Custom Taco Boxes
Custom taco boxes with slots that hold each taco upright — for two, three or six — in grease-resistant board printed with your brand, from 100. Dieline and price the same working day.
A taco lying on its side is a taco that has fallen apart
- Board
- Grease-resistant boxboard 18–24pt; E flute with liner; PFAS-free
- Builds
- Slotted holder, clamshell with rack, open tray, party tray
- Rack
- V-slots set to the shell; folded from the base or drop-in
Get a price for Taco 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.
Holders by count
| 2 tacos | A small slotted holder; the snack size; sleeve or open tray |
|---|---|
| 3 tacos | The standard order; a clamshell with a three-slot rack |
| 4–6 tacos | A wider clamshell or an open tray; sharing |
| Party tray, 12+ | A catering tray with a slotted insert; the lid off for serving |
The rack: how the slot works
A folded board insert with V-shaped slots holds each taco by its base and lets the shell lean against the slot walls without crushing. The slot width is set to the shell — a hard corn shell and a soft flour tortilla need different widths — and the insert folds from the base of the box or drops in as a separate piece. Send your shell and we set the slot.
Board and grease
Our food boxes for takeaway and delivery cover the boxes for sides and the meal deals.
- Grease-resistant boxboard or E flute with a liner, the resistance in the sheet, no PFAS.
- A lid high enough to clear the tallest taco, vented so the shells stay crisp.
- A base that stays flat with three loaded tacos, so the rack does not tip in the bag.
- Food-safe inks outside; a plain interior.
Open tray or closed clamshell
An open slotted tray is the eat-in format: the tacos are seen and the tray is a plate. A clamshell with the rack inside is for delivery and takeaway; the lid keeps the heat and the toppings in. Many kitchens run both from one rack design.
Toppings and salsa travel in a separate pot, clipped into a cavity in the rack. A taco delivered with the salsa on it arrives soft.
Print, and the Tuesday box
Taco boxes are bright: a color, a pattern, the brand across the lid. Inside the lid a menu, a loyalty code or a joke. Seasonal and event runs — a Cinco de Mayo box, a Taco Tuesday box — print digitally from the same die at short-run cost.
Taco 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
- Grease-resistant boxboard 18–24pt; E flute with liner; PFAS-free
- Builds
- Slotted holder, clamshell with rack, open tray, party tray
- Rack
- V-slots set to the shell; folded from the base or drop-in
- Sizing
- 2, 3, 4–6 and 12+ counts; lid to the tallest taco
- Full color, food-safe; inside-lid print; digital seasonal runs
- Extras
- Salsa pot cavity in the rack
- 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 taco 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: taco 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 Taco 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 taco 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.
How do the tacos stay upright?
A slotted board rack holds each one by its base, with the shell leaning on the slot walls. The slot width is set to your shell.
Do hard and soft shells need different boxes?
Different slot widths in the same box. Send a shell and we set it.
Will the shells go soft in the box?
Not with a vented lid and a grease-resistant board. Keeping the salsa in a separate pot matters as much.
Can the salsa travel in the box?
Yes, in a pot clipped into a cavity in the rack, not on the tacos.
What counts do you make?
Two, three, four to six and party trays of twelve or more.
What is the minimum order?
100 boxes.
Is it PFAS-free?
Yes.
Does it ship flat?
Yes. The rack folds from the base or drops in, and the box folds at the counter.
Can I have an open tray for eating in?
Yes, an open slotted tray that doubles as a plate.
Can I print a Taco Tuesday box?
Yes, digitally from the same die, at short-run cost.
Are the inks food safe?
Yes, with a plain interior.
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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