Custom Food Packaging Sleeves
A sleeve is the cheapest way to put your brand on packaging you have already bought. Plain trays, tubs, containers and wraps all become branded the moment a printed band goes round them, and you avoid tooling a whole custom carton to get there. We produce a lot of food packaging sleeves at ZEE Packaging and this is the format we recommend most often to operators watching their unit cost.
Food packaging sleeves solve a specific problem very neatly.
- Buy plain stock containers at volume, brand them with a sleeve
- No custom carton tooling needed, so setup cost stays low
- Change the design seasonally without changing the container
- One container size covers several products with different sleeves
- Far less board used than a full carton
- Print quality on a sleeve matches any carton you could order
Most operators come to us for food packaging sleeves after pricing a full custom carton and looking for a cheaper route.
Fit Is What Makes It Work
A loose sleeve looks worse than no sleeve at all.
- Measure the container at its widest point, not at the base
- Tapered tubs need the sleeve sized to where it will sit
- Too tight and staff struggle to apply it at speed
- Too loose and it slides off in a delivery bag
- A glued seam rather than a tuck, since tucks pop open
- Consider whether the container flexes when filled
- Wrap around band the standard format for most food packaging sleeves
- Tapered sleeve sized for cups and conical tubs
- Long sleeve for wraps, burritos and baguettes
- Corner sleeve for sandwich wedges and triangular packs
- Full height sleeve covering most of the container surface
- Insulating sleeve for hot cups and takeaway drinks
Sizes We Print Regular
Every sleeve is built to your container, though these run often:
- 8" x 2" for a standard soup or salad tub
- 10" x 2.5" for a larger container
- 9" x 3" for a wrap or burrito
- 6" x 4" for a sandwich wedge corner sleeve
- 11" x 2" for a hot cup sleeve
- 12" x 3" for a large sharing tub
Send us the actual container. Photographs and stated dimensions rarely account for the taper or the flex when filled.
Board And Food Safety
- Food grade certified stock where contact is possible
- Kraft board, which suits street food and healthy positioning
- White SBS for vivid full colour print
- 14pt to 18pt, since a sleeve needs less caliper than a carton
- Grease resistant treatment where the container gets oily
- Corrugated for insulating hot cup sleeves
Kinder Material Choices
- Recycled board across most grades we run
- FSC certified stock, certificate available on request
- Soy based ink through the whole run
- Uses considerably less material than a full carton
- No lamination, so the sleeve recycles separately from the container
- Right sized so you are not printing more board than you need
How An Order Runs With Us
- 100 unit minimum, so a single site can order properly
- Free 3D mockup and flat proof before anything prints
- Free dieline drawn by our own designer
- Physical sample on request to test the fit on your container
- Urgent turnaround at 5 to 8 business days
- Free shipping worldwide with nothing hidden
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do food packaging sleeves cost?
Rough estimate is $0.04 to $0.14 per unit for a plain sleeve, $0.06 to $0.20 with one colour print and $0.10 to $0.28 for full colour at moderate quantity. Volume moves it a lot. Shipping is included in our price. This is estimate only, so ask our team for a exact quote.
Is a sleeve cheaper than a custom carton?
Considerably, particularly at lower volumes. You avoid carton tooling entirely and use a fraction of the board.
How do we get the fit right?
Send us the container. A tapered tub in particular needs the sleeve sized to exactly where it will sit on the wall.
Will it slide off in a delivery bag?
Not with a correct fit and a glued seam. Tucked seams are what pop open, so we glue as standard.
Can we change the design seasonally?
That is one of the main advantages. Same container all year, different sleeve for each season or promotion.
Do they need to be food grade?
Where the sleeve touches food, yes. On an outer wrap around a sealed container it is less critical, though we would still recommend it.
Can you do hot cup sleeves?
We do, in corrugated for the insulating layer. They print well and cost very little per unit.
