Your artisanal ice cream is getting freezer burn or looks unprofessional in generic tubs. This damages your product's quality and misses a huge opportunity to build your brand.
To choose the right ice cream containers, use large, durable tubs for back-of-house operations, branded pints and quarts for retail, and perfectly fitting lids to guarantee freshness. Find a wholesale partner with low MOQs.
You’ve perfected your recipes and churned your ice cream with passion. As an engineer, I see the next step—packaging—as part of the product itself. The right container is more than a holder; it's a guardian of flavor and a billboard for your brand. After 21 years of helping creameries of all sizes, I know the smartest packaging choices can be a key driver of your profits. Let me guide you through the essentials of selecting the perfect containers for your business.
When Should You Use High-Volume Ice Cream Tubs?
You're storing your freshly made ice cream, but the containers are flimsy. They buckle when stacked or get soggy in the freezer, creating a mess and risking product loss.
High-volume tubs, from 2.5 quarts to 3 gallons, are the workhorses for your operations. They are used for freezer storage and in dipping cabinets, and must be made from heavy-duty paperboard with a double PE lining.
These large tubs are the backbone of your daily operations; they are not meant for the retail customer. Their main job is efficiency and storage. This is where material science is critical. Ice cream is heavy and frozen solid. The tub must be incredibly robust. I always insist my partners look for two things.
1. Heavy-Duty Paperboard (High GSM)
GSM stands for Grams per Square Meter. In simple terms, it is a measure of the paper's weight and thickness. For a tub that will be handled, scraped, and stacked, a high GSM is non-negotiable. It ensures the tub will not deform or buckle under pressure, protecting your valuable product.
2. Double PE Lining
This is a detail many overlook. A polyethylene (PE) coating on both the inside and outside is essential. The inner lining is obvious—it stops the ice cream from making the paper soggy. But the outer lining is just as important. It protects the tub from condensation and freezer frost, which can weaken the paper and cause the tub to fail. My company engineers tubs specifically for these tough, professional kitchen conditions.
How Can Pints and Quarts Increase Your Profits?
A customer buys a single scoop and leaves. You've made a small sale but missed a much larger opportunity to get your brand into their home and increase their loyalty.
Pints (16oz) and quarts (32oz) are your take-home profit drivers. Custom branding turns them into mini-billboards in customers' freezers, dramatically increasing brand recognition and your average sale value.
If tubs are for your operations, pints and quarts are for your customers' homes. They represent one of your biggest opportunities for growth. A generic, unbranded take-home container is a massive missed marketing opportunity. Your custom-printed pint is your best salesperson. It sits in your customer's freezer, telling your story and displaying your logo every time they reach for a spoon. It turns a one-time purchase into a household staple.
The 16oz pint is the universal size, perfect for impulse buys and launching new flavors. The 32oz quart offers better value, encouraging larger purchases for families or true fans of your brand. The biggest challenge for small creameries has always been the high Minimum Order Quantities (MOQs) for custom printing. This is a problem I wanted to solve. We invested in advanced production lines that allow us to offer industry-leading low MOQs. This makes premium, professional branding accessible to everyone, not just the global giants.
Why Is the Right Lid So Crucial for Ice Cream Freshness?
A customer buys a pint, but when they open it, the top is covered in ice crystals. Your perfectly churned ice cream is ruined by freezer burn before the first bite.
A lid's most important job is to create a perfect seal to prevent freezer burn and leaks. A flat paper lid allows for stacking and branding, and must be engineered to fit its specific container.
A container is only as good as its lid. The lid protects your product from its greatest enemy in the freezer: air. A poor seal allows air to enter the container. This causes moisture to leave the ice cream and form ice crystals on the surface—what we call freezer burn. It completely destroys the creamy texture you worked so hard to create.
I always recommend flat paper lids for take-home containers. They create a perfect surface for stacking in a retail display or a home freezer. They also provide another valuable space for your logo or flavor information. But the most important feature is the fit. I have seen clients try to save a few cents by buying containers from one supplier and lids from another. This almost always ends in disaster. A lid and container are a system. They must be engineered together to guarantee a secure, leak-resistant, freshness-locking seal that protects your product and your reputation.
How Can a Wholesale Partner Help Your Small Business Grow?
You want professional, custom-printed packaging, but manufacturers demand huge, cash-intensive orders. You feel stuck with generic containers that make your premium product look amateur.
A true wholesale partner empowers your growth. They offer low Minimum Order Quantities (MOQs) for custom orders, which helps you look professional, manage cash flow, and launch new products without a huge upfront risk.
For many small business owners, the word "wholesale" is intimidating. It sounds like you need to order tens of thousands of units at once. I believe it should mean the opposite: it should be about partnership. When you look for a supplier, think beyond the price per piece. A cheap container that fails and costs you a customer is the most expensive container you can buy.
The biggest barrier I've seen for artisanal brands is the MOQ. Being forced to use blank containers hurts your brand. This is why we built our business to empower your growth. Our advanced production lines are designed to handle low MOQ custom orders efficiently. This means you can get professionally branded pints without ordering a truckload. You can manage your cash flow better, reduce storage needs, and quickly launch seasonal flavors with matching custom packaging. It allows you to graduate from a small startup to a world-class brand, affordably. That is what a true partner does.
Conclusion
Your ice cream is a work of art. Treat its packaging not as a cost, but as your most valuable marketing tool that protects quality and proudly builds your brand.