Custom Food Packaging

Salad Boxes

Made-to-order salad Boxes in 12pt sbs paperboard, printed to your artwork and cut to your dimensions.

Minimum order
100 units
Production
3–5 business days
Construction
folding carton
Delivery
US, UK, Canada, Australia

No obligation

Start a quote

Name, email, phone and what you are packing and the volumes you run. Attach artwork if you have it. We reply with a specification and a written price, usually within one business day.

The more detail you give, the more accurate the quote.

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    What salad boxes have to cope with

    Salad Boxes hold cold leaves with a dressing that must stay separate until the moment of eating. That is the starting point for the specification, because a small amount of ventilation and a moisture-tolerant base beat a fully sealed box for anything with leaves in it.

    In service they are used for grab-and-go chillers and office delivery, packed early in the morning and eaten at midday.

    Where salad boxes are actually used

    Salad Boxes are specified for grab-and-go chillers and office delivery, packed early in the morning and eaten at midday. A small amount of ventilation and a moisture-tolerant base beat a fully sealed box for anything with leaves in it.

    • Grab-and-go chillers and office delivery, packed early in the morning and eaten at midday
    • Shelf display in specialty retail
    • Subscription and gift sets
    • E-commerce inner packaging

    The substrate for salad boxes

    A moisture-tolerant base with slight ventilation. A fully sealed box wilts leaves faster than an open one.

    The options we would consider for this format are below; a small amount of ventilation and a moisture-tolerant base beat a fully sealed box for anything with leaves in it.

    • 12pt SBS paperboard
    • 14pt SBS paperboard
    • 16pt SBS paperboard
    • 18pt kraft board
    • recycled CCNB board

    Printing salad boxes

    A window sells freshness on a chiller shelf, and here it genuinely reflects the product rather than hiding it.

    Offset lithography, Digital press, Flexography are all available for this format. Run length usually decides which is cheapest: digital removes the plate cost on short quantities, offset and flexo overtake it at volume.

    Finishing salad boxes

    A window sells freshness on a chiller shelf, and here it genuinely reflects the product rather than hiding it.

    Every finish listed here is its own pass through the line, so each one is priced on its own rather than folded into a single figure.

    • Gloss lamination
    • Matte lamination
    • Soft-touch lamination
    • Spot UV
    • Foil stamping
    • Embossing
    • Debossing
    • Aqueous coating

    Sizing salad boxes

    Around 7 × 5 × 2½ in for a side, 9 × 6 × 3 in for a main, usually with a lid that clears the fill.

    Send the contents rather than a box size. Buyers ask about leak resistance and never about ventilation, which is what actually determines whether the salad is still crisp at lunchtime.

    Holding salad boxes before service

    Condensation from cold, damp leaves collects in the base and wilts the bottom layer within an hour.

    Paperboard also absorbs moisture from the air until it equalises with its surroundings. If stock sits more than about six weeks in unconditioned space, a moisture-resistant coating is worth its small premium.

    Preparing artwork

    Supply artwork on the dieline we send you, with 3 mm bleed past every trim edge and all text held 4 mm inside the fold lines.

    Supply a print-ready PDF or vector file with fonts outlined and images at 300 dpi. Our prepress team checks every file before a proof is issued. The check that catches most files is type sitting too close to a crease, which is easier to move at layout than at proof.

    How an order runs

    Start with dimensions and quantity. If you already run something similar, a physical sample tells us more in a minute than a specification does in a page.

    A dieline template follows, sized to your product. Prepress checks your artwork against it and issues a proof; nothing runs until you sign that off.

    What buyers get wrong with salad boxes

    Buyers ask about leak resistance and never about ventilation, which is what actually determines whether the salad is still crisp at lunchtime.

    The rest of these come up often enough across the format to be worth stating plainly.

    • Specifying board weight without saying how hot or greasy the contents are.
    • Forgetting that a pack carried at an angle in a courier bag behaves differently to one on a counter.
    • Choosing a vented lid for a dish that needs to stay hot, or a sealed one for a dish that needs to stay crisp.
    • Ordering a year of stock that then sits through a humid summer.

    Checking it before you commit

    A plain structural sample is the cheapest way to find a fit problem — far cheaper than finding it across a full run.

    Sample costs are normally credited against the production order.

    Reference

    Salad Boxes at a specification level

    ProductSalad Boxes
    CategoryCustom Food Packaging
    ConstructionDie-cut, creased and seam-glued
    Board thickness12pt – 18pt depending on product weight
    Ships asFlat-packed, glued one seam
    Materials12pt SBS paperboard, 14pt SBS paperboard, 16pt SBS paperboard, 18pt kraft board
    PrintingOffset lithography, Digital press, Flexography
    FinishesGloss lamination, Matte lamination, Soft-touch lamination, Spot UV, Foil stamping
    Minimum orderMinimum order is 100 units on any format, and unit cost falls sharply as the quantity rises.
    Lead time3 to 5 business days after artwork approval
    ShippingAcross the US, UK, Canada and Australia

    Specification builder

    Specify Salad Boxes in under a minute

    Set what you know, leave the rest. Everything here travels with your request, so nothing gets retyped.

    • 100-unit minimum
    • 3–5 day production
    • Free dieline
    • No obligation
    Approximation only — proportions, colour family and finish character. Not a colour proof, and the panel shown is a placeholder, not your artwork.
    Packaging type
    Box style
    Quantity
    Colour
    Material
    Printing
    Finish

    Drop files or browse

    Up to 5 files, 10 MB each.

      Prices start from $0.30 per piece for large-volume orders. Final pricing depends on size, material, printing, finishes, and quantity.

      What you get

      Why buyers specify this format

      Fitted to what goes in it

      Around 7 × 5 × 2½ in for a side, 9 × 6 × 3 in for a main, usually with a lid that clears the fill.

      The failure we design out

      Condensation from cold, damp leaves collects in the base and wilts the bottom layer within an hour.

      Where it has to work

      Specified for grab-and-go chillers and office delivery, packed early in the morning and eaten at midday.

      What decides the job

      A small amount of ventilation and a moisture-tolerant base beat a fully sealed box for anything with leaves in it.

      This format sits in our custom food packaging range, alongside 33 other made-to-order formats.

      Answers

      Salad Boxes: questions buyers ask

      Specification, minimums and lead times for salad boxes.

      Are these food-contact compliant?

      We specify food-contact compliant boards and inks where the pack touches food directly. Tell us whether contact is direct or through a liner for salad boxes, because it changes which stocks are available to you.

      How do you stop grease showing through?

      A grease-resistant coating or a greaseproof liner. Untreated board will always strike through eventually with hot, oily food — that is a property of the material rather than a quality fault, and it is inexpensive to design out.

      Do salad boxes arrive flat or assembled?

      Flat and glued along one seam, so they pop open on your packing line. That keeps freight cost down considerably compared with a pre-assembled structure.

      Can you hold the specification for repeat orders?

      Yes. Once a first run is approved we hold the board, structure, dimensions, print method and finishes against your account, so a reorder references the same specification exactly rather than being re-derived. The board and coating are held together, so a reorder cannot quietly arrive on a stock with different grease resistance.

      Do you offer recycled or recyclable options?

      Recycled grades are available across most of the substrates we run for folding cartons. Recycled content, kerbside recyclability and certified compostability are three different claims though, so tell us which one you intend to print.

      What file format should I send artwork in?

      A print-ready PDF or a vector file, with fonts outlined and any raster images at 300 dpi at final size. We supply the dieline to design onto, and prepress checks bleed, safe area and crease clearance before issuing a proof. The dieline we supply carries the crease positions, so keeping type clear of a crease is easier to solve at layout than at proof.

      What is the minimum order for salad boxes?

      A flat 100 units on any format. Most folding cartons in this range are quoted from 100 units upward because unit cost falls sharply above that, but the minimum exists so you can validate a structure first.

      How long do salad boxes take to produce?

      3 to 5 business days after artwork approval, plus freight. Folding carton runs with applied finishes can take longer because each finish is a separate pass, and we confirm a firm date in writing with the quote.

      What do salad boxes cost?

      Prices start from $0.30 per piece for large-volume orders. For this format the biggest levers are quantity, print route, board grade and how many finishing passes are involved. We quote each element separately so you can see where the money is going. Finishing passes are the lever buyers most often underestimate: each one is a separate run through the line.

      Can I see a sample first?

      Yes. We can send a plain unprinted sample so you can check the fit and structure, or a printed prototype for colour and finish. Sample costs are normally credited against the production order. Worth running a few through your actual line rather than checking them by hand: fill speed and hot contents find fit problems that a desk check does not.

      Can you match packaging we already use?

      Send the current specification or a physical sample and we will quote to match it rather than proposing an alternative you would then have to re-approve internally. Tell us the coating on the pack you are matching too. Grease and moisture resistance are not visible in a sample and they change which stocks we can quote.

      Where do you deliver?

      All 50 US states, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, on the same timeline everywhere: 3 to 5 business days of production after artwork approval, then 5 to 7 business days in transit. Every run is made to order and shipped directly to your address rather than pulled from stock, so you receive current production rather than whatever has been sitting in a warehouse. Freight is costed separately by weight, volume and destination. If stock is going into a kitchen or a service counter rather than a warehouse, tell us — case sizes that a single person can lift and store matter more there than pallet efficiency.

      Next step

      Start on Salad Boxes

      Send the fill size and the volumes you run. We reply with a full specification and a written price, usually within one business day.