Custom Empanada Boxes

Sizing Around the Half-Moon

Empanadas vary a lot. A baked Argentine empanada is often around 120 to 140 mm across and quite plump, while cocktail empanaditas for catering can be half that. Cornish-style pasties and Jamaican patties, which many of the same stalls sell, are longer and flatter.

Measure your largest pastry across the curve, at its widest point and at its tallest point, then add around 10 mm each way. That allows for natural variation from batch to batch and leaves room for a napkin or a small liner. For sharing boxes, lay the pastries out on a table in the arrangement you want and measure the whole group.

If you sell several fillings, a box that holds them in a row with the crimp facing up lets customers see which is which, especially if each filling has its own crimp pattern.

Height is easy to underestimate. A well-filled baked empanada can stand taller in the middle than at the crimp, and a lid that presses on the peak will flatten it and smudge the glaze. Allow enough depth that the lid clears the highest point by a few millimetres. Our measuring guide for custom packaging covers domed and irregular food shapes.

Telling Customers What Is Inside

On a busy stall, fillings get mixed up. Many traders print a simple key on the inside of the lid or the side panel, matching crimp patterns or a small stamp to each filling: beef, chicken, spinach and cheese, ham and cheese. That saves explaining each one at the counter and helps people order again.

Alternatively, a plain box with a round sticker for each filling keeps stock simple while still labelling the order. We can print matching stickers or labels alongside the boxes, so the colours sit together.

If your stall serves chimichurri, salsa criolla or other sauces, a small die-cut slot in a sharing box holds a lidded pot upright so it does not tip over the pastries. Long, narrow items such as sausages in pastry use the slot layout from the hot dog boxes with sauce slots.

Board and Print Choices

White food-contact board shows bright colours and illustrations best, which suits stalls with a strong, colourful identity. Kraft board looks rustic and hides minor grease spots, a good fit for bakeries and market traders. Corrugated board in a thin flute adds insulation and strength for delivery boxes that might sit in a rider's bag.

Full colour print works well for patterned designs inspired by tiles, textiles or street art. One or two colours on kraft give a hand-stamped feel at a lower cost. A water-based coating on the inside helps resist grease without a glossy plastic look.

For delivery apps, remember the box is often photographed by the customer before they eat. A lid print that looks good from above, with your name large enough to read in a phone photo, turns each order into a small advert. Inside the lid is a good spot for your social handle or a reorder code, since it is seen at exactly the moment someone is enjoying the food.

Ordering for a Market Stall

Stalls usually have little storage, so flat-packed boxes that nest are a must. We deliver them flat with clear fold lines, and a quick test with your team shows how many you can fold before service. Some traders order two sizes, a single and a sharing box, and keep the design identical so the stall looks tidy.

Think about the busiest hour of your week. If your boxes fly out during a Saturday lunchtime rush, you need those boxes folded and stacked before the queue forms, not folded one by one as orders arrive. Styles with a crash lock base or a single tuck fold in seconds and are worth the small extra cost for high-volume stalls.

Keep a few boxes back for the next order’s proof. When you come to reorder, a physical box in hand makes it easy to spot anything you want to change, such as a larger vent, a deeper base or a brighter colour for night markets under string lights. The guide to how custom box pricing works explains what a sample run costs against a full order.

Measure the Peak of the Crimp, Not the Base

Empanadas are taller at the crimped edge than in the middle, and a lid sized to the centre will flatten the crimp and smudge the glaze. Bake a typical batch, stand one on its base and measure the highest point of the crimp, then the length from tip to tip. Add 5 mm to the height and 10 mm to the length, decide how many go in each box, and tell us if the box is eaten from at a bench or carried home, because that sets the vents and whether a lid is needed at all.

A custom quote follows by email within one working day with low minimums quoted per job and simple items from £0.25, so a stall can order a few hundred for a season. Production takes 4 to 7 working days after you approve the free proof, and free tracked delivery to UK mainland addresses usually takes 2 to 3 working days; boxes that arrive misprinted or crushed are reprinted or refunded if reported within 10 days. Pastries wrapped rather than boxed for a quick sale suit the printed wrapping paper for hand-held food instead.