Not only are these bowls and containers leakproof, stackackable and extremely durable, they can be reused – extending their lifespan beyond single use.
Fill these takeaway cartons with hot, cold, wet or dry food — everything in this collection has a specialised inner coating that’s impervious to grease, oil and moisture.
With our ever-expanding range of sandwich bags, you can now choose from cold sandwich bags or hot food bags which are grease resistant and breathable to keep those paninis and toasties from going soggy.
These activity bags can be used to keep the little ones entertained while your diners eat in, but they can also be used as an exciting takeaway lunch bag, with room to pop a sandwich and some snacks inside.
We have a style of cutlery for every taste. Our great quality, eco-friendly cutlery range is made from renewable and sustainable materials including birchwood, sugarcane bagasse or paper.
To complement our range of sustainable takeaway packaging, we now stock condiments in sachets that are all packaged in certified compostable, plastic free paper.
Designed for the cold drinks market, there’s plenty of biodegradable lid styles to choose from, including flat lids, domed lids or lids with sip holes.
Our takeaway packaging case studies show you how we’ve helped major brands and retailers customise their branded packaging to suit their offerings and company image.
We have a team of talented food packaging designers who can create impactful and eye-catching bespoke packaging from scratch or using your existing assets.
We’re not your average takeaway packaging supplier. We go above and beyond to provide a selection of additional services to exceed your expectations. Just like our branded takeaway packaging, our additional services are flexible and tailored to your individual needs.
As a business owner, you know how vital it is to give your customers a positive and memorable experience. There’s no better way to show your dedication to exceptional service than by providing eco-friendly packaging.
This can make looking for sustainable disposable coffee cups a little tricky since there’s such an extensive range of drinks packaging to choose from.
This guide will help you pick the perfect coffee cups for your café, coffee shop or drinks stall, or any other business selling hot and cold beverages. Let’s get started!
Grande, venti… large? Naming coffee sizes can be complicated. That’s before you get into the types of coffee you may offer, from macchiatos to frappuccinos.
No matter what kind of hot drinks you’re serving, you need the right size coffee cups to suit your drinks menu. This will ensure your customers won’t be left disappointed with their selection — something eclectic coffee names can get in the way of.
Here’s a simple guide to coffee cup sizes for different kinds of coffee:
Each of these designs is available in various sizes. If you like a particular style, you can get multiple sizes for your entire selection of beverages.
Check out ouronline shop and discover a full range of eco-friendly coffee cups.
Different Types of Disposable Coffee Cups
Once you’ve figured out which size packaging you need for your beverages, it’s time to think about the design that’s most appropriate for your menu of drinks — and your budget.
We’ve outlined the most popular styles of coffee cups below, from our most cost-effective packaging to more elaborate and up-market designs:
These cups are made of single-layer paperboard and are best suited to cold drinks. If you’re using these to serve hot drinks, it’s a good idea to pair them with a coffee cup sleeve and even a cautionary message. Simple but effective, these affordable takeaway coffee cups are a popular product choice for eco-conscious businesses on a budget.
Our best-selling coffee cups, double wall designs offer maximum insulation and have immense structural integrity. They’re ideal for hot drinks and are still cost-efficient since customers won’t need a sleeve for hand protection. If you opt for a branded coffee cup, your design will appear bold and bright against the white upper and lower rims.
This design offers similar benefits to double wall coffee cups and will keep your customer’s coffee hotter for longer compared to single-wall cups. The textured surface of these takeaway coffee cups provides excellent insulation and offers more grip, making carrying hot drinks a breeze, even on cold, wet and windy mornings.
You can add branding to each of these coffee cup designs to maximise your presence and exposure. Get in touch for a free design quote.
Disposable coffee cups feature a lining to prevent leaks and spills. If no lining was present, liquids would be absorbed by the packaging and render your coffee cups useless.
The lining of coffee cups can be crafted from different materials. The application of these materials affects the way that coffee cups should be disposed of:
Compostable coffee cups feature a lining made from PLA (polylactic acid), a compostable and biodegradable material. PLA provides a natural, glossy, liquid-resistant barrier. It’s heat resistant too, so it’s ideal for use with hot drinks.
Plus, PLA is a naturally occurring substance, so it’ll break down into organic compounds when it degrades — a process that takes around three to six months under the right conditions.
It’s a more environmentally friendly choice compared to plastics, which take centuries to decompose and degrade into microplastics, especially if they’re disposed of in general waste and end up in landfills.
Opt for PLA-lined coffee cups if there aren’t any recycling points in your customers’ vicinity. Compostable and biodegradable cups don’t cause as much damage to the environment as plastic-based receptacles even if they’re discarded in general waste.
Recyclable coffee cups are crafted with a PE (polyethylene) lining and have a glossy finish on the inside and outside of the packaging. These cups are perfect for hot drinks but are even better for cold or chilled beverages. If condensation forms, the excess moisture won’t be absorbed and spoil the packaging — these coffee cups will stay strong even at cold temperatures.
The internal PE coating prevents liquid from soaking through the wall, while the glossy external coating prevents condensation from moistening the outside of the cup.
Use these cups if there are plenty of recycling points available in your area. Nearly all homes and businesses have recycling points too.
Reusable coffee cups have skyrocketed in popularity over the past few years. Many popular coffee houses have incentivised customers to bring their own receptacles, but this isn’t always convenient.
Plus, reusable coffee cups need to be used up to 250 times before they can be deemed environmentally preferable to disposable cups. That puts a lot of undue pressure on consumers to remember their reusable cup when leaving the house.
So what are the benefits of using single-use coffee cups?
There are three undeniable advantages:
Convenience — As mentioned, disposable cups offer a level of convenience that reusable beverage containers cannot match.
Variety — Multiple sizes and designs make serving various drinks straightforward for businesses and enjoyable for consumers.
Disposability — When paper coffee cups have been used, they can easily be recycled or composted, domestically or commercially.
Since paper cups are made from natural materials, they’re inherently biodegradable. They don’t cause as much harm to the environment as synthetic products — even if they’re thrown away in general waste, they’ll degrade hundreds of years faster than any kind of plastic.
We created a beautiful design for Miss V’s, an independent coffee shop in Cornwall. These coffee cups with lids feature an impressively detailed design that’s both elegant and eye-catching.
The colour design contrasts nicely with the lid and the bottom of the double walled cup, but the real ingenuity is in using sustainable materials. Every aspect of the cup can be recycled, in turn, reducing plastic waste and providing Miss V’s patrons with a caffeine kick — one that doesn’t come with a bad environmental aftertaste.
Interested in branded packaging for your business? Get in touch for a free design quote.
Eco-Friendly Accessories for Hot Drinks
Since the UK banned plastic straws and stirrers in 2020, paper and wooden alternatives have taken their place. There are several essential coffee cup accessories you need to provide a completely eco-friendly service:
Probably the most important to your hot drinks selection are coffee cup lids. Our lids perfectly fit our coffee cups to help prevent leaks and spills, making transporting your hot takeaway drinks risk-free.
We have a selection of compostable cup lids made from bagasse — a natural by-product of sugarcane harvesting — designed to fit our range of paper cups. Each cup lid will fit various cup sizes to make things easy.
If you’re using single wall paper cups to serve hot beverages, coffee cup sleeves will prevent your customers from burning their hands when you serve them their drinks.
These eco-friendly sleeves can be branded and used in conjunction with plain paper cups, allowing you to include advertising or promotions, creating cost-effective branded packaging.
Iced coffees are best enjoyed with a straw. Paper straws make an adequate replacement, but biodegradable straws made from PLA are more sturdy and would be well-suited to frappucino-style drinks.
Wooden stirrers are ideal for customers who want to sweeten their drinks with sugar or add milk.
For orders of multiple hot drinks, our sturdy cup carriers hold up to four beverages. Also available as a two-cup carrier, their cardboard construction makes them completely recyclable and compostable.
They’ll help prevent spills in the car or walking and are particularly useful at festivals or outdoor events.
Eco-Friendly Branded Coffee Cups
Want more from your drinks packaging? Branded paper cups provide a visually appealing and cost-effective way to promote your business.
Alongside our comprehensive standard eco-friendly coffee cups, we can fully customise your packaging to promote your brand. We use water and vegetable-based inks to create deep, vibrant colours, making your packaging stand out sustainably.
Want to add your logo or artwork to these coffee cups? Get in touch for a free design quote and let us help you create awesome branded coffee cups.
Did you know that we can brand compostable coffee cups?
Compostable Coffee Cups are no different to regular Coffee Cups, they are just lined with a different material called PLA.
What is PLA?
PLA, short for polylactic acid, is a 100 percent biodegradable and compostable material that we use to line our coffee cups. The material itself is made from a substance found in plants.
The Process
If you’re buying your branded coffee cups from us, the process is very straightforward!
Step 1: Initial Concepts & Details
The first step is easy, we simply need to know the size and style of the cup you are after, i.e. 12oz Double Wall Cup or 4oz Single Wall Cup. We will also need to know the quantity you are looking to buy, the larger the quantity, the cheaper the price per unit!
Step 2: The Design
You’ll be please to know that we offer a comprehensive design service, this covers anything from a simple logo placement to full hi-resolution artwork. If you already have your artwork, that’s great! We can also use your artwork to produce your coffee cups.
Step 3: Ordering
Once you are satisfied with the design, we will produce your compostable coffee cups. Please note that lead times do vary*.
Step 4: Delivery
Once your cups have been produced we can deliver these to you as and when and as you wish. We can stock hold for up to 3 months dependent on your usage*.
The Starbucks logo is a globally recognised icon and one which surrounds the household name.
A familiar face to crowded high streets with a calming-green background, it’s undeniable that Starbucks coffee cups stand out from the crowd… or is it?
Is it really fair to say that a plain white cup with a green logo jumps out of any picture or view and meets your eye instantly?
Probably not.
What is true, is that when you do see that green logo with the siren/maiden/lady thing, it’s unmistakably ‘Starbucks’.
Last December, and piloted initially in the US, Starbucks launched a packaging campaign so great they gained the highest number of video views that season for their campaign advert:
Over 76 million views in under 1.5 months!
They beat all other brands across the whole period of Thanksgiving through to New Year 2018!
How?
They made their already iconic cup unusual and exciting.
Starting with an initial concept for the design of the holiday-season coffee cup, the cup featured seasonal, warming outlines of images of Christmas and merriment; wrapped presents, snowflakes and coca, all nestled around the Starbucks logo.
Credit: Starbucks
Their short video, below, simply explained that you can “make the holiday your own” then featured the newly designed cup changing colours – you design your own!
The cups in the advert feature all different colour schemes, vibrant and bold.
Even if the cups were coloured in terribly, they would be an object of humour and still likely standout.
Artists and within-the-lines-perfectionists would have really gone for it, only for the cup to then serve as a work of art and, you guessed it, free, ‘boosted’ advertising for Starbucks!
The campaign ticked all the boxes for the consumer; interaction and engagement with the product/brand, something different, something exciting (adults get to be big kids), and most of all, something personal.
Top Tips For Standout Packaging
As with Starbucks, doing something different to other people similar to you, will go a long way towards making you standout.
Though no longer trading, Californian-based bakers The Crazy Good Bread Co, are an example of a company whose packaging stood out because it was unusual:
Doing something slightly ‘against the grain’ will help you to get your packaging noticed, and that includes packaging your bread in a weird card holder thing.
Staying ahead of the curve is another way for your packaging to to stand out.
At a time when environmental concerns have never been higher, ensuring that you fully embrace the green/eco-friendly approach to waste and packaging will serve you really well.
Given that there are many, many businesses yet to do so, you will establish your brand as a conscious and progressive company that listens to its customers and considers carefully its own ethos and attitudes – this is a powerful consideration that certainly doesn’t go unnoticed.
Have a think about keeping it simple.
An effective way to make your takeaway packaging stand out from the crowd is to strip back your packaging.
Consider simple paper-wrapping techniques fastened and sealed with a sticker featuring a strong logo.
Stickers can be custom designed with your logo and the simplicity of the packaging will seem intriguing in its modesty and harks back to a more traditional approach to packaging takeaway food.
If you’ve got some ideas that you’re not sure of or you’re looking for inspiration to build on an already outstanding packaging concept then get in touch with our in-house design time who will be happy to bounce some ideas around and offer some advice.
Coffee shop owners are under increasing pressure to prevent the majority of their disposable coffee cups ending up in landfill sites.
The need for change in the packaging industry and the handling of packaging waste has never been greater.
So far we’ve witnessed the likes of coffee giants Starbucks and Pret A Manger offering a discount of up to 50p to customers who bring in their own reusable coffee cups.
Importantly this will allow takeaway coffee vendors to take control of the situation themselves rather than relying on their customers to share the sentiment and bring in their reusable cups.
We believe that this is where the real changes can be made.
Outside of the coffee industry, global retailers are also starting to take note of the demand for a greener approach to packaging.
According to the charity Greenpeace, Coca-Cola are one of the worst offenders when it comes to environmentally harmful plastic packaging waste with an estimated 110 billion plastic bottles being produced and wasted each year!
The bottles are the most commonly found item on the ocean floor and amongst the debris during beach clean-ups.
To address this problem, Coca-Cola have pledged to collect and recycle all of its plastic bottles by 2030.
The supermarket chain Iceland has revealed plans to remove all plastic packaging from its produce by 2023.
McDonald’s, the world’s largest restaurant business, has committed to ensuring that all of its packaging will come from sustainable sources by 2025.
This is all part of a global initiative to solve a global packaging problem.
The world’s largest producers of plastic and other materials harmful to the environment must adhere to new laws and regulations imposed on them to reduce waste; the PM Theresa May has pledged to ban all avoidable plastic waste in the UK by 2042.
While these regulations may differ for smaller businesses, it is important that you do not get left behind as consumers are getting savvy and environmentally conscious.
Perhaps that most encouraging aspect of this global shakeup and endeavour to reduce waste is that the need for change is being demanded by the customers.
After all, just 1 in 400 cups are recycled, which is less than 0.25%, and as many as half a million coffee cups are littered each day in the UK.
With more brands striving to be environmentally conscious, the compostable coffee cup is without doubt the right choice for any takeaway coffee business.
Unlike standard coffee cups which can’t be easily recycled due to their polyethylene (PE) lining, our compostable coffee cups are manufactured in either single or double wall and lined with polylactic acid (PLA).
PLA is a biodegradable plastic which is derived from renewable sources such as corn starch and sugar cane.
As part of our #TakeawayPackagingForChange campaign, we aim to convert all our existing customers to biodegradable and compostable food and drink packaging by 2020.
Consider your own approach to waste and how your use of packaging might be contributing landfill sites.
Get in touch to find out how we can help you to make the transition to recyclable packaging, your customers will love you for it!
The new year is underway and everyone is drinking more coffee to get them through the day.
Here at Takeaway Packaging our eyes are wider than ever and, though still Winter, we’ve certainly got a spring in our step.
You see, we like to road-test all our products in order to provide first-hand knowledge and advice to our customers.
This means we know just what it’s like to drink coffee from a Double-Wall cup versus a Ripple Cup and what that’s like over a Compostable Cup.
We’ve been drinking a LOT.
We have drawn the line at tastings of different coffees in the same cup (mainly for health reasons), but it has got us thinking (mainly in bed, late at night, unable to sleep), where in the world does the very best coffee come from?
What follows is a low down of the best (and most expensive) coffees the world has to offer.
As a benchmark for price, Starbucks’ House Blend retails at £3.50/200g bag of beans.
Blue Mountain Coffee – Jamaica
We start our journey 5,000ft above sea level in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. These mountains are famed for their rare, small-batch coffee plantations.
The beans undergo a meticulous process of grading and sorting which ensures quality consistency.
As an indication of this coffee’s rarity, the annual yield of Blue Mountain beans is about 0.1% of the coffee produced in Columbia, and nearly 80% of the produce is exported to Japan.
Because the plantations are so high, they are exposed to an abundance of heavy rainfall which contributes to enhanced growth.
All this rain makes for a particularly pulpy, fleshy fruit (referred to as the cherry) which gives this coffee bean it’s famous balanced and mild flavour.
Best price we’ve found: £40 /200g
Kopi Luwak – Indonesia
Coffee snobs will have definitely been expecting this one, and possibly those with a passion for the, different.
Luwak coffee undergoes a very ‘special’ process in order to become the well-loved, revered and expensive coffee that it is.
The coffee fruit is eaten by wild, free-to-roam Asian palm civets. If you don’t know what a civet is, here’s a scientific description: it looks like a cross between a cat, a mongoose, a weasel and a racoon.
Once the civet has finished chomping on the bittersweet fruit, the fruit is fermented inside the civet’s stomach during digestion.
The next step, if you haven’t already guessed, is retrieving the leftover coffee bean… from the feces.
It’s this delicate and time consuming process that makes this coffee so unique. Once roasted the end result is a sweeter-tasting coffee having been altered by exposure to the chemicals which aid the civet’s digestion process.
Best price we’ve found: £64 /200g (Watch out for less ethically farmed varieties where the civet is not wild or free-to-roam)
Hacienda La Esmeralda (Geisha) – Panama
When someone speaks of coffee plantations, Panama is seldom the country that gets a mention. Rather, Panamanian coffee seems somewhat an unusual concept altogether.
Far west in Panama, the region of Boquete is home to highland, jungle-esque plantations responsible for some of the most expensive coffee beans on record.
What’s more, this Geisha variety of bean has cleaned up at nearly every major global coffee tasting awards.
Not only does it taste great but production is truly epic. Picking the coffee fruit is no walk in the park, instead it is back-breaking and tedious work.
Coffee pickers have to fight steep highlands, slippery slopes, heat, fire ants and snakes!
All this for an hourly wage of just over £1/hr.
Similarly to Blue Mountain coffee, growth is promoted by frequent rain which is enjoyed by the coffee plants for nine months of the year.
When not raining, shade is sorely needed as protection from the sun and this is afforded to the coffee plants by guava trees.
The yield is small and the production slow. The result is a very expensive coffee, but every self-proclaimed coffee connoisseur should strive to try it.
Much like Kopi Luwak, here we have another coffee that undergoes an extra special process.
This time, however, the coffee bean is ‘refined’ by the Thai elephant!
Chiang Saen, the northernmost region of Thailand, where the country intersects Myanmar and Laos, is where Black Ivory coffee is made.
Part of what makes this coffee so extremely expensive is that the producer uses the very Panamanian Geisha beans described above.
The elephants are looked after extremely well by their Mahouts and they live a good life.
When the beans are ingested by the elephants it can take anywhere between 15 to 70 hours for the coffee to be digested and excreted.
As with the civet, an enzymatic reaction takes place in the stomach of the elephant.
Digestive acid breaks down the bitterness-causing protein in the coffee fruit.
Less protein equals less bitterness.
In general, herbivores utilize a lot more fermentation to digest their food which is great because it helps to bring out the sugar of the coffee and impart the fruit of a cherry into the bean.
Best price we’ve found: £162 /200g (USD$1,100/kg)
That’s over 46 times more expensive than the Starbucks House Blend.
Bear in mind that all of these prices are a retail price for beans. Price per cup at a cafe would be on another level!
Happily, the animal-dung process for creating sippable delicacies isn’t exclusive to the coffee world.
Tea-drinkers can now rejoice in the knowledge that a they too can get in on this recycled-goodness. There have been some exciting plans in China to produce organic green tea which has been consumed by a panda bears.
Watch this space.
So whether it’s gone in and come out, drink in or drink out, talk to us about the best way to serve your coffee with our wide range of takeaway coffee cups.
Our bespoke design service means that your takeaway coffees can look as weird and wonderful as the coffee inside!
The new year is upon us, time to make changes to your packaging for 2018.
Through a combination of our extensive industry knowledge (Takeaway-Packaging-inner-genius) and consulting a very large crystal ball in our office, we’ve been considering what will be in store for takeaway packaging in the next 12 months.
This article will tell you everything you need to know to have the trendiest packaging going!
In short, we’ve compiled the four major trends that are set to catch the eye of your customers in 2018. Here’s a run-down of creative ideas for those purchasing takeaway packaging which will ensure your packaging stays bang-on trend and ahead of the game.
Nostalgia – Old Fashioned & Retro Packaging
It’s not hard to notice the huge wave of throwback design currently happening.
All of a sudden shell suits, knitting, flares and dodgy hair is back in fashion and while that’s going on everyone is sipping ‘craft’ gin or prohibition-style cocktails. There’s still an insatiable appetite and desire to indulge in a bygone era.
People yearn for the past because they are seeking greater individuality which existed in times of less competition. You should aim to pander to this feeling.
Is it, perhaps, that what we’re all searching for is some integrity in our product choices and what we consume? Maybe a side-step from mass-produced crowded markets?
Nowadays many of us favour the ornate, we look for craftsmanship, the handmade and skilled approach.
This is showing no signs of slowing in the 12 months to come.
It’s this consumer preference that really encourages the personality of a brand to come to the fore. Companies must differentiate themselves and display their personalities through patterns and detailing on their packaging.
Let’s not forget, care and attention to detail on the packaging speaks volumes about the deliciousness of the food or drink on the inside. Do judge a falafel wrap by its packaging!
Stuck for ideas? Think paisley print, Dickensian sideburns, pictures of bicycles and moustaches.
Textured Packaging & Labels
Texture on packaging and labelling is soaring in popularity and demand. This is because it includes other sensory feelings before contact is even made with the packaging contents.
In many cases texture plays a vital role in both style and function.
A perfect example of this and one that is guaranteed to set off your hot drinks on the right track in January is our very own Executive Paper Coffee Cups. These use an eye-catching, trend-setting, two-tone grid design and ultra-firm ribbing which looks and feels great, even before you’ve tried the coffee!
Emboss, deboss, textured paper, textiles, whatever you choose, it’s bound to get bigger in the new year.
Check out our range of textured packaging.
Environmentally Focussed & Renewable Sources
Consumers and brands have become ever more environmentally conscious.
There is an increasing availability of renewable materials which also helps to promote their use. Those purchasing takeaway packaging can now get hold of more obscure materials such as wood fibres, shrimp shells, mushrooms or sugarcanes to replace harmful polymers.
Safe and responsible packaging is the go-to option for consumers who are concerned about the environment and who want to have greater control over their waste.
Of particular concern at the moment is the terrible issue of plastics in the ocean.
Last month, the Independent reported “around eight million tons of plastic makes its way into oceans each year, where it gets eaten by fish or birds. More than a million seabirds and 100,000 sea mammals die annually from getting caught in or swallowing the waste.”
To combat this the Chancellor is considering a tax on takeaway packaging with particular regard to single-use packaging. This follows the charge on plastic carrier bags.
Raising awareness is one thing but attacking the problem at its source is the only way that the problem will be resolved which is why the rise of zero-waste initiatives are driving the trend in eco-packaging.
Browse through our selection of green packaging options to consider how you can help.
Minimalist Design
Our final trend spot which has entered onto the radar more recently is the minimalist approach to packaging design.
In many cases, we’ve seen a surge of packaging with ultra-minimal imagery or even the stripping away of graphic elements entirely.
Many brands are opting for a cleaner, ‘essentialist’ look which avoids noisiness and excessive information.
This theme is rife throughout the takeaway industry already and definitely looks set to stay as we’ve found that a number of brands want to customize just their labelling and leave the rest of the packaging plain, letting the material speak for itself.
Consider how you can adopt these trends into your packaging arsenal. A good brand and logo should cater for a versatile approach to packaging.
Get in touch for expert advice on choosing the right packaging styles to suit your company making 2018 your trendiest year yet!
Shoal, a traditional British seafood restaurant nestled in Winchester, came to the team at Takeaway Packaging in search of bespoke twisted-handle paper bags and specialised fish and chips boxes.
The government banned single-use plastic packaging in October 2023. These changes directly impacted the food service industry — read on to find out if your business is affected. You’re no longer allowed to use polystyrene food packaging and plastic cutlery. Instead, you are required to use eco-friendly alternatives. Fortunately, plenty of sustainable options are available, like bagasse clamshell food containers and biodegradable cutlery.
Pubs have evolved to be more than just alehouses, and the time of the gastropub is well and truly upon us. Your locals are now award-winning Indian restaurants, stonebaked pizza joints and delicious fish and chip shops. Menus are diverse, and in some cases, rival even the fanciest Michelin-star restaurants.
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