Custom Drinks Carriers

Sizing Drinks Carriers to Your Cups and Bottles

The cell has to grip the cup low enough to stop it tipping, yet allow the cup to be lifted out without tearing the card. For paper cups we size the hole to the cup's diameter about a third of the way up from the base. Tell us the cup size you use, or better still send an empty cup with its lid, because different suppliers' cups of the same nominal volume can vary noticeably in width.

For bottles, the carrier's dividers should reach at least halfway up the bottle and the base should be strong enough to take the full weight of the set. Glass bottles are heavy, so a six-bottle carrier needs thicker board and a reinforced handle.

If you serve several cup sizes, one carrier sized for the largest cup will often hold smaller cups loosely. A sensible compromise is two carriers: one for small and regular cups, one for large and iced drinks.

Lids matter too. A domed lid on an iced drink adds height and can catch on the handle if the divider is too short or too close. Let us know which lids you use and we will check the clearance on the proof. Our guide on how to measure a cup with its lid explains why the rim matters more than the base.

Board and Construction

Lightweight cup carriers are usually made from a strong folding boxboard or a thin corrugated board. They need to stay rigid when a hot, slightly damp cup sits in them and when the handle is lifted with full cups inside. We choose the board based on your heaviest load.

Bottle carriers use a heavier board, typically a solid board or E-flute corrugated, with the handle formed from a double layer of card so it does not tear. The base is often a crash-lock style that springs into shape when the carrier is opened, which speeds up assembly at the counter.

A light coating on the printed side resists drips and condensation from cold drinks, keeping the carrier presentable for the whole walk back.

Think about storage behind the counter as well. Flat carriers stack neatly under the till or on a shelf, but bulky pre-formed trays eat space quickly. Our carriers stay flat until the moment they are needed, so a busy barista can open one with a single movement and drop the cups straight in.

Printing and Branding Ideas

The central divider and handle panel is the biggest printed area and the one people see most. Put your logo there, large and simple. Side panels can carry a pattern, your social handle or a short line about what makes your drinks different.

Coffee shops often match the carrier to their cups so the two look like a set. Juice bars and breweries use bright full colour artwork to get noticed in a fridge or on a market stall. If you sell bottled drinks wholesale, a printed carrier turns a group of bottles into a gift pack that can sit on a shop shelf.

Kraft board with one-colour black print is a popular, low-cost look that suits independent coffee shops. White board gives brighter colours and suits smoothie and bubble tea brands with vivid branding. The same artwork can run on takeaway boxes with your logo for food orders.

Who Buys Printed Drinks Carriers

Our carriers are used by coffee shops and cafes, juice and smoothie bars, bubble tea shops, sandwich shops with drinks deals, bakeries that serve hot drinks, office caterers and event coffee carts. Craft breweries, cider makers and soft drinks brands use bottle carriers for retail packs and gift sets, while farm shops use them to sell local juices in multiples.

Delivery-led businesses find them especially useful. A carrier keeps drinks upright inside a delivery bag and stops a whole order being ruined by one tipped cup. Breweries selling canned beer to go use can carriers for breweries in the same board.

Post Us an Empty Cup With Its Lid

Carrier cells are cut to the cup, and cups from different suppliers vary by a few millimetres, which is enough to make a carrier loose. The simplest route is to post us an empty cup with its lid for each size you sell, or send the rim diameter, base diameter and height. Tell us how many drinks go in each carrier and whether bottles are involved, because glass needs heavier board, full-height dividers and a double-layer base. If you sell pastries with coffee, ask for a side pocket. Cafés that are short of counter space usually keep a printed paper cup in matching artwork and a flat-packed carrier rather than a bulky pre-formed tray.

Send the cup or bottle sizes, the drinks per carrier and your artwork, and a custom quote comes by email within one working day. The free proof shows the flat carrier with the cells and the handle. Production takes 4 to 7 working days after approval, carriers arrive flat by tracked courier to UK mainland addresses, and misprinted or damaged carriers reported within 10 days are reprinted or refunded.