Corrugated Food Tray
Corrugated trays exist for one reason: a loaded tray that has to be picked up from the middle without folding in half.
View tray & get pricing →Food tray category — 7 trays
Corrugated Food Trays, Made to Order
Corrugated board earns its place when a tray has to carry real weight without flexing. The fluted middle layer acts as a set of tiny arches between two liners, which is why a corrugated tray a fraction of a millimetre thicker than folding carton holds several kilos of loaded deli food and still lifts cleanly from the middle.
This section covers the trays we build in fluted board: open service trays, appetiser trays, bread trays, pan liners, deli trays and drink carriers. Most are specified in E-flute for a smooth print surface, or B-flute where load matters more than the finish.
Get pricing for this range
Tell us which of the corrugated food trays you need, the size and roughly how many. We reply with a full quote, usually within one working day.
01 — The range
7 trays in this range
Fluted board trays that carry weight — for deli counters, bakery racks, bulk service and transport. Every one is made to order, so treat the descriptions as starting points rather than fixed specifications.
Corrugated Bread Tray
Bread packaging splits into two quite different jobs, and buying the wrong one is a common and expensive mistake.
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Corrugated Deli Tray
A deli tray takes more punishment than most food packaging.
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Corrugated Pan Liner
A pan liner is the least glamorous item on this site and one of the most immediately useful.
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Corrugated Drink Carrier
A drink carrier is a mechanical problem before it is a packaging one.
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Corrugated Veggie Platter
Vegetables need two things from a tray that most food packaging does not have to provide: airflow and stack strength.
View tray & get pricing →Related trays elsewhere on the site
02 — In detail
Flute grades and what they are for
Flute grade is the single most useful thing to get right on a corrugated tray. It sets stiffness, print quality and how much space the finished trays take in your stockroom.
| Flute | Approximate wall | Best for | Print surface |
|---|---|---|---|
| E-flute | About 1.5 mm | Retail-facing trays, printed appetiser and deli trays, anything on display | Very good — close to folding carton |
| B-flute | About 3 mm | Loaded catering trays, bread trays, transport trays | Good, with slight fluting visible in large solids |
| F-flute | About 0.8 mm | Small food trays where a crisp fold and fine print matter | Excellent |
| BC double wall | About 6 mm | Heavy bulk trays and shipper-style bases | Functional rather than decorative |
If you are choosing between fluted and solid board, the comparison in kraft vs corrugated food trays lays out the cost and performance difference on a like-for-like footprint.
Structural options worth specifying
These four decisions change how a corrugated tray behaves far more than the artwork does.
Wall height
A shallow 25 mm wall suits flat-laid sandwiches and pastries. A 75 mm wall holds loose portions such as wings or fries without them spilling over the edge in transit.
Corner construction
Glued corners give a smooth interior and a stronger tray. Locking tabs let the tray ship flat and be made up on site. Which one is right depends on whether you have staff time at the counter.
Hand holes
Die-cut hand holes turn a tray into something one person can carry across a car park. They need to sit in the reinforced part of the wall, which affects where your print can go.
Stacking
If loaded trays are stacked on a rack, the wall needs enough compression strength to carry the tray above. Tell us the stack height and we will pick the board rather than guessing.
Print on fluted board
Corrugated takes ink well, but it is not folding carton. On E-flute you can run four-colour process and get a result that reads cleanly at arm's length. On B-flute, large flat areas of solid colour can show a faint washboard pattern where the ink sits over the flutes — usually invisible in service, occasionally noticeable in a product photograph.
The practical answer is to design with the substrate rather than against it: line art, bold type, spot colours and generous white space all look sharper on corrugated than a full-bleed photograph does. Our printing guide covers the ink systems and the artwork setup we need from you.
Picking a corrugated format
All of these are fluted rather than folded, so the question is what the tray has to carry and how it is handled.
- Choose the standard corrugated food tray the default when a loaded tray gets lifted from the middle.
- Choose a shallow appetiser tray for sharing plates where the food is meant to be seen rather than contained.
- Choose bread and loaf formats which split between bake-in cases and display or transport trays.
- Choose a hot deli tray specified for weight, grease and time under a lamp.
- Choose pleated pan liners cut to the tins your kitchen already owns.
- Choose a cup or bottle carrier where the hole has to grip your specific cup at the right point on its taper.
- Choose ventilated produce trays when airflow and stack strength matter more than print.
03 — Questions
Corrugated Food Trays: common questions
Is a corrugated tray stronger than a kraft folding tray?
For its weight, yes. The fluted middle layer resists bending far better than a solid sheet of the same thickness, so a corrugated tray carries a heavier load without sagging in the middle when lifted. That is why deli, catering and bread trays are almost always fluted.
Which flute should I ask for?
E-flute for anything a customer sees, B-flute for anything heavy, F-flute for small trays where print detail matters. If you are not sure, tell us the heaviest thing the tray will hold and whether it is stacked, and we will specify it for you.
Can corrugated trays hold wet or oily food?
Not on their own for long. Fluted board wicks moisture along the flutes. For wet food we either specify a grease and moisture resistant liner on the food-contact face, or recommend an insert. A pan liner is often the simpler answer when the tray itself is not the food-contact surface.
Do the trays arrive flat or assembled?
Flat, in the majority of cases. Corrugated is bulky once erected, so shipping flat keeps freight sensible and lets you store several thousand trays in the space a few hundred assembled ones would take. Glued styles arrive pre-formed on one axis and are opened by hand.
Can you die-cut a window into a corrugated tray?
Yes, and windows are common on bakery and deli trays. A window cut removes structural material, so we compensate with board grade or a wider frame around the aperture. Send the artwork and we will show you where the window can safely sit.
How small a quantity will you produce?
Corrugated tooling is inexpensive relative to rigid or moulded formats, so first runs can be modest. The practical floor is driven by the cutting die and the press setup rather than the board itself. Ask for pricing at two or three quantities and you will see exactly where the unit cost breaks.
Will my corrugated trays be the same colour on every run?
Kraft liner is a natural material and its shade drifts slightly between mill batches. Printed areas hold consistent because they are matched to your approved proof; the exposed brown board can vary a shade between production runs. If exact background colour matters, specify a printed flood or a white liner.
Can corrugated food trays be recycled?
Uncoated corrugated is one of the most widely recycled packaging materials, provided it is not saturated with food or grease. Where we add a moisture barrier, that can change what your local facility accepts. We state the exact construction in writing so you can check it against the rules where the tray is used.
Do you supply matching lids?
For several styles, yes — a corrugated party tray with lid is the clearest example. Lids can be a fitted corrugated cap, a clear dome or a film. Tell us whether the tray is displayed, transported or stacked and we will suggest which of the three suits.
Need help choosing from the corrugated food trays?
Describe the food, the portion and the setting. We will tell you which tray in this range fits, and say so plainly if the answer is a format from somewhere else on the site.