Custom Fast Food Boxes
Fast food packaging is not judged at the counter. It is judged after a courier has stacked four of them, sat in traffic, and handed over something that either held its heat or turned to steam.
- Builds
- Clamshell, fry scoop, combo tray, wrap, noodle box
- Board
- Food-grade grease-resistant SBS or kraft, 14–24pt
- Barrier
- Fluorine-free coating; PE lamination for wet items
Get a price for Fast Food 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.
Vent it or lose the texture
A closed clamshell full of hot fried food becomes a steam chamber in about ten minutes. The coating stays crisp for the first five and then softens from the inside out. No board grade prevents this; only airflow does.
Two or three vents high in a side wall let the moisture out without dumping the heat. Vents in the lid do the opposite — condensation collects and drips straight back down. The same reasoning runs through our food box specifications.
Test with your own product before committing. Ten minutes with a lid on tells you more than any spec sheet.
Stacking is a design requirement
Most operators buy each box separately and end up with four footprints that do not stack together. Specifying one external width across the range is free and fixes it.
- Flat lids stack; domed lids crush the box beneath them.
- Square footprints nest into a delivery bag; rectangular ones waste a corner.
- A locking tab holds when a rider carries the bag at an angle. A tuck flap does not.
- Keep external dimensions consistent across the range so any two boxes stack.
Board and barrier for oil at temperature
We do not supply fluorochemical-treated board. Fluorine-free coatings handle fried food well; anything genuinely wet needs lamination and a different recycling story.
| Burger clamshell | Grease-resistant board, fluorine-free barrier, vented |
|---|---|
| Fry scoop | Lighter board, no barrier needed for short contact |
| Combo tray | Heavier board, compartment dividers, reinforced base |
| Saucy items | PE lamination — a coating alone will not hold liquid |
Print that survives the kitchen
Boxes stored in a dry store rub against each other and polish ink off the high points within a week. A matte varnish stops it for very little money and is worth specifying by default.
Keep heavy coverage off the glue seams — adhesive will not key onto a varnished surface, and a box that pops open in a delivery bag costs more than a plain one saves.
Fast Food 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
- Builds
- Clamshell, fry scoop, combo tray, wrap, noodle box
- Board
- Food-grade grease-resistant SBS or kraft, 14–24pt
- Barrier
- Fluorine-free coating; PE lamination for wet items
- Venting
- Die-cut side-wall vents as standard on hot builds
- Closure
- Locking tab preferred over tuck flap
- 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 fast food 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: fast food 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 Fast Food 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 fast food 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.
What is the minimum order?
100 boxes, printed and vented to your menu.
Why does my food arrive soggy?
Steam trapped under the lid. Vents high in the side walls let it out before it condenses.
Is the board grease-resistant?
Food-grade as standard, grease-resistant where fried or buttered food is involved, and without PFAS.
Can I print the inside of the lid?
Yes, and it is the most-read printed surface in a takeaway order.
Do they ship flat?
Most builds do and fold up in a couple of seconds behind the counter.
What size do I need?
Send the filled portion. A box sized to the average serving crushes the one on your menu photograph.
Why does my fried food arrive soggy?
Trapped steam. Side-wall vents fix far more of it than upgrading the board, and they cost nothing to add.
Are these PFAS-free?
Yes. We use fluorine-free barrier coatings or PE lamination and do not supply fluorochemical-treated stock.
Can I get one footprint across my whole menu?
Usually, by varying depth on a shared external width. It costs one extra die and makes everything stack.
Will the print rub off in the store?
On unvarnished board, within days. A matte varnish prevents it and adds very little to the unit price.
Same range
