all. Breathable, so pastry stays crisp, and it takes one or two colors.
Aqueous varnish
Scuff resistance without a plastic film, so the pack still repulps.
Molded emboss
A logo pressed into pulp or bagasse. No ink, nothing to rub off, and it survives grease.
Grease-resistant face
Not a finish you can see. It is in the sheet, it is PFAS-free, and it is why the print stays clean.
Matte lamination
Available on outers and sleeves that never touch food — a cake box lid, a carrier, a gift sleeve.
Not sure which suits the shelf it sells from? Say where the product is sold and we suggest one — our notes on specialty finishes show them on real boxes.
Sizing food packaging around a portion, hot: butcher paper
Food is sized by serving, not by dimensions, and it is served hot, heaped and in a hurry. Send us the portion — or better, the box you use now with the food in it — and we size to how it is actually filled.
- Portion, heaped
- Fries, popcorn and salad are served above the rim. A box sized to a level fill looks mean and spills in a bag.
- Lid clearance
- Enough that a loaded burger or a topped cake does not touch the lid. This is the single most common complaint about a food box.
- Venting
- Hot food steams. Vents in the lid keep pastry and fries crisp; a sealed box is right only for cold food.
- Grease path
- Where the fat sits decides the board. Say if the food is fried, buttered or sauced, and whether it is held for minutes or an hour.
- Stacking in a bag
- Delivery boxes are stacked five high on a bike. The lid has to hold the box above it off the food below.
- Sample fill
- A plain box filled from your kitchen settles the size in one try, and we send one before the run.
Not sure your numbers are right? Send the product dimensions rather than the box dimensions and we work the box out — the full method is in our guide to measuring for a box.
Interactive · five steps · no sign-up
Build your Butcher Paper in 3D
Pick a shape, type a size, choose a board and a finish. The preview on the left redraws as you go, and the spec lands with us exactly as you set it.
Frequently asked questions
Got a question about butcher paper? The answers below cover what we get asked most. If yours is not here, send it with a brief, message us on WhatsApp, or call +1 503-461-4788 — we reply the same working day.
What is the difference between pink and peach butcher paper?
Nothing — the same unbleached paper under two names. The color comes from the pulp, not a dye.
Why not just use foil?
Foil traps steam and softens the bark. Butcher paper holds moisture in while letting steam out, which is the whole reason barbecue cooks use it.
Is it waxed?
No, and it must not be. Wax or poly on the meat side stops the paper breathing. The coated version is freezer paper, a different product.
Will it hold a brisket?
Yes, at 40 lb basis weight with wet-strength resin — soaked in juice, at temperature, for hours.
Is it oven safe?
To about 425 F. It is not microwave safe with metal ties, and it is not a parchment substitute — it has no release coating and will stick.
Can I use it to line a tray?
You can, though for fried food a greaseproof grade performs better. Butcher paper is built to breathe, not to block grease.
Can it be printed?
Yes, one or two colors in food-safe ink on the outside face, repeating down the roll so it shows on every wrap.
What widths do you supply?
18, 24 and 36 in rolls at 700 to 1000 ft, plus pre-cut sheets. Narrow rolls for food trucks and short benches.
Is it food safe?
Yes, food-contact grade throughout, with food-safe inks where it is printed.
Is it recyclable?
Uncoated butcher paper is recyclable and compostable when clean. Once it is soaked in grease it goes in compost, not recycling.
What is the minimum order?
100 rolls or sheet packs. Flexo print set-up is small, so a printed run is practical at that level.
Will you send a sample?
An unprinted roll or sheets in your grade, so you can wrap and cook with it before ordering printed stock.
Same range
