Custom Chicken Boxes
Custom chicken boxes for fried chicken, wings and tenders, from 100 units. Vents where they keep the crust crisp, grease resistance where the pieces sit, and sizes built around your piece counts rather than a generic small-medium-large.
The crust is the product, and steam is what kills it
- Board
- Grease-resistant kraft or SBS, 18–24 pt, non-fluorinated barrier
- Vents
- Die-cut lid slots sized to volume and to dine-in or delivery
- Styles
- Clamshell, two-piece box with lid, bucket, tray and sleeve
Get a price for Chicken Boxes
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.
Vents, and where they go
Steam rises, so vents belong in the lid, not the sides. A row of die-cut slots along the top lets vapor out as it forms; slots low on the walls let heat out and do nothing for the crust. The vent area is a balance: too little and the chicken sweats, too much and it is cold in ten minutes. We size the vents to the box volume and to whether the box is eaten in or carried home.
A dine-in box gets more vent; a delivery box gets less and relies on the bag being opened at the door.
| 2–3 pieces | Clamshell, 6 × 5 in, four lid slots — the snack box |
|---|---|
| 8 pieces | Two-piece box with lid, 9 × 7 in, vent row |
| 12–20 pieces | Bucket-style or family box, 11 × 9 in and up, double vent row |
| Wings and tenders | Shallow tray with lid, sauce cup cell in a corner |
Grease where the pieces sit
Fried chicken sheds oil into whatever it sits on. The box floor needs a grease barrier or the outside print shows a dark patch within minutes — the same failure we design out of burger clamshells that stay clean outside. We use a non-fluorinated grease-resistant board for the whole box, or a barrier liner in the floor on a plain board where the budget is tight.
A corrugated floor pad under the pieces lifts them out of the oil that pools and keeps the bottom crust from going soft. It costs a few cents and it is the most noticeable improvement a chicken box can have.
Clamshell or box with lid
- A clamshell — one piece, hinged — is fastest at the counter and right for 2–4 pieces.
- A two-piece box with a separate lid stacks better and holds more; it is the 8-piece and family format.
- A bucket — a round paperboard tub with a lid — is the brand signal for family chicken, and it needs the same vent logic in the lid.
- A tray with a sleeve for wings, where the sleeve carries the print and the tray takes the grease.
Print that survives the counter
Chicken boxes are handled with greasy hands from the first second. Uncoated board shows every fingerprint; a coated board or an aqueous varnish over the print wipes clean. Kraft with one-color print hides handling best and is what most independent shops choose. White board with a full-color print looks better in a photo and worse after ten minutes in a bag.
Print a small "vented for crispness" line next to the slots. Customers otherwise read holes as a defect.
Chicken Boxes — 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
- Board
- Grease-resistant kraft or SBS, 18–24 pt, non-fluorinated barrier
- Vents
- Die-cut lid slots sized to volume and to dine-in or delivery
- Styles
- Clamshell, two-piece box with lid, bucket, tray and sleeve
- Sizes
- 2–3, 8, 12–20 piece; wings and tenders trays
- Extras
- Corrugated floor pad, sauce cup cell, aqueous varnish
- Minimum
- 100 boxes
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 chicken boxes 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: chicken boxes
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 Chicken Boxes 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 chicken boxes? 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.
Will the chicken stay crispy?
Crispier than in an unvented box, by a long way. Lid vents let the steam out as it forms; a floor pad keeps the pieces out of the pooled oil.
Do the vents let the heat out?
Some, which is the trade-off. We size them to the box volume and to whether the box is eaten in or carried home, and a delivery box gets fewer.
Will grease show through the box?
Not on the grease-resistant grade. On plain board it will within minutes, which is why we use a barrier board or a floor liner as standard.
Is the grease barrier PFAS-free?
Yes. We use non-fluorinated grease-resistant board, and we can put that on the box.
What size for an 8-piece?
About 9 × 7 in as a two-piece box with a lid. Send us your piece sizes — chicken varies a lot by supplier — and we confirm.
Can you make a bucket?
Yes, a round paperboard tub with a vented lid. It is the family-chicken signal, and it needs the same vent logic as a box.
Can I have a cell for a sauce cup?
Yes, in the corner of a wings or tenders tray. It holds a standard 2 oz cup upright.
Kraft or white?
Kraft hides greasy handling and takes one-color print well. White looks better in photos and shows fingerprints. Most shops choose kraft.
Does the box come flat?
Yes, die-cut and shipped flat. Clamshells fold in one motion; two-piece boxes lock at the corners.
What is the minimum order?
100 boxes per size. Die-cut boxes run many-up on a sheet, so short runs are practical.
How long does production take?
It depends on the board and the quantity. We give a date with the quote rather than a number before we have seen the spec.
Will you send a sample?
An unprinted box in your size, so you can put hot chicken in it and see how it holds up before print.
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