Custom Small Burger Boxes
A full-size burger box travels alone. A slider box travels in threes, stacked, in the same bag — so where a large box is designed against crushing, a small one is designed against its own siblings.
- Builds
- Slider and junior clamshells, parcel cartons, divided multi-packs
- Board
- Grease-resistant food-grade; lid board stepped up for stacking
- Venting
- Lighter than a full-size box; high side-wall vents
Get a price for Small Burger 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.
They have to stack on each other
Three slider boxes in a delivery bag means the bottom one carries the other two, and its lid is the shelf they sit on. A lid that bows drops onto the burger below it and arrives with the top bun compressed.
A flat lid with a locking closure and a slightly heavier lid board is what prevents it. On a large single box the lid never carries anything, which is why the same specification does not carry down.
For a plain single burger eaten at the counter, a sleeve around the burger costs a fraction and stacks no worse.
Test with three filled boxes stacked, not one. The failure only appears under its own siblings.
Small boxes cool faster than they steam
Scaling a large box's vent pattern down is the common mistake, and it is why a slider often arrives lukewarm. Fewer vents, positioned high, is the right specification here.
| Full-size burger | Enough thermal mass to steam; vent it properly |
|---|---|
| Slider | Cools before it produces much steam; vent lightly |
| Three in a bag | They keep each other warm; vent lighter still |
| With a crisp element | Vent regardless, or it softens whatever the size |
Height still comes from the build, not the name
A slider is smaller in footprint and not necessarily much shorter — a double slider with slaw and a skewer can be nearly as tall as a standard burger. Measure the tallest one you serve, standing, with everything on it.
A box sized to the smallest item on the menu crushes the one people actually order, the same sizing rule as across our burger packaging range.
Grease reaches the outside faster on a small box
- Less board area means a mark spreads across a larger share of the visible surface.
- The customer is also holding it closer, because it is a one-handed item.
- Grease-resistant food-grade board handles it without a plastic coating.
- Kraft hides what does get through; white board shows every mark.
Multi-packs, and the box around the boxes
Sliders are frequently sold in threes or fours, which raises the question of whether they travel as individual boxes in a bag or in a single divided carton.
A divided carton stacks better, spills less and costs more. Individual boxes are cheaper and let a customer share them out. Which is right depends on whether the order is for one person or a table.
Small Burger 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
- Slider and junior clamshells, parcel cartons, divided multi-packs
- Board
- Grease-resistant food-grade; lid board stepped up for stacking
- Venting
- Lighter than a full-size box; high side-wall vents
- Closure
- Locking, so a stack cannot spring open in a bag
- One or two colors on kraft; no varnish in the food zone
- 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 small burger 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: small burger 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 Small Burger 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 small burger 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.
Why do my sliders arrive squashed?
The bottom box in the stack is carrying the others. A flat lid on heavier board stops it bowing onto the burger below.
Should I scale down my large box vents?
No — a small burger cools before it steams, so it needs fewer vents. Scaling the pattern down is why sliders arrive lukewarm.
Individual boxes or a divided carton?
Divided for one person and better stacking; individual for a table, where people share them out.
Does a small box need grease-resistant board?
More than a large one — the mark covers a bigger share of the surface and the customer holds it closer.
How tall should a slider box be?
Measure your tallest slider standing, with everything on it — a double with slaw can be nearly as tall as a standard burger.
Should the lid lock or just tuck?
Lock, always, so a stack of three in a bag cannot spring open.
Why do my sliders arrive squashed?
The bottom box in the stack is carrying the others. A flat lid on a heavier board stops it bowing onto the burger below.
Should I scale down my large box vents?
No. A small burger cools before it steams, so it needs fewer vents. Scaling the pattern down is why sliders arrive lukewarm.
Individual boxes or a divided carton?
Divided for one person and better stacking; individual for a table, where people share them out.
Does a small box need grease-resistant board?
More than a large one. The mark covers a bigger share of the surface and the customer is holding it closer.
Same range
