Cardboard Food Trays

Serve snacks, burgers, and fries with confidence using our durable Cardboard Food Trays from ZEE Custom Boxes AU. Produced from premium food-grade board, these trays keep foods contained and presentable, whether you’re running a food truck or catering an event. Order wholesale and save, then choose the finish with Gloss, Matte, or Spot UV coatings.

Ask about free design and shipping, custom sizes, and unique styles—our fast turnaround and high-quality printing options make re-stocking easy. Order today and invest in reliable packaging your customers will appreciate.

Open Tray vs Lidded Tray — Choosing the Right Configuration

The distinction between an open tray and a lidded tray is a functional brief decision, not just a visual one. Open trays — four walls, no lid — are used for food service portion presentation, retail product display where the product needs to be seen and accessed without opening a box, and logistics pick trays where items need to be placed and retrieved quickly. Lidded trays (full lid, partial lid, or windowed lid) are specified when the product needs some enclosure for hygiene, security, or presentation purposes during transit or retail display.

Cardboard Food Trays are produced in both configurations and in any combination of dimensions. The depth range covers low-profile display trays (15–25 mm) through to deep food service trays (60–80 mm), with the appropriate board weight and food-safe specification for each application.

Food-Safe Specification for Catering and Retail Applications

Food service Cardboard Food Trays are produced using food-grade board and food-safe adhesive formulations compliant with Australian food contact packaging regulations. For products with high fat or moisture content, a greaseproof interior coating is applied — this is required for trays used with pastries, cheese, charcuterie, and any product where oil or moisture migration through the board is a practical concern during service or display.

Material certification documentation is available for food service tray orders where audit programmes or retail buyer compliance requirements demand traceability evidence. This is particularly relevant for Cardboard Food Trays used in hospital catering, aged care food service, and major retail food supplier programmes. Related: Cardboard Lunch Trays.

Board Weights and Depths for Different Uses

Low-profile display trays (15–30 mm depth) used for retail product presentation or café counter display use 350–400 gsm SBS board — sufficient for the load and handling typical of these applications. Deeper food service trays (40–80 mm) carrying heavier portion loads benefit from 400–450 gsm board and a lock-base construction where the base is mechanically secured rather than glued under load.

Corrugated board trays are specified for heavy-load logistics and warehouse applications — a single-wall corrugated tray can carry significantly greater weight than an SBS carton tray of equivalent dimensions, at a lower per-unit cost for high-volume orders. Related format: Corrugated Cardboard Trays.

Who Orders Custom Cardboard Trays in Australia

• Café and restaurant operators using branded display trays at the service counter for pastries, slices, and small baked goods
• Hospital and aged care food service operations using plain food-safe trays for meal service portions
• Fresh food producers presenting produce, cheese, and charcuterie in branded trays for specialty and farmers market retail
• Retail food brands using windowed display trays for counter-level product presentation in deli and specialty food channels
• Logistics and fulfilment operations using corrugated pick trays for organising and transporting products within a warehouse setting

Getting Your Cardboard Food Trays Quoted

1. Tray type — open, lidded, or windowed lid; food service or retail display
2. Dimensions — length, width, depth (internal preferred)
3. Food-safe requirement — direct food contact or indirect; greaseproof coating if required
4. Quantity — tiered pricing included in quote
5. Quote within 24 hours — food contact certification available on request