Opening a Takeaway? The Complete Packaging Shopping List

A new UK takeaway needs packaging for six stations: main containers, sides, sauces, drinks, cutlery, and carrier bags — plus napkins to finish every order. The fastest way to open without over-spending is to buy shallow across all six, match the container to your actual menu rather than a generic list, and only commit to bulk cases once a fortnight of trading has shown you what sells. If you would rather not build the list item by item, a ready-made Takeaway Starter Pack covers the core in one order.

Infographic coming soonThe six packaging stations for a new takeaway laid out as a shopping list — mains, liquid mains, sides and sauces, drinks, cutlery, carrier bags — with napkins flagged as the item every order needs.

What follows walks the whole list station by station, then shows how to estimate opening quantities without tying up cash you will need elsewhere.

Start from your menu, not a checklist

The most expensive mistake a new takeaway makes is buying packaging that does not fit the food. A burger van and a curry house need completely different containers. A generic "takeaway kit" bought online often leaves you re-ordering in week one. So before you buy anything, write your menu down and sort each item by how it travels: dry, greasy, saucy, or genuinely liquid. That one sorting exercise decides most of your container choices.

Dry and greasy food — burgers, fried chicken, kebabs, chips — is happy in kraft boxes and food trays. Saucy food — curries, stews, pasta — needs lined boxes filled to about 80% so the sauce has headroom. Genuinely liquid food — soup, dhal, saucy noodles — needs a proper lidded pot, not a folded carton. Get that match right and you avoid almost every leak complaint before you open the doors.

The six stations, and what each one needs

Here is the full day-one list, organised by the station it belongs to. Buy something in every row before you open, and scale the quantities to your menu.

Mains containers

This is where most of your packaging spend goes, so it is worth getting right. Pick two or three box sizes that match your most common portions rather than one "medium" that fits nothing well. Kraft boxes are the workhorse for boxed meals; food trays suit chips and fried sides; clamshells suit plated servings. If any main is saucy, choose a lined grade — unlined board softens under gravy. Our takeaway boxes range covers the standard sizes, and the kraft box sizes guide explains which size maps to which portion.

Sides, sauces and dips

Every dip, chutney, slaw or extra sauce needs its own pot. Portioning sauces separately is the cheapest single upgrade to a takeaway order — it stops the main dish arriving drenched, keeps allergens apart, and lets you upsell extras cleanly. A 2oz to 4oz sauce cup covers most dips; keep a larger size for portioned curry sauce or dressing sold as an add-on.

Drinks

If you sell any drinks, split cold from hot. Clear cold cups show off soft drinks, juices and iced coffee and pair with straws or dome lids. Hot drinks need insulating hot cups — single-wall with a sleeve for lower volume, double-wall if coffee is a core line. Match lids to cups at the point of buying so you are never left with cups and no lids.

Cutlery and napkins

Anything eaten on the go needs cutlery, and every order needs napkins. Wrapped cutlery meal packs keep things hygienic and speed up bagging because the set — fork, knife, napkin — is already together. Add a stack of serviettes on top; they double as void-fill that stops containers sliding in the bag.

Carrier bags

The bag is the first thing your customer holds and the last piece of your packaging they judge, so do not treat it as an afterthought. Handled paper carrier bags in two sizes — one for single meals, one for family orders — cover most trading. Keep the UK carrier bag rules in mind and check gov.uk for the current position on charging, which varies by nation and business size.

Buy a starter pack, or build your own?

For a brand-new kitchen the honest answer is usually: buy a starter pack for the core, then add the two or three menu-specific items yourself. A Takeaway Starter Pack gets your boxes, bags, cutlery and napkins landed in a single order at a sensible opening quantity, which saves both the research time and the risk of buying five cases of the wrong thing. You then top it up with the specialist pieces your menu demands — soup pots for a curry house, larger clamshells for a grill, extra sauce cups for a wings shop.

Build-your-own makes sense once you know your numbers, because you can right-size every line and chase the best case price. On day one, before you have any sales data, the starter pack is the lower-risk route.

Estimating opening quantities without over-committing

The temptation at launch is to buy deep on everything, since bulk cases are cheaper per unit. Resist it. Cash tied up in ten cases of a box you end up not using is cash you cannot spend on ingredients or marketing.

Diagram coming soonOpening-quantity tiers — fast-moving core stock at two to three weeks, menu-specific items at one to two weeks, uncertain lines at the smallest available quantity — shown as a stepped depth-of-stock chart.

A sensible opening rule of thumb:

• Fast-moving core (your main box, carrier bags, napkins): buy roughly two to three weeks of your best guess.
• Menu-specific items (soup pots, larger clamshells): buy one to two weeks, then re-order against real demand.
• Uncertain lines (a size you are not sure you need): buy the smallest quantity available and test it.

After a fortnight of trading you will know your genuine sellers. That is the moment bulk pricing pays off — you commit deeper only on the lines you have proven, at the lower per-unit case price. Our bulk deals page is built for exactly that second order, once guesswork has become data.

Branding: a launch decision, not an afterthought

You do not need custom-printed packaging to open, and plain kraft looks clean and considered. But it is worth deciding your branding direction at launch rather than a year in, because a custom stamp on plain bags and boxes is a low-cost way to look established from day one. Start with a rubber stamp or sticker on plain stock, and move to printed runs once volumes justify the minimum order.

Open with the core, then scale on the winners

The complete opening list is short once you organise it: mains containers, liquid pots, sauce cups, cold and hot cups, cutlery, carrier bags, and napkins. Buy across all of it shallow, match every container to how the food actually travels, and let two weeks of trading tell you where to buy deep.

Range Pack supplies the whole list in case quantities, delivered UK-wide with free delivery over £40. Start from the Takeaway Starter Pack if you are kitting out a new kitchen, browse the full shop to build your list station by station, or check the bulk deals page for the best per-unit pricing on your proven sellers. For the wider picture on formats and materials, see our complete takeaway packaging guide for the UK, and if your menu is saucy, read the best packaging for curry and saucy dishes and our notes on packaging for the delivery apps.