Food Paper Cups

Sort food cups by portion, not by name

The names in this collection overlap. A sauce cup and a portion cup can be the same shape, and a serving cup and a snack cup often hold the same handful of fries. The easier way to choose is to start from how much food goes in, whether it is wet or dry, and whether it leaves the building with a lid on.

A spoonful: sauce and portion cups

Dressings, salsa, ranch, syrup and the extra side of aioli all go in the smallest cups. Paper Portion Cups are the kitchen workhorse here: line cooks fill a sheet tray of them before service so every order gets the same amount. If the cup leaves in a delivery bag, choose a lidded version and keep the fill below the rim. The printed paper sauce cups in the grid suit dipping sauces at wing shops, taco trucks and poke bars.

A handful: snack and serving cups

Fries, popcorn, nuts, churro bites and tasting portions need a cup that stands up on its own and is open enough to reach into. Paper Snack Cups and Paper Serving Cups fill that role. They work at concession stands and fairs where people eat standing up, and on catering tables where small portions keep the line moving.

A meal: soup and bowl cups

Soup, chili, ramen, mac and cheese and oatmeal need a wider, deeper cup that holds heat and takes a tight lid. Soups travel, so the lid fit matters more than anything printed on the side. For grain bowls and salads that need more surface area than height, our custom bowl paper cups give a fork room to work.

Dessert and the odd one out

Paper Dessert Cups hold pudding, fruit cups, parfaits and frozen treats, and they look good on a buffet. Paper Tea Cups With Handles sit in this collection because they suit a hot soup shot as well as tea; the handle means no sleeve is needed.

Food cup comparison

Fill amounts are a guide; we make custom sizes when your portions do not match a standard cup.

Grease, steam and freezer: what the stock has to survive

Food is harder on paper than drinks are. Each kind of food stresses the cup in a different way, so match the stock to the worst thing your menu will put in it.

• Grease. Fries, fried chicken bites and buttered popcorn will mark an uncoated cup within minutes. A coated or greaseproof interior keeps the outside print clean.
• Steam. Hot soup under a closed lid creates moisture on the inside of the lid and the upper wall. A cup with a liquid barrier and a snug lid keeps the outside dry during a twenty-minute delivery.
• Cold and freezer. Dessert cups that go from a freezer to a warm room will sweat. Darker colors and a coated finish hide water marks better than pale, uncoated designs.
• Acid. Tomato-based sauces and vinaigrettes are best in cups with a lined interior so the paper does not soften around the rim.

All of our food cups use FDA-compliant food-contact materials, and recyclable options are available for menus that want them.

Printing a cup people will eat from

Food cups are smaller than drink cups, and they get handled at the rim more than at the sides. That changes how you design them.

• On a 2 oz sauce cup, the print area is about the width of a thumb. A one-color logo is all it needs.
• Soup and bowl cups have more wall to work with; use it for your name and a short line, such as the dish or "hot".
• Keep artwork off the top rim, where lids press down and lips touch.
• Use one design across the whole set. A takeout bag with matching soup, sauce and dessert cups looks planned, and a mismatched one looks like whatever was in stock.
• If you print the dish name, the kitchen can tell orders apart at a glance on a busy pass.

Our design team can adapt your logo for each cup size for free, and the step-by-step order form on this page lets you set size, print and finish before you ask for a proof.

Ordering food cups for a kitchen

1. Write down every item on your menu that goes out in a cup, and the portion for each.
2. Group them by cup: often three sizes cover a whole menu (a sauce cup, a side cup and a soup or bowl cup).
3. Decide which ones need lids and which travel in a bag versus being eaten on site.
4. Choose a stock for the hardest food in each group: grease, steam or cold.
5. Send your logo, approve the proof and request free samples to test fill lines and lid fit with real food.
6. Order from 100 units per cup. Production is 4 to 6 business days after approval, with rush options and free shipping to the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia.

Sauce and portion cups go fastest, so they are usually the first to reorder. Many kitchens order larger quantities of those and smaller runs of soup and dessert cups. When fries or nachos outgrow a cup, the custom food trays collection picks up where the cup leaves off.

Storing and handling food cups in a busy kitchen

Paper food cups nest, so a case of sauce cups takes up little room on a shelf. Keep them sealed in the carton until you need them, in a dry spot away from the dish pit and the steam table, because damp cups lose their stiffness and print can scuff. Many kitchens keep one stack of each size at the line and the rest in dry storage.

Pre-filling is where cups save time. Prep cooks portion sauces and dressings into cups before the rush, lid them, and stack them in the walk-in. If you do this, order lids in the same quantity as cups, or choose paper cups with matching lids, and check that lidded cups stack without crushing the ones below.

Where food cups show up

Food cups are everywhere a full plate is too much. Grocery store sampling stations, brewery taprooms with snack menus, school cafeterias, hospital cafes and food truck rallies all run on small cups. Caterers use them for passed bites at weddings, and sports stadiums sell nachos and cheese in them by the thousand on game day.