Kraft Paper Food Tray
The kraft paper food tray is the one shape that every counter ends up buying.
View tray & get pricing →Industry guide
Food Trays for Festivals and Events
Festival trading compresses a season of business into a handful of weekends, in a field, with no stockroom and often no reliable power. Packaging decisions that are marginal for a fixed site become critical here, because there is no way to correct a mistake mid-event.
Two constraints dominate: what fits in the van, and what still works when it rains.
Tell us what you serve
Describe the operation and roughly how many trays you get through. We come back with the formats that fit, with pricing — usually within one working day.
What changes at an outdoor event
- Moisture is ambient, not just from the food — untreated board loses strength in damp air over a weekend.
- Wind matters. Light open trays blow off a counter; a slightly heavier board earns its cost.
- There is no stockroom, so everything flat-packs or it does not come.
- Peaks are extreme and unpredictable, so pre-assembly during quiet spells is essential.
- Customers eat standing and walking, so one-handed formats sell better than two-handed ones.
Print for a field, not a counter
Festival packaging is read from ten metres, across a crowd, often in poor light. That rules out fine detail entirely. A bold wordmark in one or two colours on kraft will be recognised from the queue at the next pitch; a considered design with small type will not be seen at all.
It also gets photographed constantly. Festival food is one of the most photographed categories there is, and a distinctive tray appears in images that reach far more people than walk past the stand.
Planning packaging for a season
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Estimate the whole season, not one event
Order for the season and store centrally. Ordering per event costs more per unit and risks running out at the worst moment.
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Standardise on one or two formats
Fewer lines means less van space, fewer stock-outs and a lower unit cost from concentrating volume.
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Specify for the worst weather
Assume rain. A moisture-tolerant board across the range costs less than losing a day of trading.
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Build in assembly time
Flat-packed trays assembled during the morning setup rather than during the lunch rush.
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Print once, use all season
Setup cost amortises across the whole season, which makes printing considerably cheaper per unit than it looks per event.
Formats that suit event trading
| Menu | Format | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Loaded fries and street food | Open kraft tray | One format covers several menu items |
| Hot dogs and sausages | Hot dog tray | One-handed, instantly recognisable |
| Corn dogs and stick food | Corn dog tray | Stick clearance for eating while walking |
| Seafood boils and sharing food | Boil tray | Handles a heavy wet load on a communal table |
| Drinks with food | Carrier tray | Raises transaction value at a busy pitch |
Trays that suit this work
Picked for the specific demands described above rather than as a general list.
Corn Dog Tray
Corn dogs are eaten from a stick, which sounds like it removes the need for packaging entirely.
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Kraft Hot Dog Tray
The hot dog tray is one of the oldest shapes in food packaging and it has barely changed, because it does not need to.
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Stadium Carrier Tray
A stadium carrier has to be usable by somebody walking up concrete steps in a crowd, holding a phone, wearing a coat, in the dark.
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Popcorn Scoop Tray
Popcorn is sold by volume and eaten by the handful, which makes the pack unusually important: the customer’s sense of value comes almost entirely…
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Corrugated Crawfish Tray
A crawfish tray carries several pounds of hot, wet, seasoned shellfish, often with corn and potatoes, straight out of a boil.
View tray & get pricing →Browse the wider ranges
Questions from festivals & events
What packaging suits an outdoor pitch best?
Flat-packed, moisture-tolerant and one-handed. Storage in a van and rain are the two constraints that matter most, and both point toward the same specification.
How much should we order for a season?
For the whole season, ordered once and stored centrally. Per-event ordering costs more per unit and creates the risk of running out mid-weekend, which is far more expensive than holding stock.
Will board packaging survive rain?
Untreated board will not — it loses strength in damp air over a weekend, before any direct rain. Ask for a moisture-tolerant specification across the range if you trade outdoors.
What print style works at a festival?
Bold and large. Your packaging is read from ten metres across a crowd. A wordmark in one or two colours on kraft works; a detailed design does not get seen.
Is printing worth it for a seasonal trader?
Usually, because the setup cost amortises across the entire season rather than one event. Ask for pricing at your whole-season volume and the per-unit cost is normally lower than you expect.
How do we handle extreme peaks?
Pre-assemble during setup and quiet periods. Flat-packed trays folded in advance and stacked ready to fill is the difference between serving a peak and losing half of it.
Can we run a design specific to one festival?
Yes, and cheaply — the die is shared, so an event-specific design carries plate cost only. Some traders run a house design plus one edition for their biggest event.
Do you supply traders in the UK and Australia?
Yes, along with the US and Canada. Festival trading conventions differ — UK and Australian events have different pitch and portion norms — so we size from your actual service rather than a regional assumption.
Packaging for festivals & events, priced properly
Send the food, the volumes and the country you take delivery in. We reply with formats, material options and a full quote including freight.