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.
View tray & get pricing →Corrugated Food Trays
Corrugated Drink Carriers
- 2, 4 or 6 holders
- Cut to your cup
- Handle or flat format
A drink carrier is a mechanical problem before it is a packaging one. Cups have to sit low enough not to tip, the holes have to grip the cup at the right point on its taper, and the handle has to take the weight of four full drinks without the board tearing at the top of the cut.
Get any of those wrong and the carrier fails in the worst possible place: in a customer’s hands, on the way out of the shop.
- Hole diameter cut to your specific cup or bottle
- Two, four and six-drink versions
- Reinforced handle where the load concentrates
- Large flat panels — one of the best print surfaces in the range
Pricing starts from $0.30 per tray
The unit price depends on the size, board, printing, finishing, quantity and delivery country, so every quote is worked out for your specification rather than taken from a list.
Get pricing for corrugated drink carriers
Send the size and the run length. We reply with pricing, material options and a production date — usually within one working day.
01 — Specification
Specification at a glance
Every element below is set when we quote. Nothing here is a fixed catalogue entry — if a line does not match what you need, say so and we will change it.
- Capacities
- 2, 4 and 6 cups or bottles
- Hole sizing
- Cut to your cup diameter at the gripping point on the taper
- Handle
- Integrated die-cut handle, reinforced; or flat handle-free format
- Board
- E or B flute depending on load
- 1–4 colours across the side panels and handle
- Supplied
- Flat-packed
02 — Build the spec
Design this tray in five steps
The same five questions we would ask on a phone call, with the corrugated drink carrier already selected. You get a properly detailed brief at the end, which is what makes a first quote accurate rather than approximate.
Prefer the full builder with a live sketch? Open the tray designer.
03 — In detail
Three decisions, in order
How many drinks
Two is a compact carrier for a pair of takeaway coffees and fits easily in one hand. Four is the standard for office runs and delivery. Six is a genuinely heavy object when full and needs a handle designed for the load rather than scaled up from the four.
Handle or no handle
A handle makes the carrier easy to hand over and easy to carry alongside a bag of food. A flat, handle-free carrier stacks better in a delivery bag and is cheaper. Delivery-led operations often prefer flat; counter-led operations almost always want the handle.
Which cup
This is the one that has to be exact. Send us the cup — hot cups, cold cups and bottles all taper differently, and a hole cut for a 12 oz hot cup will not hold a 16 oz cold cup securely.
What makes a carrier fail
- Holes cut to the rim diameter rather than to the point on the taper where the cup should sit.
- A handle cut without reinforcement, which tears from the top of the aperture under load.
- Board too light for six full drinks, so the carrier flexes and the cups lean into each other.
- A base too narrow relative to the cup height, making the loaded carrier top-heavy.
- Holes spaced so tightly that a customer cannot get their fingers between the cups to lift one out.
Getting a carrier that fits your cups
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Send us the cups
All of them — every size you serve. It is much faster than exchanging measurements, and it lets us test the fit physically.
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Tell us the heaviest realistic load
Six large iced drinks with ice weigh far more than six espressos. We specify board against the worst case, not the average.
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Decide handle or flat
This depends on whether drinks are handed over a counter or packed into a delivery bag.
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Approve a physical sample
For a carrier, a physical sample is worth the wait. Load it with your actual cups and carry it across the shop before committing to a run.
04 — Nearby
Trays that work alongside this one
Chosen because operators who buy the corrugated drink carrier usually need one of these in the same order, not because they happen to sit in the same category.
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 →
Kraft Paper Food Tray
The kraft paper food tray is the one shape that every counter ends up buying.
View tray & get pricing →
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…
View tray & get pricing →05 — Questions
Corrugated Drink Carrier questions
Will the carrier fit my cups?
It will if we cut it to them. Send us one of each size you serve — hot cups, cold cups and any bottles. Hole diameter is measured against the point on the cup taper where it should sit, not against the rim.
How many drinks can a carrier hold safely?
Two, four and six are the practical formats. Six full cold drinks with ice is a heavy object, and it needs a heavier board and a properly reinforced handle. We specify against the loaded weight you tell us.
Do carriers work for bottles as well as cups?
Yes — bottle carriers are a common request from breweries, juice producers and farm shops. Bottles are heavier and have a different profile, so the holes and the board grade both change.
Are drink carriers good for printing?
They are one of the best surfaces in the range. The panels are large and flat, the carrier is held at chest height, and it travels beyond your premises. A single colour across the side panels is highly visible and inexpensive.
Will the handle tear?
Not if it is reinforced properly. Handle tearing is the most common failure in cheap carriers and it comes from cutting the aperture into a single thickness of board. Ask for a reinforced handle and specify the loaded weight.
Do carriers ship flat?
Yes, and they fold up in a couple of seconds. Flat-packing is essential here — assembled carriers are almost entirely air and would multiply your freight cost several times over.
Can I get a carrier that also holds food?
Yes, a combined carrier with cup holes and a food compartment is a common format for drive-through and delivery. Tell us what goes in the food section and we will size both parts together.
Do these fit in standard delivery bags?
Only if we size them to your bags. Send the internal dimensions of the insulated bags your couriers use and we will make sure the carrier fits with the cups in place.
Can I order a small quantity to test?
Yes, and for a carrier we would encourage it. Fit is the whole product here, so testing a short run with your actual cups and your actual staff is worth doing before you commit to volume.
Before you order, read
- How to Measure a Food Tray — The measurements to send a supplier, and how to take them correctly.
- Food Tray Printing Guide — Colours, costs, substrates and proofs — what buyers need to know.
Who buys this tray
Ready to price the corrugated drink carrier?
Send the dimensions, the quantity and the country you want it delivered to. We come back with a full quote — material, print, finishing, freight and a production date.