Portable Pastry Cake Takeaway Box

The box is folded from one sheet of stiff card, so the sides, the top and the base come from the same piece. The handle is a hole cut in that sheet, which means nothing is added on top of the box. Each corner is held by a tab that tucks into a slot, so the box goes up without tape or a separate lid. Because it is one piece, the whole box lifts together when it is carried by the handle.

The boxes arrive flat, with the folds already creased, so a shop keeps a stack in a drawer. To use one, the sides are opened out and the base is pressed down until it locks. Folded flat, one box takes a fraction of the space it takes when it is built, so a carton holds many more of them. A counter can keep one size folded and another built, and the folded ones are made up as orders come in.

- The tray: paper with a wavy edge, cut to sit inside the box.

- Under cake: the slice stands on the tray instead of on the box base.

- Crumbs: the tray catches what falls off a slice.

- With cookies: the tray lifts them so they do not sit in the base.

- Ordered separately: the tray is bought with the box, not inside it.

- Sizes: the tray is cut for each box size a shop uses.

- A round sticker: laid over the front, in one colour.

- A Thank You label: the words printed on the sticker itself.

- Your logo: printed on the sticker, or on the face of the box.

- The colour: the sticker is cut in a shade that suits the box.

- Unsealed: a box that is opened at the counter does not need one.

- The order: stickers are bought with the box, not inside the carton.

The card is food grade, and it does not carry a smell of its own. The inside of the box is plain paper, so nothing is printed where the food sits. Bread, cookies and a sandwich can go straight in, and the tray is used when the food is soft or iced. The face is plain paper rather than a coated board, so the box folds crisply.

Our factory prints the flat sheets, so a logo goes on before anything is folded. Sizes can be set for an order, from a box for one slice to one that takes a whole cake. The tray and the sticker are quoted with the box, so a counter gets a set that matches. A colour can be run for a brand that wants its own, and the marble finish is one of the sheets we keep. Print is checked on a folded box before the run is packed, so the logo sits where it should on the finished shape.