Custom Easy Tear Boxes
Custom easy tear boxes with a perforated strip that opens clean in one pull and leaves a dispenser — for coffee pods, sachets and tea bags — sized to the count from 100. Dieline and price the same working day.
One pull opens it, and the box keeps working afterwards
- Board
- 18–20pt folding boxboard; matte laminate
- Builds
- Front-panel tear, top tear-strip, corner tear, zipper strip
- Sizing
- 10, 20, 40–50 pods; sachets in 20, 50, 100
Get a price for Easy Tear 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.
Where the tear goes
The perforation is a cut-and-nick pattern set on the die. Too many nicks and it will not tear; too few and it opens in transit. It is sampled before the run.
The same perforation on a shipper is what turns a sealed box into a counter display.
| Front-panel tear | Removes a window on the front; pods or sachets pulled from the opening |
|---|---|
| Top tear-strip | A strip around the lid; lid lifts off; the cereal-box open |
| Corner tear | A triangle at one corner; pour spout for loose tea or beans |
| Zipper strip | A double-perforation strip that pulls away cleanly; tamper-evident |
Board for a box that has to tear and then stand
18–20pt folding boxboard tears cleanly along a perforation and stands up as a dispenser afterwards. Heavier board tears raggedly; lighter board collapses once the panel is gone. A matte laminate is fine — the perforation cuts through it — but a thick gloss film can stretch rather than tear, so the finish is chosen with the tear in mind.
Counts, and the pod carton sizes
Our coffee packaging across bags, boxes and cups covers the bags and the shippers that go with a pod carton.
- 10 pods in a single row — the trial pack; about 200 × 45 × 45 mm.
- 20 pods in two rows — the standard shelf carton.
- 40–50 pods in a deeper box with a front tear that dispenses from the bottom.
- Sachets and tea bags in counts of 20, 50 and 100, sized from the sachet.
Print, and the panel that disappears
The tear-off panel is on the front, where the brand is, so the design has to work with and without it. The usual answer is the brand on the top and the sides, the variety and count on the front panel that tears away, and an inside print visible through the opening. Full color, matte laminated, with a foil roast mark if the range uses one.
Show the tear on the proof. A tear line that crosses a logo looks like a mistake on the shelf.
Filling and sealing
Easy-tear cartons load through the base on a line and close with a crash-lock or a glued flap. Because the front is sealed by the perforation rather than a tuck, the box is tamper-evident without a sticker.
Easy Tear 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
- 18–20pt folding boxboard; matte laminate
- Builds
- Front-panel tear, top tear-strip, corner tear, zipper strip
- Sizing
- 10, 20, 40–50 pods; sachets in 20, 50, 100
- Perforation
- Cut-and-nick pattern set on the die; sampled before the run
- Full color; inside print through the opening; foil mark
- Loading
- Base-loaded; crash-lock or glued
- 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 easy tear 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: easy tear 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 Easy Tear 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 easy tear 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 box open in transit?
Not if the perforation is set right, which we sample before the run. The nick pattern holds in a shipper and tears with a pull.
Is it tamper-evident?
Yes. The front is sealed by the perforation, so once torn it cannot be resealed.
Can it work as a dispenser?
Yes, that is the point of a front tear: the panel comes off and pods or sachets are pulled from the opening.
What board do you use?
18–20pt boxboard, which tears cleanly and still stands as a dispenser.
Does lamination stop it tearing?
A matte laminate tears fine. Thick gloss film can stretch, so we choose the finish with the tear in mind.
What is the minimum order?
100 boxes.
What counts do you make?
10, 20 and 40–50 pods, and sachet or tea-bag counts of 20, 50 and 100, sized from the item.
Can the inside be printed?
Yes, and it shows through the opening once the panel is gone.
How is the box filled?
Through the base on a line, closed with a crash-lock or a glued flap.
Can I have a corner pour spout?
Yes, a corner tear for loose beans or tea.
Do you send a dieline?
Yes, with the quote, showing the tear line so you can see where it crosses the artwork.
Do you ship outside the US?
Yes, to the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, quoted in the delivery currency.
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