BoxCrisp
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Chicago, Illinois

Custom boxes for Chicago brands

Chicago skews food and beverage, with a strong bakery and confectionery streak. Window cartons and food safe board come up in almost every conversation.
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  • From 100 boxes
  • Free design
  • About 1 to 3 days to Chicago

Minimum

100 boxes

Low enough to test a design properly.

Design

Free

Artwork and a digital proof, every order.

In transit

About 1 to 3 days

Ground, to Chicago, once your run is printed.

Printed in

The US

Vetted US partners. No customs.

On the ground

What shipping to Chicago is actually like

Written for Chicago rather than swapped in. If none of it matches the situation you are actually in, say so and we will price the job you have rather than the one described here.

Getting boxes into Chicago

Chicago sits close to the middle of the country and the freight shows it, at 1 to 3 days on the ground and often a short, low cost ground route to much of the country. If you are choosing between a Chicago fulfilment partner and a coastal one, the boxes are one of the things that gets cheaper here.

What we’d order here

For bakery and confectionery, buy the window. A 70 cent window carton does more work than a printed photograph of the same product, because a picture on a closed box asks the customer to take your word for it and a cutout does not. Specify food safe board rather than assuming it.

Worth knowing

What catches people out

Cold. Board that crosses a loading dock here in January arrives stiff, and stiff board can crack on a fold if it goes straight from a freezing truck to a warm room and gets worked on. Let a winter delivery come up to temperature before anybody starts assembling, particularly with coated stock.

Popular here

What Chicago brands order most

Three formats cover most of what leaves for Illinois. If none of them is obviously right for what you sell, say what you ship and we will pick one for you.

A kraft box with a clear film window in its lid, open, filled with shortbread biscuits

Custom Window Boxes

Let people see the thing they're buying.

From 100 boxes · 95 cents a box

A kraft folding carton used for food packaging

Custom Folding Cartons

The classic retail box, light and shelf ready.

From 100 boxes · $1.05 a box

A plain kraft box with a folded top and a wire carry handle

Custom Kraft Boxes

Natural, recyclable and honest looking.

From 100 boxes · $1.05 a box

Industries

Industries we make boxes for in Chicago

These are the categories that over-index here. Each page covers the sizes, finishes and quantities that industry actually orders.

A white lift off lid gift box printed with a pale blue watercolour pattern and tied with a blue satin bowExample of our print work

Food & Bakery

We use food safe materials and finishes, with kraft and full color options that make your product look homemade or high end, whichever you're going for.

A blue rigid box with its lid off, lined with white satin and holding a printed cardExample of our print work

Coffee & Beverage

Rich, punchy printing on kraft or coated board that makes a bag or bottle feel like a present.

A navy textured lift off lid box tied with a white cord bow, photographed beside dried flowersExample of our print work

Candles & Home

Rigid boxes and snug inserts that survive the courier, finished so the box works as gift wrap on its own.

Straight answers

Questions from Chicago

Including the one nobody else answers honestly, which is whether we are actually in your city. We are not, and the page says so.

Ask us anything

How long does delivery to Chicago take?

Production runs 5 working days from artwork approval, with 3 to 5 of those on press, then roughly 1 to 3 days in transit to Chicago. If you have a hard launch date, tell us the date and we will tell you honestly whether it is possible.

Do you have an office in Chicago?

No, and we would rather say so plainly. BoxCrisp is a US company that works with vetted US manufacturing partners, so your boxes are made and shipped domestically. Everything happens by email and phone, which is how most packaging gets bought anyway.

What is the smallest order you will take?

A hundred boxes, on every format we make. That is deliberately low so a Chicago brand can test a design properly without committing to thousands.

Can you help with the design?

Yes, and it is free. Send your logo and a rough idea, and we will send back a print ready proof before anything is made.

Are the boxes printed in Chicago?

Not usually. They are printed at whichever US partner plant suits the format and then shipped to you, which is roughly 1 to 3 days on the ground. Picking the plant by format rather than by postcode is what keeps the price sensible; a nearer press that is wrong for the job costs more than the freight it saves.

Can you deliver straight to a fulfilment centre?

Yes, and it is the normal arrangement for anyone shipping from Chicago. Give us the warehouse address, any inbound reference or ASN they need on the label, and how they want the pallet built. Tell us early rather than at proof stage, because a 3PL that rejects a delivery will charge you for the privilege.

Does shipping to Chicago cost more than anywhere else?

A little, and the format matters more than the map. Flat formats pack tight and ship cheaply. Assembled rigid boxes are mostly air, so freight on those is a real line on the quote rather than a rounding error. Freight is always quoted separately so you can see which one you are paying for.

What do Chicago brands usually order?

Custom Window Boxes are a good fit for a lot of brands here, and food & bakery is a strong category in the city. That is a starting point rather than a rule: the right format is decided by what goes inside the box, not by the city it ships from.

Can I get a sample pack sent to Chicago first?

Please do, and do it before you commit to a run. The pack is free, shipping is $9.95 flat and comes off your first order, and asking for one takes no card. Board thickness and print finish are the two things a screen cannot show you, and they are also the two things people most regret guessing at.

What happens if a delivery turns up damaged?

Photograph the pallet before you unwrap it and send us the pictures the same day. Transit damage is a claim we make, not one you chase, and a photograph taken at the door settles it in a morning. If the boxes are unusable, they get remade.

Where we ship

We also ship to

BoxCrisp ships anywhere in the lower 48. These are the cities we send the most boxes to, and the cost guide applies to all of them.

Before you order

Let’s make your Chicago box.

Tell us what you ship and roughly how many. We will come back with a price and a free design mockup, usually the same working day.
Get a free quoteGet a free sample pack

Rather just email? hello@boxcrisp.com