Whether you’re a small-scale grower selling at farmers’ markets or a large operation supplying major retailers, choosing the right tomato packaging can make all the difference to your product’s shelf appeal, your bottom line, and your sustainability credentials. Here’s a rundown of the most popular tomato packaging formats and who they work best for.
1. Cartonboard Trays
For good reason, cartonboard trays have long been the go-to choice across the tomato industry. Versatile, practical, and available in an impressive range of sizes and formats, they’re suited to everything from vine-ripened beefsteaks to cherry tomato mixes.
One of their biggest selling points is printability. Cartonboard trays can be fully branded with your own artwork, turning your packaging into a marketing tool on the shelf. Whether you’re building a retail brand from the ground up or refreshing an established look, the print quality achievable on cartonboard is hard to beat.
They’re a strong choice for operations of all sizes, whether you’re an independent grower looking for a professional finish or a large-scale packer who needs reliable consistency across high volumes.
2. Microflute Trays
If you love the look and familiarity of a standard tray but need something with a bit more backbone, microflute is worth a serious look. Built with a corrugated structure, microflute trays offer enhanced protection compared to flat cartonboard, making them ideal for tomatoes that need to travel further or spend longer in transit.
Like cartonboard trays, microflute can be printed to your specification, so there’s no sacrifice on branding. The result is a tray that looks smart on shelf while offering the kind of robust support that keeps your product arriving in perfect condition.
Growers and packers dealing with longer supply chains or more delicate varieties will find microflute a particularly compelling option.
3. Recyclable Plastic Punnets
For loose tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and smaller varieties, plastic punnets remain one of the most practical and cost-effective choices on the market. Lightweight and affordable, they keep packaging costs lean while putting the focus firmly on the product itself. The excellent clarity of the material lets the tomatoes speak for themselves.
These punnets are made from recyclable materials, making them a responsible choice for businesses mindful of their environmental footprint without wanting to compromise on functionality or cost. They’re particularly well suited to fast-moving retail lines where competitive pricing and visual appeal are equally important.
Worth noting: plastic punnets are best matched to loose or smaller tomato varieties, rather than on-the-vine presentations which typically benefit from a tray format.
4. Paper Punnets
Paper punnets bring all the practicality of a plastic punnet in a paper-based format, and they’re an increasingly popular choice for businesses looking to align with consumer demand for natural, sustainable-looking packaging.
They work beautifully for the same loose and smaller tomato applications as their plastic counterparts, and carry the added advantage of being printable, so you can incorporate branding, provenance information, or sustainability messaging directly onto the punnet itself.
For farm shops, organic producers, premium retailers, or anyone whose brand story is tied to sustainability and craftsmanship, paper punnets offer a packaging format that feels authentic and considered.
5. Boxes
No tomato packaging line-up is complete without boxes. Used in combination with trays and punnets, they’re the backbone of bulk transit and wholesale distribution, protecting your packed product through the supply chain and ensuring it arrives retail-ready.
But boxes aren’t just about logistics. For operations selling tomatoes in larger retail quantities, 1kg boxes are a popular format that offers a clean, practical presentation working well both in supermarkets and direct-to-consumer channels.
Available in own-brand print or supermarket-specification print, boxes can be tailored to your route to market. Whether you’re a grower supplying a major retailer under their label or building your own brand presence, there’s a box solution to match.
Finding the Right Fit
The right tomato packaging depends on your varieties, your sales channels, your volume, and your brand ambitions. The good news is that the formats above can often work in combination, giving you a flexible, scalable packaging strategy that grows with you.
Get in touch with the Produce Packaging team to discuss your requirements and find the right solution for your operation.
