Custom Pie Boxes
A pie leaves the oven at temperature, full of steam and coated in fat. Put it in a sealed box and within twenty minutes the steam has condensed on the lid, run back onto the pastry, and turned a crisp top into a soft one. The box did that.
- Builds
- Tuck boxes, lock-corner trays with lids, wraps, deep-filled builds
- Board
- Grease-resistant food-grade, 16–20pt; heavier base on family sizes
- Venting
- Die-cut lid vents or side slots, positioned for hot or chilled
Get a price for Pie 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.
Venting is the whole design
Steam has to leave. A few small die-cut holes in the lid, or a slotted vent along one side, lets it out slowly enough that the pie does not cool too fast and quickly enough that it does not condense.
Position matters as much as area. Vents in the lid directly above the pastry let steam rise and go; vents low in the side wall do very little, because steam does not travel downwards. Two or three small holes in the right place beat a dozen in the wrong one.
A cold or chilled pie needs no vents at all, and vents on a chilled product just dry the pastry out. Tell us which one you sell.
Grease resistance without a plastic liner
Pastry fat wicks into uncoated board within minutes and leaves translucent patches that reach the outside of the box, which looks like the product has leaked even when it has not. A grease-resistant board stops that.
It does not have to be a plastic coating. Modern grease-resistant boards achieve it in the fiber without a PFAS treatment, which keeps the box repulpable — the reasoning is set out in our notes on PFAS-free barriers.
Size to the tin, then add the lift
Foil trays are wider at the rim than at the base, and the rim is the dimension the box has to clear. Sizing to the base is the commonest reason a tray will not go in flat.
| Individual pie | Shallow tuck box or a wrap; vent in the lid |
|---|---|
| Family pie in a foil tray | Box sized to the tray rim, not the base |
| Deep-filled | Extra height above the crust; a domed lid if the filling rises |
| Pie plus sides | Divided box or a separate container — gravy never travels in the pie box |
Handling it while it is hot
- A box collected hot is carried by the sides, so the side walls have to stay rigid when damp.
- A die-cut handle in the lid is comfortable and lets heat out of exactly the wrong place.
- A separate carrier bag is better than a handle on a hot pie box.
- A base that is one board grade heavier stops the classic sag as the box is lifted.
Windows on a baked product
A window sells a pie better than a photograph does, because a good crust is the proof of quality. Filmed windows fog with condensation almost immediately on anything hot, which achieves the exact opposite.
An open die-cut window works on a hot pie, doubles as a vent, and lets the crust be seen. It is one of the few cases where the cheaper option is also the better one — the same logic we apply across bakery box builds.
Pie 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
- Tuck boxes, lock-corner trays with lids, wraps, deep-filled builds
- Board
- Grease-resistant food-grade, 16–20pt; heavier base on family sizes
- Venting
- Die-cut lid vents or side slots, positioned for hot or chilled
- Sizing
- Built to the tray rim, with headroom above the crust
- Windows
- Open die-cut preferred on hot products
- 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 pie 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: pie 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 Pie 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 pie 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, vented and sized to your tin.
Why does my pastry go soft?
Trapped steam condensing on the lid and dripping back. Vents in the lid fix it; more board does not.
Do I need a plastic-coated board?
No. Grease-resistant boards without PFAS treatments handle pastry fat and stay repulpable.
Can I have a window on a hot pie?
As an open die-cut, yes. A filmed window fogs within minutes and hides the product entirely.
What size do you need from me?
The tray measured across the rim, plus the height of the pie at its tallest point. Base dimensions are the usual mistake.
Should a chilled pie be vented?
No — vents on a chilled product just dry the pastry out. Tell us which one you sell.
Why does my pastry go soft in the box?
Trapped steam condensing on the lid and dripping back. Vents in the lid fix it; more board does not.
Do I need a plastic-coated board?
No. Grease-resistant boards without PFAS treatments handle pastry fat and stay repulpable.
Can I have a window on a hot pie box?
Yes, as an open die-cut. A filmed window fogs within minutes and hides the product entirely.
What size do you need from me?
The tray measured across the rim, plus the height of the pie at its tallest point. Base dimensions are the usual mistake.
Same range
