Corrugated Catering Tray
This is the working catering tray: fluted, deep, strong enough to hold several full foil pans, and usually built with a raised header board that turns t…
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Custom Food Trays in Illinois
Illinois enquiries are shaped by an unusually large events and convention trade. Feeding several thousand people over a few days, in a venue you do not control, using packaging that has to arrive on a pallet and be assembled on site, is a different problem from running a restaurant.
It rewards planning: consolidated ordering, formats that stack loaded, and packaging that a temporary crew can assemble correctly without training.
- 6
- trays shortlisted for this market
- 1 day
- typical quote turnaround
- Freight
- quoted to your address, not ex-works
- Made to order
- no stock sizes to work around
Quotes delivered to Illinois
Tell us the tray, the quantity and where it is going. Freight is quoted to your address rather than added later.
Packaging for a large event or convention
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Work out the peak, not the average
Consumption in a convention setting is heavily concentrated. Order against the peak day and the peak hour, not the daily mean.
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Choose formats a temporary crew can assemble
A tray that requires a knack will be assembled wrong by half the crew. Simple lock or glued formats are worth the extra unit cost at this scale.
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Specify for stacking loaded
Food is built ahead and held. Stack strength comes from corner posts, and it needs to be specified against the real stack height.
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Consolidate the range
Fewer formats means less to move, less to store on site, and less to run out of. Two or three that stack together beats six that do not.
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Plan the delivery access
Convention centre loading docks have rules and windows. Tell us the constraints and we will pack and ship to suit.
Restaurant and concession work
Away from the convention trade, Illinois enquiries look like a large metropolitan market anywhere: quick-service and delivery formats, sports concessions, deli and sandwich packaging, and a substantial bakery sector.
The one local characteristic worth noting is the hot dog trade, which is significant enough here to be a category in itself. Those trays are sized from the bun rather than the sausage, and the depth depends on how loaded the build is — a fully dressed dog needs meaningfully more wall than a plain one.
Formats we quote most often in Illinois
- Large-format catering trays with header boards for buffet service.
- Carrier trays for stadium, arena and event concessions.
- Hot dog trays sized to the bun, with grease resistance for loaded builds.
- Pizza and slice formats, where venting decides whether the base stays firm.
- Corporate catering platters for a dense downtown office market.
Trays we supply to Illinois
Chosen against the requirements described above, not as a general catalogue listing.
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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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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Catering Tray with Lid
The lidded catering tray is the format that most drop-off caterers standardise on, because it is the only one that solves the whole journey.
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Corrugated Party Tray with Lid
A party tray is a divided platter under a clear lid.
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Corrugated Sandwich Platter
The corporate sandwich platter is one of the highest-volume formats in catering, and the specification is almost entirely determined by how you cut your…
View tray & get pricing →Supplying Illinois: common questions
Can you supply packaging for a convention or large event?
Yes, and it is worth planning it as a project rather than an order. Consolidate formats, specify for stacking loaded, choose something a temporary crew can assemble reliably, and order against the peak rather than the average.
How many loaded trays can be stacked?
That is a specification rather than a fixed number. Tell us the stack height and the loaded weight and we build the corner posts to carry it with margin.
What tray suits a Chicago-style hot dog?
One sized from your bun, with enough depth for a fully dressed build and a grease-resistant food-contact face. A tray sized for a plain dog will overflow the moment it is properly dressed.
Do you deliver to convention centre loading docks?
Tell us the access constraints and the delivery window at quote stage. Venue docks have specific rules, and it is far easier to pack and ship for them than to solve it on the day.
Can I order for several events at once?
Yes, and it is usually cheaper because setup and tooling are shared. Staged delivery is worth asking about if storage between events is limited.
What is the most useful format for event catering?
A large-format catering tray with a header board. The header sits above the food at eye level on a buffet line and is the most visible printed surface in the whole range.
Cities in Illinois
Other states we supply
Other countries we supply
Get a quote delivered to Illinois
Send the specification, the quantity and the delivery address. We come back with unit price, tooling if any, freight and a real production date.