When it comes to food packaging boxes, consider these 6 essential factors:

• Purpose of your food packaging or boxes
• Logistics
• Quality of your boxes
• Food safety & certifications
• Branding & display opportunities
• Environmental sustainability

1

Purpose of Your Food Packaging Boxes

When we meet with potential customers, our first question is about the purpose of your food packaging.

What problem are you trying to solve?

• Are you selling food to a retail chain, supermarket, or grocer who will display your food?
• Do you have a subscription or eCcommerce program that sells food directly to end users?
• Are you a food distributor reselling packaging boxes to restaurants?
• Are you a large restaurant chain that needs boxes or custom corrugated cardboard trays for catering deliveries?

Different types of boxes are appropriate for specific purposes. Moreover, we can help you customize the right type of corrugated box or retail display to meet your food packaging needs.

2

Logistics of Your Food Packaging Boxes

Along with understanding the purpose of your food packaging box, we’ll want to discuss logistics. These may include:

• Shipping
• Handling
• Stacking
• Pallet Configurations
• Carrier

For example, large carriers such as UPS, FedEx, Amazon, Walmart, and Target require specific pallet configurations. They dictate how high boxes can be stacked and the maximum pallet/unit dimensions.

Moreover, you’ll want to consider how your retailers, restaurant customers, or end-users will use your food packaging. For instance, do they need die-cut handles to carry catering trays?

Will they want to display food in a successful point-of-purchase display? Or ship food items in the same container that will display them? If so, you’ll want to avoid any potholes and pitfalls when planning your P.O.P. display.

3

Corrugated cooler box manufactured by Wertheimer Box for shipping frozen pizzas.

4

Safety of Your Boxes and Its Food Content

Fourth, your food packaging may impact your food safety and your reputation.

As Harvard Medical School pointed out:  plastic containers may allow chemicals to leach into your foods. These chemicals can lead to metabolic diseases, obesity, and infertility.

At Wertheimer Box, we take food safety very seriously. Read about food safety and corrugated packaging.

Similarly, we’ll want to know if your box requires any special labeling.  For example, you may you’re your shipping box to advertise specific dietary or nutritional properties of your food. These might include messages or graphics that advertise peanut-free, vegan-certified, gluten-free, or kosher.

5

Branding & Display Opportunities to Sell More Food

We can print your logo and other brand messages on the inside, outside the box, or both with flexographic printing options. Your packaging is an excellent opportunity to showcase your brand throughout its transit. It can also encourage your customers to reorder.

Similarly, will your food be placed in an end cap, point-of-purchase displays, or other retail displays? This is another opportunity to create more awareness about your company and brand—and increase its sales.​

6

Environmental Responsibility

Consider the impact of your packaging on the environment. What is the ecological imprint of your packaging?

Choosing paper over plastic is an environmentally responsible choice.

In contrast to plastics, corrugated boxes are most often recycled. At Wertheimer Box, we have been certified to the SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY INITIATIVE® Standard for Certified Sourcing since 2008. Moreover,  we recycle 100% of our corrugated trimmings. And unlike plastics, nearly 80% of corrugated boxes are recycled.​

Sum up

When planning your food packaging boxes, remember to consider these 6 factors for your food packaging boxes.

• Purpose and goals of your food packaging program
• Shipping and end-user logistics
• Quality of your boxes
• Food safety & certifications
• Branding & display opportunities
• Environmentally responsible packaging

If you’re new to your food packaging role or need additional support, no need to worry. We’ve got your back. Wertheimer Box has experienced experts who will guide you through the entire process. It’s not “just a box” to us.