How Do You Choose the Right Ice Cream Cup for Your Business?

Choosing the right ice cream cup¹ feels overwhelming. A bad choice can lead to soggy cups, wasted product, and missed branding opportunities², hurting your business and your reputation.

To choose the right ice cream cup¹, you must focus on four key areas: selecting the right material, offering the correct sizes for portion control³, using custom branding⁴ as advertising, and providing smart eco-friendly options⁵.

The perfect scoop of ice cream deserves the perfect cup. In my 20+ years of manufacturing, I've seen thousands of businesses succeed by understanding that the cup is more than a container. It is your brand's first handshake with a customer. It controls your costs, shows your quality, and carries your story out into the world. The choices can seem complex, but they follow a simple, logical path. Let me walk you through my ultimate guide to selecting the perfect ice cream cup¹.

What Is the Best Material for an Ice Cream Cup?

You serve a customer a scoop, but the cup gets soft and weak in their hand. This bad experience makes them question the quality of your expensive ice cream.

The best material is a strong, food-grade paperboard⁶ (high GSM) with a waterproof lining. You can choose a cost-effective PE (plastic) lining or a compostable PLA (bioplastic) lining for an eco-friendly message.

As an engineer, I always start with the foundation. The material of your cup determines its performance and its safety. It comes down to two simple parts.

The Paperboard: Your Cup's Body

The body of the cup needs to be strong. It must be made from high-quality, food-grade paperboard⁶ so it doesn't bend when you scoop hard ice cream into it. The thickness and premium feel are measured in GSM (grams per square meter). A higher GSM means a stronger cup. We only use 100% virgin wood pulp paperboard because it is the strongest and safest, with no unknown recycled materials.

The Lining: The Waterproof Barrier

The invisible layer on the inside is what does the hard work. This waterproof barrier stops the cup from getting soggy. The two industry standards are PE (Polyethylene), which is the most common, reliable, and cost-effective plastic lining, and PLA (Polylactic Acid), which is a plant-based bioplastic that can be commercially composted. We are experts in both technologies, so you are free to choose the one that fits your brand and budget.

How Do You Choose the Right Ice Cream Cup Sizes?

Picking cup sizes⁷ feels like a guessing game. If you choose wrong, you can hurt your profits by giving away too much ice cream or disappoint customers with small portions.

A successful sizing strategy offers a small (3-4 oz), medium (5-8 oz), and large (12-16 oz) option. This covers everything from a single scoop to a take-home pint, creating clear value tiers.

Choosing the right sizes is a business decision that controls your profits and keeps customers happy. Over the years, I've seen that a simple, tiered approach works best for almost every ice cream shop. You don't need a dozen sizes; you just need the right ones for the right jobs.

• 3-4 oz (90-120 ml): The Taster. This is the perfect size for a "kiddie scoop," a single sample, or for serving very rich, high-cost gelato⁸. It's a great way to control costs on your smallest serving.
• 5-8 oz (150-240 ml): The Standard. This range covers the classic "single scoop" or a generous double scoop. The 5oz and 8oz sizes are the most popular choices for most ice cream parlors and frozen yogurt shops.
• 12-16 oz (360-480 ml): The Take-Home. These larger sizes are ideal for big sundaes with lots of toppings, milkshakes, or for packing pints and quarts that customers can buy to take home. This is a key way to increase the size of a sale.

As your manufacturing partner, we can provide every size you need, along with perfectly fitting lids to make sure your take-out orders are secure.

Why Is Branding on Your Ice Cream Cup So Important?

You use a plain white cup. It does the job, but it is a missed opportunity. Every customer who leaves your shop could be advertising for you, but they are not.

A plain cup sells ice cream once. A custom-branded cup is a walking advertisement that builds brand loyalty and brings in new customers. It turns a simple purchase into a memorable brand experience.

In a crowded market, your brand is what makes you different. A custom-branded cup is one of the most powerful and cost-effective marketing tools⁹ you can have. Think about it: every customer becomes a mobile billboard for your business. They carry your logo and your colors with them, showing them to friends, family, and all of their social media followers. A beautiful cup can make the ice cream feel more special and premium. This is why I made it my mission as a factory owner to make custom printing accessible to everyone. We invested in advanced Heidelberg printing presses that deliver rich, vibrant colors and sharp logos. More importantly, our flexible production lines allow us to offer custom printing with very low Minimum Order Quantities (MOQs). This means that even a small, new shop can have professional branding that competes with the big chains. My "Good Client" team will even help you make sure your design is perfect for printing.

What Are the Smartest Eco-Friendly Options for Your Cups?

Customers today care about the environment. They ask if your packaging is sustainable, and you need a good, honest answer that aligns with your brand's values.

The smartest eco-options are offering compostable PLA-lined cups where commercial composting exists, and ensuring all your paper cups, whether PE- or PLA-lined, are made from FSC-certified, sustainably sourced paperboard.

Showing that you care about the planet is a powerful way to connect with modern customers. But it's important to be honest and smart about your choices. There are two main ways to offer a great eco-friendly story.

The Compostable Story: PLA Lining

As we have discussed, PLA-lined cups are a great choice for a clear green message. They are designed to be sent to a commercial composting facility where they break down and return to the earth. This is a very powerful marketing story, but only if your local area has this kind of facility.

The Sustainable Sourcing Story: FSC Paper

This is a detail that I am very proud of. FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification is a guarantee that the paper comes from forests that are managed responsibly. This protects the environment and the people who depend on the forests. The best part is that this applies to all good paper cups. Every single cup we produce at HAOKELAO, whether it has a PE or PLA lining¹⁰, is made with FSC-certified paper. This means that no matter which option fits your budget, you can tell your customers that your packaging starts with a commitment to a healthier planet.

Conclusion

By focusing on these four pillars—material, size, branding, and eco-options—you can design the perfect cup to delight customers, build your brand, and grow your business successfully.