Min. 100 units · 3–5 days
Nacho Trays
Custom Food Trays
Specify thisCustom Food Packaging
Taco Boxes
Bespoke taco Boxes manufactured to order, with material and finish chosen around how the product ships.
- Minimum order
- 100 units
- Production
- 3–5 business days
- Construction
- folding carton
- Delivery
- US, UK, Canada, Australia
No obligation
Get a price
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.
What taco boxes have to cope with
Taco Boxes hold filled tacos that must stay upright or lose their contents entirely. That is the starting point for the specification, because slot width relative to the shell is the only specification that matters. A quarter-inch too wide and the format fails.
In service they are used for street food and delivery, where the box travels at every angle except level.
Where taco boxes are actually used
Taco Boxes are specified for street food and delivery, where the box travels at every angle except level. Slot width relative to the shell is the only specification that matters. A quarter-inch too wide and the format fails.
- Street food and delivery, where the box travels at every angle except level
- Shelf display in specialty retail
- Subscription and gift sets
- E-commerce inner packaging
The substrate for taco boxes
A 16pt board with die-cut slots sized to your specific shell — hard and soft shells need different slot widths.
The options we would consider for this format are below; slot width relative to the shell is the only specification that matters. A quarter-inch too wide and the format fails.
- 12pt SBS paperboard
- 14pt SBS paperboard
- 16pt SBS paperboard
- 18pt kraft board
- recycled CCNB board
Printing taco boxes
The slot edges take the wear. Keep ink off the immediate slot edge or it scuffs on the first insertion.
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 taco boxes
The slot edges take the wear. Keep ink off the immediate slot edge or it scuffs on the first insertion.
Finishes are costed one at a time because each is a separate operation — that way you can see which one is carrying the price.
- Gloss lamination
- Matte lamination
- Soft-touch lamination
- Spot UV
- Foil stamping
- Embossing
- Debossing
- Aqueous coating
Sizing taco boxes
Two- and three-slot formats around 8 × 4 × 3 in, with slot width matched to the shell.
Send the contents rather than a box size. Slot width is specified for a hard shell and then used for a soft one, which is narrower and tips immediately.
Holding taco boxes before service
A taco tips sideways in a slot cut slightly too wide and empties into the box.
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.
What we need from your files
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 taco boxes
Slot width is specified for a hard shell and then used for a soft one, which is narrower and tips immediately.
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
We can produce a plain unprinted sample so you can check the fit and structure of taco boxes before committing.
Sample costs are normally credited against the production order.
Reference
Taco Boxes at a specification level
| Product | Taco Boxes |
|---|---|
| Category | Custom Food Packaging |
| Construction | Die-cut, creased and seam-glued |
| Board thickness | 12pt – 18pt depending on product weight |
| Ships as | Flat-packed, glued one seam |
| Materials | 12pt SBS paperboard, 14pt SBS paperboard, 16pt SBS paperboard, 18pt kraft board |
| Printing | Offset lithography, Digital press, Flexography |
| Finishes | Gloss lamination, Matte lamination, Soft-touch lamination, Spot UV, Foil stamping |
| Minimum order | Minimum order is 100 units on any format, and unit cost falls sharply as the quantity rises. |
| Lead time | 3 to 5 business days after artwork approval |
| Shipping | Across the US, UK, Canada and Australia |
Specification builder
Specify Taco 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
Taco Boxes
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In practice
Why buyers specify this format
The dimensions that matter
Two- and three-slot formats around 8 × 4 × 3 in, with slot width matched to the shell.
What goes wrong in service
A taco tips sideways in a slot cut slightly too wide and empties into the box.
Where it has to work
Specified for street food and delivery, where the box travels at every angle except level.
The detail that decides it
Slot width relative to the shell is the only specification that matters. A quarter-inch too wide and the format fails.
This format sits in our custom food packaging range, alongside 33 other made-to-order formats.
Answers
Taco Boxes: service and food safety
Specification, minimums and lead times for taco 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 taco 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 taco 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 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.
Can I order taco boxes in a custom size?
Every run is cut to your dimensions — there are no stock sizes here. Send the product measurements rather than a box size and we will build the folding carton around them, then send a dieline template you can design onto.
What happens after I approve the quote?
We issue a dieline template sized to your product, prepress checks your artwork against it, and a proof comes back for sign-off. Nothing runs until you approve that proof, and folding cartons then take 3 to 5 business days.
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 taco 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.
Next step
Start on Taco 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.