Kraft Food Boxes
Kraft food boxes are made from unbleached stock, and the grease-resistant coating, not the color, is what handles hot and oily food, so they perform exactly like white-lined board. The difference shows in printing: kraft absorbs ink into its fibers, so one or two colors usually reads better than full coverage. Unbleached kraft recycles easily, and orders start at 100 boxes.
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Read them on Trustpilot →(opens in a new tab)Four stages, twelve days
Quote confirmed
A specialist checks your spec against the board and comes back with a firm price inside 4 business hours.
Proof approved
You get a flat dieline and a 3D render. Nothing goes to press until you approve it in writing.
On press
Print, die-cut, glue, and fold. You get a press-side photo the day your job runs.
QC and delivery
Every pallet is sampled against the digital proof or physical sample you approved, then shipped with tracking to your dock or 3PL.
If a box doesn't match the digital proof or physical sample you approved, we reprint the run at no charge.
Read the reprint terms →Know exactly what you're ordering.
Kraft Food Boxes Start With Unbleached Pulp
Kraft board is made from wood pulp that hasn't been bleached. That's why it's brown, and why it has the slightly rough, fibrous surface people recognize at a glance. Choosing kraft for food is a decision about the stock itself, and customers read it as packaging kept simple on purpose.
Most buyers are small and mid-sized food producers: bakers, granola and snack makers, delis, sandwich and salad counters, and farm kitchens selling into local shops. Some run one box design across several products and change only a sticker for each flavor. A plain kraft box with a one-color logo is one of the most affordable ways to look deliberate rather than generic, and it suits a range that's still growing.
Food-Grade Kraft Board and Coating Options
The board is unbleached food-grade board, with a coating matched to what goes inside.
| Spec | Detail |
|---|---|
| Stock | Unbleached kraft, food-grade |
| Caliper | 16–24pt for dry and ambient food |
| Hot, oily or wet food | Grease-resistant coating or PE lining inside |
| Heavier packs | E- or B-flute corrugated kraft |
| Recycled content | Available on request |
| Tolerance | ±1/16" (1.5mm) |
Sizes are cut to your product rather than picked from a stock list. Tell us whether the food goes in hot, since that decides the coating. Send the dimensions and we'll build the dieline from them, confirming in writing whether each figure is internal or external.
Choosing Kraft Over Coated White Board
Kraft is the right call when the box is mostly doing a job and the brand is happy with a natural look. It costs less than coated white board, and the artwork tends to stay simple, which keeps setup costs down as well.
It's the wrong call when color has to be exact. A bright red logo comes out closer to brick, and a photograph looks muddy. If your menu depends on bright images, pay for coated board and stop there. For carry-out meals, kraft works well in a gable-top carton, where the handle and the brown board together read as a picnic or lunch box rather than a fast-food container. That pairing suits deli lunches and boxed meals especially well.
Designing for One or Two Inks on Brown Fiber
Good kraft artwork is planned for the stock from the start rather than adapted from a design made for white board.
Dark inks give the strongest contrast: black, navy, forest green and deep red, which reads as brick. Pale colors such as yellow or light blue all but disappear. Ink spreads slightly into the fiber, so keep strokes and small type a little heavier than you would on white. A second color adds contrast without the cost of full CMYK, and solid blocks print more evenly than fine tints. Stickers and stamps are a common low-cost way to mark flavors in a shared box. The proof is printed on kraft, so you judge the real color before approving rather than a screen version.
Bakers, Producers and Kitchens That Pick Kraft
Bakers selling over the counter use kraft for bread, cookies, brownies and pies, where the brown sits naturally beside baked goods. Sandwich and salad shops use it for lunch boxes that go out the door at midday. Granola, nut and dried-fruit producers choose kraft cartons for retail packs on a farm-shop or deli shelf.
Hot food works too. Fried chicken, burgers and roasted vegetables go into kraft with a grease-resistant coating on the inside, and the box handles them the same way a white one would. Caterers use kraft for boxed lunches at offices and events, often with a one-color logo and a sticker naming the contents. Market traders like it because one box design covers most of what they sell.
What a First Kraft Food Box Order Looks Like
Send your product dimensions, or a sample, and a rough idea of the artwork. We build the dieline and confirm in writing whether the figures are internal or external, then send a proof on the kraft stock. Revisions before print are free and unlimited.
Once you approve the proof, production takes 8–12 business days; a rush slot costs extra and is quoted before you commit. Every run passes a three-stage check before dispatch, and if the finished boxes don't match the proof, we reprint them at our cost. A first order can be as small as 100 boxes. The price includes the die, plates and setup, and shipping is part of the quote rather than an extra line at the end.
One connected process, start to finish.
Structural Design
Dieline drafted to your exact fit and freight tolerances.
Proof & Sample
Sign off on a digital proof, or request a physical sample.
Tooling
Dies and plates are cut for your job and archived on file.
Production
Print, die-cut, and assembly run under in-line quality checks.
Ship & Reorder
Freight goes out, and the cycle resets for your next run.
Steady process. Powerful results.
Like everything we build, our process is engineered to hold up — no shortcuts, no surprises. Five dependable stages that run the same way every single time, so reorders are just as fast as the first order.
- One dedicated teamFrom first sketch to final freight, the same people carry your order start to finish.
- Dies archived on fileReorders skip tooling and re-setup entirely — we already have your exact spec.
- Checked against your sign-offEvery run is inspected against the digital proof or physical sample you approved.
Set up your file once, correctly
Nine in ten delayed jobs are delayed by artwork, not production. Match these four rules and your proof lands the next morning.
- Bleed1/8 in (3 mm) past every cut line
- Safe ZoneKeep text 1/4 in clear of every crease
- ColourCMYK or named Pantone. No RGB.
- Resolution300 dpi at final size, fonts outlined
No print-ready file?
Send a logo and a rough idea. Our studio builds the production file free with any order over 500 units — you keep the source file either way.
Ask the StudioBackground art must run all the way to the outer bleed edge. Anything inside the white dashed line survives fold tolerance.
What brands say about this box
They live there rather than here, where we can't edit them, delete them, or pick which ones you get to see. That is exactly what makes them worth reading.
Read all reviews on Trustpilot(opens in a new tab)Answers before you have to ask.
Why does kraft print differently from white board?
Kraft is unbleached, so it absorbs ink into the fiber. Colors dry duller, warmer and darker than your proof, and the brown base shifts every hue on top of it. White coated board holds ink on the surface instead, keeping color accurate.
Are kraft food boxes recyclable?
Yes. Kraft is unbleached pulp and recycles easily, which is part of why food brands choose it. A grease-resistant coating can affect recyclability depending on the type, so tell us if you need to meet a specific standard.
Is kraft suitable for hot or greasy food?
Yes, with the right coating. Kraft is the stock and the coating does the grease work, so unbleached board handles hot and oily food exactly as well as white board. The look is the difference, not the performance.
How long do kraft food boxes take?
Usually 8–12 business days after you sign off the proof. There's a rush lane when a deadline is tight, priced upfront, and shipping comes included along with free design help.
What's your minimum on kraft food boxes?
100 boxes. That suits small producers testing a line as well as established kitchens reordering a staple. Design help is unlimited and free, which matters when working out how color sits on kraft.