Printed Paper Sauce Pots for Takeaways and Delivery

Takeaways that need sauce pots

Almost every takeaway sends out a dip of some kind. Burger bars add mayo and relish, curry houses add chutney and raita, and sushi counters add soy and pickled ginger.

Sauce is often the reason a customer picks one shop over another. A signature garlic sauce in a printed pot reminds them whose food they ordered when they reach for the menu again.

Dessert sellers need them too. Waffle and crêpe shops send chocolate, toffee and fruit sauces in pots so the dessert stays crisp until it is eaten.

• Burger and chicken shops
• Curry houses and kebab shops
• Pizza takeaways sending out garlic dips
• Sushi and poke counters
• Churro and doughnut stalls with chocolate sauce
• Salad bars sending dressing on the side

Why the lid matters most

A sauce pot that pops open in a delivery bag ruins the whole order. Fit is the first thing to get right, long before the print.

Each pot size has its own rim, and each needs its own lid. We quote the pot and lid together for every size so the pair always matches.

Press the lid down all the way round, not just at the front. Most spills we hear about come from a lid seated on one side only.

When lids run low, you can ask for extras on a separate quote for the same pot size. Our range of fitted paper lids explains the styles we make.

Matching pot size to the sauce

Sauce pots are sized by how the sauce is eaten. A dip for chips needs less than a dressing poured over a whole salad.

Most takeaways settle on two sizes. A 2oz pot for everyday dips and a 4oz pot for pouring sauces covers almost every menu.

If you charge for extra sauce, pot size becomes part of your pricing. A clear 2oz and 4oz split makes the menu easy to read.

Colour-coding flavours

Busy kitchens mix up sauces, and customers complain when they get the wrong one. Printing each flavour in its own colour solves that quickly.

You might print chilli pots in red, garlic in white with a green band, and barbecue in brown. Staff grab the right pot without reading a label, and customers know which is which before opening.

One artwork file with the colour swapped keeps costs sensible. We can set up the versions for you as part of the free design help.

Printed lids can carry the colour instead of the pot. That way one plain pot fits every flavour and only the lids change.

Printing a sauce pot

A sauce pot is tiny, so think icon rather than full logo. A short brand name, a symbol or a flavour word is all the wall can carry clearly.

Full colour CMYK or Pantone print can go on one side of the pot, both sides or all the way round. Printed lids give a second, flat space that faces up in the bag.

Our step-by-step cup design guide covers minimum text sizes, which matter even more on a pot this small.

Ordering sauce pots

Sauce pots are priced from £0.25 per cup, with each size and lid set out in a written quote. Use the sauce pot quote form to get started.

1. Tell us the pot sizes and how many flavours you need.
2. Choose printed pots, printed lids or both.
3. Share artwork in AI, PDF, EPS, SVG, PNG or JPG, or ask for free layout help.
4. Approve the free digital proof once each flavour version is right.
5. Pots go to print for 4 to 6 working days, then travel tracked for 2 to 3 working days.

Packing sauces for delivery

Fill pots to just below the rim so the lid has room to seat. A pot filled to the brim pushes sauce out as the lid goes on.

Pack pots upright in the bag, next to the food rather than on top. A heavy box resting on a lid is how most pots get squashed.

On busy nights, fill the most popular dips before service and keep them chilled. Lidded pots stack two or three high in a fridge, which saves space on the pass.

• Leave a few millimetres below the rim
• Wipe the rim before closing
• Seat the lid all the way round
• Keep pots upright and away from heavy boxes
• Group pots by order on the pass, not by flavour

Sauce pots alongside your cups

Sauce pots look best when they match the rest of your packaging. If your chips go out in a printed cup, use the same colours on the dip.

Snack and chip cups pair naturally with a 2oz pot tucked inside. Our printed paper snack cups have room for a pot to sit in the top.

A matching pot and cup also photograph well together. Customers who share their meal online show your name twice in one picture.

Sauce pots or portion cups

Sauce pots and portion cups look alike, but sauce pots are made for travel with a lid that fits. Portion cups are more often used open, for sides and samples eaten on the premises.

If you need both, our paper portion cups for sides cover the eat-in work while sauce pots handle delivery.

Mistakes with sauce pots

Ordering pots without checking the lid fit is the biggest error. Lids from one supplier rarely suit pots from another.

A second mistake is printing a full logo with small text on a 2oz pot. It turns into a smudge, while a single bold word stays sharp.

Third, kitchens often under-order. A single burger meal can use two or three pots, so pots run out long before cups do.

Finally, avoid pale inks on kraft pots. A light yellow or pastel almost disappears on brown board.

• Pots and lids bought from different places
• Detailed logos on a tiny wall
• Too few pots for the number of meals
• Overfilled pots that leak under the lid

Sauce pot delivery and reprints

Sauce pots and lids are delivered free to the UK, and you can track every parcel.

Faulty print or a damaged carton? Tell us within 10 days of delivery and include photos, and we reprint or refund the pots concerned.