Kraft Paper Food Tray
The kraft paper food tray is the one shape that every counter ends up buying.
View tray & get pricing →Food tray category — 6 trays
Custom Kraft Food Trays
Kraft board is the workhorse of counter service. It folds tight, it takes ink cleanly, and the unbleached brown surface reads as honest food packaging without a designer having to do much. Every tray on this page starts as a flat kraft blank that we cut, crease and print to your specification, then ship flat for you to assemble at the counter.
The range covers open snack trays, deep sub trays, taco holders and fruit trays, plus a bleached white board version when your artwork needs a neutral background. If you already buy a stock kraft tray and want the same footprint with your logo on the side, send us the sample dimensions and we will match them.
Get pricing for this range
Tell us which of the kraft food trays you need, the size and roughly how many. We reply with a full quote, usually within one working day.
01 — The range
6 trays in this range
Natural and bleached kraft board trays for counter service, snacks, subs and grab-and-go. Every one is made to order, so treat the descriptions as starting points rather than fixed specifications.
Kraft Snack Tray
A snack tray is a small divided tray that turns loose items into a product.
View tray & get pricing →
Kraft Taco Holder
A taco holder does one thing: it stops tacos falling over.
View tray & get pricing →
White Paper Food Tray
The white paper food tray is the same shape as the kraft version with a different surface underneath.
View tray & get pricing →Related trays elsewhere on the site
02 — In detail
Choosing between natural and bleached kraft
Both boards behave the same on the folding line. The difference is what happens to your artwork and how the tray photographs on a counter.
Natural (brown) kraft
Unbleached kraft has a warm brown surface with visible fibre. Single-colour black or white ink sits on it beautifully, and it hides the small scuffs that trays pick up in a busy service window. Full-colour photography does not work well on it — the brown shifts every colour warm and darkens the midtones.
Most operators pick natural kraft when the brand is deliberately plain: a butcher paper look, a line-art logo, a stamp. It is also the cheapest of the two because it skips the bleaching stage.
Bleached (white) kraft
White kraft gives you a neutral base for full-colour work, gradients and photographic panels. If your brand palette includes pastels, or you need a specific Pantone to land accurately, this is the board to specify. The white paper food tray is the plainest version of it.
White board shows grease marks more readily than brown, so pair it with a grease-resistant treatment if you are serving anything fried or heavily sauced.
What we can change on a kraft tray
Nothing on this page is a fixed SKU. The parts of the tray we can specify to order are:
- Footprint and depth, in inches or millimetres, cut to your sample or your drawing.
- Board caliper, from a light snack-weight stock up to a stiffer grade for heavier portions.
- Grease-resistant treatment on the food-contact face, specified against the food you are serving.
- Print: one, two, three or four colours, or full-colour process on bleached board.
- Corner style, tab locks and whether the tray ships flat or pre-glued.
- Interior print, so the tray still carries your name once the food is eaten.
If you are unsure which board weight suits your menu, the food tray materials guide walks through the trade-offs in plain language.
Where kraft trays work — and where they do not
Kraft trays are at their best when food is served, carried a short distance and eaten. Snack counters, food halls, market stalls, deli cases, bakery counters and event catering all fall into that pattern. The board is stiff enough to carry a loaded portion in one hand and cheap enough to be a genuine single-use item.
They are a poor choice when a tray has to hold liquid for a long period, sit under a heat lamp for an hour, or go through a microwave with a wet sauce. For those jobs a moulded fibre tray or a lined rigid tray holds up better. Tell us what the food is and how long it sits before service, and we will say plainly if kraft is the wrong call.
Which kraft tray to start with
Six shapes cover most kraft requirements. If more than one looks right, order the largest and the smallest as samples before committing.
- Choose the general-purpose kraft paper food tray if you need one shape that covers fries, wings, sides and samples.
- Choose a divided kraft snack tray when loose items need to read as a composed retail product behind a sleeve.
- Choose a long kraft sub tray sized from your own rolls rather than a nominal length.
- Choose a nacho tray with dip wells where the sauce has to travel with the chips but not on them.
- Choose a kraft taco holder cut for your shell type, because soft and hard behave completely differently.
- Choose the bleached white version when the artwork needs a neutral base or the food photographs better on white.
03 — Questions
Kraft Food Trays: common questions
What is the minimum order for custom kraft food trays?
It depends on the tray size and how it is printed. Small single-colour runs start lower than full-colour work because there is less plate setup to amortise. Send the size and the print you want and we will quote the lowest quantity that makes commercial sense rather than pushing you to a pallet you do not need.
Can you match the exact size of the kraft tray I buy now?
Yes. Send the internal length, width and depth, or post us a sample. We build the cutting die around those measurements so the tray drops into your existing racks, sleeves and carriers without you re-planning the counter.
Will grease soak through a plain kraft tray?
Untreated kraft will darken where hot oil sits against it, and given long enough it will mark through. If your menu includes fried food, loaded fries or anything served in oil, ask for a grease-resistant treatment on the food-contact face when you request pricing.
Can I print full colour photographs on brown kraft?
You can print process colour on brown board, but the result is muted and warm — the brown substrate shows through every ink. For photographic artwork we recommend bleached white kraft, or a printed label applied to a natural kraft tray if you want both the brown look and a sharp image.
Do kraft trays arrive assembled?
Most ship flat and lock together by hand in a couple of seconds, which keeps freight cost down and storage sensible. Some deeper styles can be supplied pre-glued on one axis. Tell us the labour situation at your site and we will recommend the format that suits it.
Are kraft food trays recyclable?
Plain, uncoated kraft board is paper and is widely accepted in paper recycling streams where it is not heavily soiled with food. Coatings and laminates change that, and kerbside rules differ by city and by country. We will tell you exactly what treatment is on the board you order so you can check it against your local scheme rather than relying on a blanket claim.
How long does a first kraft tray order take?
Once artwork is approved, a straightforward printed kraft tray is typically in production within a couple of weeks, plus transit. Dies for a brand-new footprint add a few days at the front. We confirm real dates in the quote, not a generic range.
Can I get a sample before committing to a full run?
We can supply plain stock samples in a similar footprint so you can test fit and portion size, and a printed mock-up for artwork approval. Ask for both in the same message and we will price them together with the production run.
Do you ship kraft trays outside the United States?
Yes. We supply customers in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. Freight and duty differ by destination, so tell us the delivery country and postcode when you ask for pricing and the quote will reflect the landed position.
Need help choosing from the kraft 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.