I am looking at these as an alternative to white foam containers for my take-out wings and pastas and such. I have found a few sources for them in the 16 and 23 ounce size, which is a good start (US foods is one source). I also found the SmartServ dealies for soups . . . fold over locking lids like the other.
Does anyone A. Know of a really cheap source for unprinted chinese take-out boxes or B. another good affordable alternative (good meaning not pricey and doesn’t sog up the food).
I am calling my friends at the Asian restaurant supply tomorrow to see if I can get a good price from them.
we pre-fry our wings, then sauce/finish in the oven…put 'em in an 8" pizza box w/a liner…
we re-temp our pastas and finish them in the oven as well, in those same 4x6 aluminum containers your asian friends use, but w/a clear top - put that in a 10" pizza box w/garlic knotts & sauce…2 orders, 14" box…
Wrapping the wings in aluminum foil then placing them in a white foam snap container is the best you can do for wings (as far as sog factor is concerned).
In NYC we use aluminum foil containers for entree dishes. The Chinese food places tend to use plastic type containers for saucy dishes and soups or food pail containers for their noodle/rice dishes.
Here are a couple of online stores that have nice images and descriptions that you can use to get some ideas from:
www dot restockit dot com/Containers dot html
www dot webstaurantstore dot com/third152/take-out-containers dot html
Thanks for your time. I have found the 2nd one you gave. I guwess part of the problem I didn’t put int the original post is that cost is a big issue for my search. I pay 11 cents for a foam container that will hold up to 30 or 35 pieces of wing. Paying 35 cents for a plastic or aluminum container for food that I sell for $5.50 (ten wings) is just way too much. I am still looking at other options in pastic, so if you have some, please keep them coming.
The chinese containers I can get around 14 to 16 cents, and could be affordable for the larger (20-40) wing count orders. I am sure everyone has the exact same struggle . . . I am really hoping that there is a brilliant guy somewhere out there who can tell me a different thing than foam is king. If foam is indeed the answer, then I just pile up the landfills with the dead foam containers for a couple more years
Using a 1 quart paper foldover container for spaghetti and meatballs just has a charm to it that I cannot escape. It is something we just think about every now and again.
In case anyone is interested, the 23oz containers came on the truck Friday, and they were too small for much. We MIGHT get 10 of our 6-9 wings in it, but it would be tight. I am looking now for a source now to see a sample of the 32 and 64 oz sizes.
Will keep you posted if anything earth-shattering happens.
I found this company tonight after reading the bottom of my Chinese take-out and thought of you: http://www.gsdpackaging.com/
They claim that their Bio-Pak “vents steam effectively so fried foods don’t get soggy.” Their sales pitch can be found on the “Food Service Profit Solutions” link on the left margin of their site. These containers are also microwaveable. Worth a call to get the details, samples and general pricing. Let me know how they stack-up (no pun intended).
Here’s their contact info for your region (also from their site):
Midwest / South
3961 Cusseta Road
Columbus, GA 31903
706.689.2924 South@GSDPackaging.com
For 10 wings or less we use a 6x6 hamburger container. For 20 and 30 I use 9x9 container. If they are ordered with extra sauce we wrap them with aluminum foil. I use jumbo wings 8/10’s. 50 and more go into a 1/2 steam pan. I sell lots of wings with no complaints.
We currently use the same system. We go to a 12" pizza box wth foil for 50 wings, and a 16" box for 100. We sell lots of wings also with no complaints. I am pushing the envelope to provide a higher quality product for differentiation and value added. With prices going up, I want to show an effort to improve the product as well as bring in more money. I may find there is no improvement that is affordable . . . the quest isn’t over yet.
