Side Order Boxes and Trays for Garlic Bread, Wings and Chips

What are Side Order Boxes and who uses them?

Side Order Boxes are small corrugated trays and lidded boxes for the food that rides alongside the pizza. Think garlic bread, wings, chips, dough balls, potato wedges and a pot of dip.

Pizzerias, takeaways, street food vans, pub kitchens and dark kitchens use them so every side has its own home. Each one is made to the size you send. A portion of dough balls should never rattle around a box built for a pizza.

They sit in the Pizza Box Sides and Extras range alongside liners and separators.

Open tray or lidded box: which suits each side?

The open tray is the quick option. You fold it, fill it at the pass and hand it over the counter or slide it into a bag beside the pizza box.

A small lidded box suits delivery, where the side travels further and gets stacked. The lid keeps chips together and stops sauce marking the bag. A scoop tray sits between the two, holding chips upright so they are easy to pick at on the move.

These are starting points, not fixed rules. If your garlic bread is baked as a round, tell us its diameter and we size the tray to it.

Which board should a side order tray use?

Most trays are E-flute, about 1.5 mm thick. It creases cleanly into tight corners and keeps a small tray light in the hand.

B-flute, about 3 mm, suits lidded wing boxes and anything stacked in a delivery bag. The thicker wall holds heat a little longer than E-flute and feels stiffer with a pizza box resting on top.

White board shows full colour print brightly and looks clean on a counter. Brown kraft gives a plain, natural look that suits wood-fired menus. Read our E-flute vs B-flute guide for the full comparison.

Can you print a logo on Side Order Boxes?

Yes. Trays and lidded boxes take plain, one colour, two colour or full colour print. On a tray the outside walls carry the print, and on a lidded box the lid is the main face.

One colour black or deep red on brown kraft reads clearly and keeps the look simple. On white board, full colour lets you match the print on your pizza lids so the whole order looks like one set.

Matt or gloss varnish is an option on either board. Upload your logo through the Design Your Pizza Box page and we send a free proof before anything is printed.

How do steam and venting work in a side box?

Steam is the enemy of chips and wings. Trapped under a lid, it turns a crisp coating soft before the driver reaches the door.

An open tray lets steam leave straight away, which is why it works so well for counter service. For lidded boxes we can add small side vents near the top of the walls, so moist air escapes while the lid stays shut.

Garlic bread is more forgiving, so a closed box without vents is usually fine. There is more on this in our guide to keeping pizza hot and crisp in delivery.

How does a side order tray fold and lock?

Each tray arrives as a flat, die-cut blank with creases already pressed in. Fold the walls up along the creases and the corner tabs tuck inside, holding the shape without glue or tape.

1. Lay the flat blank print side down on the counter.
2. Fold each wall up along its crease until it stands upright.
3. Push the corner tabs inward so they sit flat against the next wall.
4. For a lidded box, fold the lid over and push the front flap in until it catches.
5. Fill the tray and hand it over, or set it in the bag beside the pizza box.

The scoop tray is simpler still. Its flared sides are pre-creased, so you squeeze them gently and the front opens into a wide mouth for chips.

Staff pick up the fold quickly and can make trays up between orders.

How do Side Order Boxes arrive and stack by the oven?

They come flat, packed in bundles, with free tracked UK mainland delivery in 2 to 3 working days. A bundle of flat trays takes up only a narrow strip of shelf.

Keep a stack of flat blanks beside the pass and fold a few ahead of the rush. Folded open trays nest inside one another, so a tall tower takes little more floor space than a single tray.

Lidded side boxes travel best when they share a footprint with a pizza box. Then they sit flat on top in the bag instead of sliding into a corner.

What size should a side order box be?

Measure the food, not the plate. Lay a typical portion on the counter, measure its length, width and height, then add a little room so nothing presses against the lid.

A neat trick is to size the wing box like a 7 inch pizza box, 7.25 x 7.25 x 1.75 in (184 x 184 x 44 mm). It then stacks squarely on any larger pizza box in a delivery bag.

Long garlic bread and flatbread sides need a long, shallow shape instead. We make those to the length and width you send.

What mistakes should you avoid with side trays?

Most problems with side packaging come from treating it as an afterthought. These are the ones that cause the most trouble at the counter.

• Closing chips in an unvented box for a long delivery run.
• Ordering one tray size for every side, so dough balls slide and wings spill.
• Leaving out a liner under saucy wings, so the board marks.
• Printing fine detail on the inside wall, where the food covers it.
• Folding every tray at once and losing shelf space before service.

A liner cut to the tray sits between saucy wings and the board and takes up oil, so your print stays clean to the last bite.

Can side trays match the rest of your packaging?

Yes, and it is worth doing. When the pizza box, the garlic bread tray and the wing box share one colour and one logo, the order looks planned rather than pieced together.

You can add sides to the same order as your pizza boxes and liners. We proof each piece, so you can check them side by side before anything is printed.

If your pizza boxes are brown kraft with one colour print, use kraft trays in that same colour. If your lids are white with full colour, carry that onto white trays.

How do you order Side Order Boxes?

Tell us which sides you serve and send the measurements for each one. We reply with a quote by email within one working day, priced for your exact sizes and print.

Once you accept the quote we send a free design proof. Nothing is printed until you approve it, and production takes 4 to 6 working days after that.

Bundles of flat side trays reach any UK mainland address free and tracked within 2 to 3 working days. Should a wing box or chip tray turn up misprinted or damaged, tell us within 10 days and we will reprint it or refund you.

Start by sending your sizes through the quote request page, or call +44 7578 382054.