Food Packaging Supplies NZ: A Straight-Up Buyer's Guide

Step 1: Start with the food, not the packaging

Every packaging decision starts the same way. What are you putting in it, and how does it need to arrive?

Hot food needs ventilation or it steams itself soggy. Cold food needs a snug fit or it shifts in transit. Saucy food needs grease resistance. Dry food — think fries, donuts — needs something breathable but still presentable.

Write down your top five menu items. For each one, note: Is it hot or cold? Does it have liquid or grease? Is it eaten in-store, taken away, or delivered? That list is your packaging brief. Everything else follows from it.

• Pizza: corrugated board box, vented lid, sized to the pizza not the box range
• Burgers: clamshell box or wrap, grease-resistant lining essential
• Sushi: clear lid container so the product sells itself
• Hot chips / fried chicken: paperboard box or tray with ventilation
• Bubble tea / cold drinks: PP cup with a flat lid for wide straws, or a domed lid for regular straws

Step 2: Understand your material options

Not all packaging is made the same. Here's what's actually on the market in NZ and what each material does well.

Corrugated board — the go-to for pizza boxes. Double-wall construction holds heat, stacks flat, takes a logo well. Heavier than paperboard but worth it for anything over 30cm.

Paperboard / kraft board — burger boxes, noodle boxes, chip trays, sandwich wrap. Lighter than corrugated. Works for shorter transit times. Often lined with PE or PLA for grease resistance.

Sugarcane bagasse — made from the fibrous waste left after sugarcane processing. Microwave-safe, compostable where industrial facilities exist, handles wet food well. Good for bowls, plates, and clamshells.

PLA (plant-based plastic) — looks like clear plastic, technically compostable under industrial conditions. Useful for cold cups and deli containers. Not suitable for hot liquids — it softens around 60°C.

PP and PET plastic — workhorse materials. PP handles heat (microwave-safe grades exist), PET is crystal-clear for cold display. Both are recyclable via kerbside in most NZ councils, but check your local scheme.

Aluminium foil containers — brilliant for oven-to-table catering, roast meals, and anything that needs to stay hot for a long time. Heavy-gauge options withstand being reheated.

Step 3: Compare your options side by side

Here's a plain comparison of the most common formats Kiwi hospo operators choose between.

• Pizza box — corrugated vs kraft: Corrugated wins for any pizza over 10 inches. Kraft is fine for smaller personal pizzas or calzones where you need to keep costs down.
• Burger box — clamshell vs wrap: Clamshells look sharper for dine-in and delivery. Wraps are faster at the counter and cheaper per unit. If your burgers are tall, check the clamshell internal height before you order.
• Hot drink cup — single-wall vs double-wall: Single-wall needs a sleeve or customers burn their hands. Double-wall costs more per unit but removes the sleeve cost and looks cleaner.
• Cold drink cup — PP vs PLA: PP is more durable and cheaper. PLA is compostable but can't go in a hot car or a heated display. Know your setup before committing.
• Bowl — bagasse vs paperboard: Bagasse handles wet or oily food better and is genuinely compostable. Paperboard bowls need a liner for wet food or they'll leak. For poke bowls, ramen, or curry — bagasse is worth the small extra cost.

Step 4: Sizes, quantities, and avoiding dead stock

Ordering the wrong size is the most common (and most expensive) mistake. A pizza box that's 2cm too wide for your shelf costs you storage. A burger box that's 1cm too shallow crushes your build.

Measure your actual product before you order. Height matters as much as footprint. If you've recently changed your burger stack or added a new topper, recheck your box dimensions.

On quantities: wholesale minimums exist for a reason. Buying in volume drops your per-unit cost significantly. But buying 12 months of stock in one go ties up cash and storage. A practical starting point for most operators is 4–8 weeks of forecasted usage per SKU.

Keep a short list of your highest-volume lines and your lowest-volume specialty items. Order the high-volume stuff in bulk. Order specialty items more conservatively until you've confirmed the product sticks on your menu.

Orders on stocked lines placed before 4pm on NZ business days dispatch same day. Plan your reorder point so you're not calling us on a Sunday night.

Step 5: Compliance and sustainability basics

New Zealand has phased out a number of single-use plastic items. As of current regulations, the following are banned from sale or supply: single-use plastic straws, stirrers, cutlery, plates, and expanded polystyrene (EPS) food and drink containers. If you're still using any of these, you need to switch now.

For sustainability beyond compliance, the practical options are:

• Switching to paper straws or reusable stainless options for bubble tea and drinks
• Using bagasse or recycled-content paperboard for hot food containers
• Moving to PET or PP containers that are kerbside-recyclable in your customers' areas
• Offering a small discount for customers who bring their own cup — not a packaging decision, but it reduces your volume

Be careful with claims on your packaging. Saying something is "compostable" when it requires industrial composting that your customers don't have access to is misleading. Keep your claims specific and accurate.

What to do next

You've got your product list, your material shortlist, and your size requirements. Here's how to move forward.

Browse the Frankly catalogue by category — pizza boxes, burger boxes, cups, containers, bags — and filter by size. If you know your product dimensions, you'll find the right fit quickly. If you're unsure, our team can help you narrow it down.

For first-time wholesale orders, start with your top three highest-volume packaging lines. Get those right, reorder with confidence, then add more SKUs once you know what works in your kitchen.

If you need custom printing — your logo, your brand colours, a specific design — that's a separate conversation with longer lead times. Check our custom print page for minimums and timeframes before you commit.

Ready to browse? Hit the button below and start with the category that matches your biggest packaging need.