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🍱 Selecting Suitable Packaging

Choose the right boxes, insulation, and padding to keep your products safe and intact in transit.

Why packaging matters 

Good packaging:

  • Protects your products during transport.
  • Keeps food at safe temperatures for as long as possible.
  • Reduces the chance of complaints and refunds.
  • Makes it easier for couriers to handle boxes safely.

Step 1 – Understand your product types

Group your products into simple categories:

  • Ambient / room temperature (e.g. biscuits, dry goods).
  • Chilled (e.g. cream cakes, deli items).
  • Frozen (e.g. ice cream, frozen pastries).
  • Fragile or soft (e.g. pastries, decorated cakes, glass jars).

Each group usually needs different packaging, insulation, or extra padding.

Step 2 – Choose the right outer packaging

Use strong, stackable outer packaging:

  • Sturdy corrugated cardboard boxes sized to your products.
  • Avoid boxes that are too large (items will move and can break).
  • Seal all edges with heavy‑duty tape.

Label boxes clearly where needed, for example:

  • “This way up”
  • “Fragile”
  • “Keep refrigerated on arrival”

(Confirm with your carrier whether they honour these labels.)

Step 3 – Protect the contents

Inside the box:

  • Use dividers or inserts for jars, bottles, or cakes so they can’t collide.
  • Fill gaps with padding such as paper, bubble wrap, or food‑safe fillers.
  • Keep items snug so they don’t move when the box is lifted or tilted.

For layered products like cakes:

  • Consider cake boards and inner boxes.
  • Avoid heavy items on top of delicate pieces.

Step 4 – Manage temperature (chilled and frozen items)

If you ship chilled or frozen products:

  • Use insulated liners or thermal boxes.
  • Add the right amount of ice packs or gel packs based on the courier’s transit time.
  • Check how long your packaging keeps items within safe temperature limits — run a small internal test if possible.

Add simple instructions for the customer, for example:

  • “Refrigerate immediately on arrival.”
  • “Best consumed within X days.”

Step 5 – Test before going live

Before offering a new product for delivery:

  1. Pack a few test boxes exactly as a customer order.
  2. Send them to:
    • Yourself, or
    • A colleague at another address.
  3. Check:
    • Product condition.
    • Temperature on arrival (if applicable).
    • Whether anything leaked or shifted.

Adjust your packaging based on what you see.

Step 6 – Keep a packing checklist

Create a short checklist for your team, for example:

  • Correct box size chosen.
  • Inner packaging and padding added.
  • Ice packs added (if needed).
  • Label attached with product name and any storage instructions.
  • Seal checked.

This keeps packing consistent, even when different staff are working.

Can you recommend any packaging suppliers?

We like to act with a conscience and consider our impact. We believe your customers will have this same mindset and appreciate any effort to use sustainable packaging too. We recommend using eco-friendly packaging where possible. Here are some suppliers that offer such services:

And for bespoke branded options, we recommend contacting Chris at Promo Catering who may be able to help:

Chris Cooper, Operations Manager
cooper@promocatering.co.uk , https://www.promocatering.co.uk/