Custom Small Pizza Boxes
A 12 inch pizza carries enough thermal mass to stay hot for a while. A 7 inch personal pizza does not — it has a high surface area for its volume and it loses heat quickly. The venting logic that keeps a large pizza crisp will leave a small one cold.
- Sizes
- 7, 8, 9 and 10 in, plus slice wedges
- Board
- E flute for counter service, B flute for delivery
- Venting
- One or two high side vents; reduced for insulated bag delivery
Get a price for Small Pizza 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 less, not more
On a large box the priority is getting steam out before it condenses. On a small box the pizza cools before it produces enough steam to matter, so heavy venting takes heat away without solving anything.
One or two small vents high in each side wall is the working balance. It is a genuinely different specification from a family box, and using the same die scaled down is why some personal pizzas arrive lukewarm.
If the box goes into an insulated delivery bag, reduce the venting further. The bag already handles the humidity.
Sizes and what each is actually used for
A slice box is not a small pizza box. The wedge shape puts the point under compression when stacked, and it needs a locking tip rather than a plain fold.
| 7 in | Kids, sides, garlic bread; often a second box in the same order |
|---|---|
| 8 in | Personal pizza; the common lunch size |
| 9 in | Small pizza sold as a full meal |
| 10 in | The boundary; behaves thermally like a large box |
| Wedge | By-the-slice service; a triangular box, not a scaled-down square |
Board grade for something that is often carried by hand
A small box has short spans, so it does not sag the way a 16 inch box does. That means E flute is viable where a large box would need B, and E flute prints considerably better.
The trade is insulation: E flute has smaller air channels and holds heat less well. For eat-in and counter service E flute is right; for delivery, stay on B — the flute characteristics are set out in our pizza box construction notes.
The printing opportunity that large boxes do not have
- A small box is held at chest height and read directly, unlike a large box carried flat.
- The lid is the whole visual, with no plate or hand covering it.
- Inside print is seen by one person rather than a table, which suits a personal message.
- Full color on a white liner is affordable at this size because the sheet is small.
Stacking two boxes that are not the same size
Personal pizzas are almost always ordered in multiples, and a stack of small boxes is far less stable than one large box. Mixed with a side box of a different footprint, the stack slides in a delivery bag.
Standardizing the outer footprint across your small sizes — same box outline, different internal — costs nothing and makes every stack square. It is the sort of decision that only looks obvious after a season of deliveries.
Small Pizza 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
- Sizes
- 7, 8, 9 and 10 in, plus slice wedges
- Board
- E flute for counter service, B flute for delivery
- Venting
- One or two high side vents; reduced for insulated bag delivery
- Flexo on kraft or full color on white liner; inside print available
- Food contact
- Uncoated food-grade liner in the grease 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 pizza 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 pizza 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 Pizza 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 pizza 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 in any size from 7 to 10 inches.
Why does my personal pizza arrive cold?
Usually over-venting. A small pizza loses heat faster than it produces steam, so it needs fewer vents.
Can I scale down my 12-inch die?
You can, and the venting will be wrong. Small boxes need a different vent count.
E flute or B flute?
E flute for counter and eat-in, because it prints better. B flute for delivery, because it holds heat better.
Is a slice box just a small pizza box?
No. A wedge stacks badly and needs a locking tip — a different build rather than a smaller one.
Can I print the inside of the lid?
Yes, and it is the most-read printed surface in a takeaway order.
Why does my personal pizza arrive cold?
Usually over-venting. A small pizza loses heat faster than it produces steam, so it needs fewer vents, not more.
Can I use the same die scaled down from my 12 inch box?
You can, and the venting will be wrong. Small boxes need a different vent count.
E flute or B flute?
E flute for counter and eat-in, because it prints better. B flute for delivery, because it holds heat better.
Is a slice box just a small pizza box?
No. A wedge stacks badly and needs a locking tip; it is a different build rather than a smaller one.
Same range
