Custom Printed Catering Tray
Catering is the one part of food service where packaging routinely converts new business.
View tray & get pricing →Custom Printed Food Trays
Custom Printed Food Trays for Any Menu
- 1–4 colours or full process
- Dieline supplied
- Proof before production
This is the general-purpose printed tray: any of our shapes, in your board, carrying your artwork. If you already know the format you want and the question is simply how to get your brand onto it, this is the page.
Printing a food tray is not complicated, but it has a specific sequence and a few points where a mistake is expensive to undo. What follows is that sequence, written so you can brief a designer with it.
- One, two, three or four spot colours, or full four-colour process on white board
- Dieline supplied before your designer starts
- Digital proof as standard, physical proof on request
- Cutting die stays on file, so repeat orders with new artwork cost less
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 custom printed food trays
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.
- Print method
- Specified to the run length and colour count
- Colours
- 1–4 spot colours, or CMYK process on bleached board
- Substrates
- Natural kraft, bleached kraft, corrugated E and B flute
- Proofing
- Digital proof included; physical proof quoted on request
- Artwork
- Print-ready PDF, AI or EPS with fonts outlined
- Repeat orders
- Die retained; only plate cost applies to a new design
02 — Build the spec
Design this tray in five steps
The same five questions we would ask on a phone call, with the custom printed food tray 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
The order of operations
Do these in this order and a printed tray order is straightforward. Do them out of order and you will redraw artwork at least once.
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Fix the structure first
Size, depth, board, corner style, any wells or slots. Everything about the print depends on the shape, so this cannot be decided after the design.
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Take the dieline
We send a flat template with cut lines, fold lines, glue areas and the safe zone marked. Your designer works on this layer, not on a rectangle.
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Choose the colour count
One colour on kraft is the cheapest and often the best-looking. Move up only where the design genuinely needs it.
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Supply print-ready artwork
Vector, fonts outlined, colours specified, images at full size. The artwork guide lists exactly what we check.
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Read the proof properly
Check spelling, phone numbers, web addresses and any legal panel. Have a second person read it. Approval is the point after which changes cost money.
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Production and delivery
Plates, print, die-cut, finish and pack. We confirm real dates in the quote rather than a generic range.
What each colour count gets you
| Colours | What it suits | Relative setup cost |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Logo, line art, stamp-style marks, type-led designs | Lowest |
| 2 | Logo plus a brand colour, or a two-tone illustration | Low |
| 3 | A palette with a highlight and a background flood | Moderate |
| 4 spot | Complex brand systems with exact colour requirements | Higher |
| CMYK process | Photography, gradients, illustration with many colours | Highest, and needs white board |
Where printed trays actually pay back
Delivery and third-party platforms
When the courier and the app own the customer relationship, the packaging is often the only branded thing that reaches the table.
Events and festivals
A printed tray in every photograph from a stand reaches an audience far larger than the queue in front of you.
Multi-site operations
Consistent packaging across sites makes a group of outlets read as one brand rather than several similar ones.
Wholesale and retail listings
A printed tray with a legal panel and a barcode turns a food product into a stocked line.
The most common expensive mistake: designing on a plain rectangle and discovering at proof stage that the logo falls across a fold or into a glue area. Always start from the dieline. We supply it free, before you commit to anything.
What we will not do
We will not print a certification mark, a recycling claim or a compostability logo on your tray unless the material you have ordered genuinely carries that certification in the market where you sell. Those symbols have specific legal meanings that differ between the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, and printing one you are not entitled to is a regulatory problem you do not want.
If sustainability messaging matters to your brand, tell us and we will show you exactly what the board you are ordering is made from and what treatments are on it, so you can write accurate copy instead of borrowed claims.
04 — Nearby
Trays that work alongside this one
Chosen because operators who buy the custom printed food tray usually need one of these in the same order, not because they happen to sit in the same category.
Custom Printed Hot Dog Tray
A hot dog tray is a small piece of packaging with an unusually large branding opportunity.
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 →
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 →05 — Questions
Custom Printed Food Tray questions
What artwork do you need from me?
A print-ready vector file — PDF, AI or EPS — with fonts outlined, colours specified and any images placed at full size. If all you have is a logo pulled from a website, tell us; it will not print acceptably at tray scale and we would rather redraw it than run it.
Do you charge for the dieline?
No. We supply the dieline for your chosen tray before artwork starts, because designing without it is the most common cause of a reprint.
How close can you get to my Pantone colour?
Very close on bleached board with a spot ink. On natural kraft the brown substrate shifts every colour and an exact match is not physically achievable — we will show you what it actually does so you can decide whether to accept the shift or change the board.
What is the difference between a digital and a physical proof?
A digital proof confirms layout, content and colour breakdown and catches typos. A physical proof, printed on the actual board, is the only reliable check of how colour will really look. For a first branded run, the extra few days for a physical proof is usually money well spent.
Can I print inside the tray as well as outside?
Yes. Interior print is priced as a second side. It is seen at the end of the meal, which makes it a good place for a reorder prompt or a social handle rather than the main logo.
How many colours should I use?
Fewer than you think. A well-drawn single colour on kraft usually looks better than a mediocre four-colour design, and it is far cheaper to set up, which makes shorter runs viable. Move up in colours only where the design genuinely fails without them.
Do you keep my cutting die for repeat orders?
Yes. The die stays on file against your account. Repeat orders with the same structure only carry plate cost for new artwork, which makes seasonal designs practical.
Can you print on moulded fibre trays?
Only within limits. Moulded fibre has a textured, absorbent surface, so fine detail and photography do not hold. A printed band, sleeve or label usually gives a much better result than printing directly on the fibre.
Is the ink safe to touch food?
Print is applied to the outer face of a food tray as standard, so it is not in food contact. Where interior print is specified we use inks appropriate for that application and confirm it in writing on your specification.
How long does a first printed order take?
It depends on structure, colour count and whether a new die is needed. The variable that most often stretches a timeline is artwork approval on your side rather than production on ours, so start the design early.
Before you order, read
- Food Tray Printing Guide — Colours, costs, substrates and proofs — what buyers need to know.
- Artwork Guide for Printed Food Trays — File formats, bleed, safe areas and dieline setup for designers.
- Food Tray Coatings and Finishes — Barriers, laminates and decorative finishes, and their trade-offs.
Who buys this tray
Ready to price the custom printed food tray?
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.