Indian takeout bags for Bay Area kitchens. Curry upright, naan on top.

A region that orders Indian food every night

Indian food is everyday food across the Bay Area. Fremont, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Milpitas and San Jose are packed with curry houses, South Indian tiffin spots, chaat counters and biryani kitchens. San Francisco and the East Bay add their own mix, from Punjabi dhabas to modern Indian bars.

A lot of that food goes out the door. Tech campuses order trays for lunch. Families pick up on the way home. Delivery drivers wait by the counter on weekend nights. Every one of those orders is a chance to put your name in someone's kitchen.

The hardest takeout to pack

Curries are liquid. Biryani comes in big trays. Raita, chutneys, pickle and onion salad come in little cups. Naan and papadum have to stay dry. Samosas and pakoras should stay crisp. One family order can have ten pieces, and most of them can spill.

A bag that folds into a narrow point at the bottom makes all of that worse. Round tubs lean, lids pop, and the naan ends up soaked in sauce. You need a flat floor and room on the sides.

Packing order for a full Indian dinner

Our bag has a square bottom 12″ wide and 7″ deep, and 3.5″ side gussets. Use it like this:

• Biryani tray first, flat on the floor: it is the heaviest and the widest, so it makes a level base.
• Curry tubs next, upright, lids pressed: set them on the tray, close together so they cannot slide.
• Little cups in the side folds: raita, mint chutney, tamarind and pickle stand up in the gussets.
• Naan and papadum on top, in foil or a sleeve: dry and away from the sauce.
• Seal the top: a food tamper-evident sticker tells the customer nobody opened it on the way.

The 110 GSM paper and flat handles taped inside carry up to 22 lb, so a dinner for six still goes out in one bag.

Spice colors that print well on kraft

Many Indian restaurant logos use saffron, turmeric yellow, deep red and green. Deep red, dark green and maroon look rich on brown kraft. Saffron and yellow need a dark outline there, or they look great on the bright white bag.

Keep detailed patterns like paisley or mandala borders thick enough to print cleanly. A simple shape and a bold name work better from a car window than fine line art. You get 12 × 14 in on the front, full bleed, and setup is $0 instead of the $150+ many printers charge.

What it costs per dinner

A full box on Subscribe and Save is $85 for 150 bags, so each bag is 56.7¢. The two box bundle is $152 for 300 bags, or 50.7¢ each. On a dinner for four, that is a very small part of the ticket.

Busy delivery kitchens can read our delivery kitchen bag guide. For prices, sizes and proofs for every kind of shop, go to the Bay Area logo printed takeout bags home page.