A plain comparison of the materials this site's packaging is made from, what each is normally used for, and the questions that decide it. No specification guesswork, and no performance claims we cannot verify for your exact product.
How to use this guide
Customers usually arrive here after deciding what they are selling and how they sell it. Material is the next question, and it is a narrower one than it first appears: most products rule out most materials on their own.
Read the family that matches your product, then check the confirm line underneath it. That line is the one that matters, because it names what we verify against your specification rather than assume from the material name.
The material families
Six families cover the packaging on this site. Each entry names what the material is, which products here are made from it, who it tends to suit, and what we confirm before you order.
Paper and paperboard
The most common material in food service, because it is light, printable across a large flat surface, and familiar to customers.
Made into
Hot cups and cold cups
Soup and salad containers
Takeout boxes and clamshells
Napkins, bags and sleeves
Usually suits
Businesses whose packaging carries the brand on a flat printed panel, and whose product is dry or served within a short window.
What we confirm
What the paper needs to withstand in your specific case, and whether a lining matters for your product, are confirmed against your specification.
Containers pressed from sugarcane fibre left over after juice extraction. Rigid, with a formed shape rather than folded panels.
Made into
Takeout clamshell containers
Compartmented food containers
Bowls and lidded food service formats
Usually suits
Takeout and delivery operations that want a formed, rigid container rather than a folded box.
What we confirm
Heat and moisture suitability depends on the exact container and the exact food. Both are confirmed against your specification rather than assumed from the material family.
Buyers often start from the material they already have in mind. It is usually more useful to start from the product and let the material follow, because four practical questions eliminate most options before aesthetic preference comes into it.
What is going inside it
Weight, shape and how the product behaves decide more than anything else. A saucy sandwich and a dry pastry do not place the same demands on the same format, and neither is decided by which material is cheaper.
How long it has to hold up
Packaging that travels through delivery sits in a bag and waits at a door, which is a different situation from a container handed across a counter.
How it is sold
Counter service, delivery, retail shelf and online each put the brand in a different place. Retail wants a front panel that reads at arm's length. Delivery wants a container that survives the trip.
What you want customers to see
Transparent drinkware shows the product, which is why it suits a juice bar. Paper carries a printed design across a large flat panel, which is why it suits a brand-led café.
What we confirm before you order
This is the part of the guide that exists because of what we will not do: publish a specification for your product that we have not checked against it.
Properties we verify rather than assert
Whether a material resists grease, tolerates heat or cold, suits a particular food or works in a freezer depends on the exact material in the exact container for the exact product. A statement that is accurate for one sheet or one container is not automatically accurate for another, so these are confirmed against your specification instead of stated here as though they were universal.
Heat and cold suitability for your specific product
Grease and moisture behaviour in the context you are using it
Which lid matches which container
Whether a lining or an alternative material suits your product better
Whether your artwork reads correctly once it is printed on the material you have chosen
On environmental claims
Wording like compostable, biodegradable, recyclable or eco-friendly has to be true of the exact product you receive and in the jurisdiction you sell in, because those claims are regulated rather than decorative.
This site does not apply those words to a product as a general description. If a specific environmental property matters to your business, tell your specialist which one and why, and it will be confirmed for the product you are ordering.
Once the material family is roughly settled, these pages cover the questions that come next: how to size the format, how a lid is matched to a container, and how to work out how much to order. If you already know the family you want, flexible pouches and glass bottles and jars are the two formats that come up most often for retail food.
Tell us what you are packaging and how it is sold. A specialist will confirm the material and format against your product, and you will receive a free digital mockup before anything is produced.
