Good packaging has one job: get the bake home looking the way it did when the customer picked it up. You don't need expensive custom packaging to do that.
The one rule: nothing moves
Every packaging failure is the same failure — something slid. The fix costs almost nothing:
- Crumpled parchment stuffed in the gaps of a cookie box beats any insert you can buy.
- A square of non-slip shelf liner (dollar store, cut to size) stops cakes and pies from sliding around in the box.
- Snug beats roomy. A box slightly too small holds better than one slightly too big. Buns should feel tucked in, not rattling around.
What to buy (and what to skip)
Buy: kraft boxes in two sizes, paper bags, parchment, painter's tape, a Sharpie. That's the whole starter kit, and it looks intentionally rustic rather than cheap because kraft always does.
Custom boxes, ribbon and branded stickers can wait. They add cost to every order, so add them once you understand your margins.
Sturdy day-of logistics
Cold bakes hold their shape; warm ones don't. If pickup starts at 4, a cake frosted at 3 is a gamble. Build your bake schedule backwards from the pickup window so everything has its cooling hour.
And for the porch table itself: bags labelled with big first names, in alphabetical order, weighted down if there's wind. Your pickup line moves twice as fast when nobody's squinting at labels — and the order code on each ticket does the rest.
The goal
The customer should get home with a bake that still looks like the photo that made them order it.
