Bakery Bags and Paper Bags for Cafés and Roasters

What bakery bags does a bakery or café counter need?

Most bakeries run on three bag types. One goes over a loaf, one takes pastries and cookies, and one bigger bag takes a mixed order.

Cafés add coffee bags and snack packs for the retail shelf. Roasters and granola makers often skip the pastry bags and go straight to tin tie and stand-up styles.

The everyday bag for mixed bakes is a plain kraft bag with a flat or square bottom. Staff can drop in rolls, muffins or a slice of cake without thinking about it.

Think about the busiest hour of your day. The bag used most in that hour should be the cheapest and fastest to fill. Keep it closest to the register.

If you are setting up a new counter, start with our everyday bakery bags for bread and pastries. Add the specialty styles once you see what sells.

Ten bakery and café bag styles compared

Here are all ten bakery and café styles, with the bake each suits and how it is usually sized. Bakery bags are rarely ordered by a standard number, so most are cut to your bake.

Send us the length, width and height of your largest item in each group. We size the bag around it and confirm the numbers on your quote.

What size bread bag fits a sandwich loaf?

Measure the loaf after it cools, at its widest point. A loaf from a 9 × 5 in pan is roughly 9 to 10 in long and 5 in wide.

Give the loaf an inch of room on width and depth, plus three to four inches above it to fold. Too tight squashes the crust. Too loose lets the loaf slide around.

Rolls and buns follow the same rule. Measure a stack of six or eight, the way customers usually buy them.

Sliced loaves sit taller than they bake, because the slices fan out a little. Measure a sliced loaf too if you sell both.

Our square-bottom bread bags for loaves are sized to your pan, so send us your loaf measurements with the quote.

Bags for baguettes and long loaves

A baguette does not fit a normal bag. It needs a long, narrow sleeve that covers most of the loaf and leaves the end free to carry.

Many bakeries choose a sleeve a few inches shorter than the loaf. Customers grab the bare end, and the sleeve keeps the rest clean on the trip home.

Light kraft or white paper works best here, because the bag wraps closely around the crust. Batards, ficelles and long rye loaves use the same style in a wider cut.

Bakeries that deliver to restaurants often order a second, fully closed sleeve. It keeps a crate of baguettes tidy in the back of a van.

See widths and lengths for our long baguette bags, made to your longest loaf.

Should customers see the bake through the bag?

A clear film window turns a plain kraft bag into a display. Customers see the crumb, the topping or the decoration without opening anything.

Window bags suit bakes that sell on looks, like seeded sourdough, iced loaf cakes and swirl bread. On a grab-and-go shelf they often outsell a plain bag beside them.

Place the window where the best part of the bake sits. A window too low shows the base of the loaf, which is rarely its best side.

Window bags cost more than plain ones, so many bakeries use them only for gift loaves and seasonal bakes.

Plan your print around the window, too. Our window bakery bags with a clear film panel page shows the common layouts.

Bags for single cookies, bars and pastries

Single items need a small flat bag. A cookie, a brownie or a croissant slides in, the top folds once and the customer is gone.

Small flat cookie bags cost the least per unit of any bakery bag. They suit busy counters and school bake sales alike. White paper shows a printed logo crisply; kraft looks homemade in a good way.

Butter-rich bakes such as shortbread and croissants can mark light paper. If that matters for your display, ask about a heavier sheet or a wax paper bag on the same quote.

Bake sale organizers often order cookie bags with a blank panel on the front. Volunteers write the price or flavor by hand on the day.

Browse sizes for our small paper cookie bags, from one cookie up to a short stack.

Packs that stand up on a shelf

Granola, biscotti and cracker packs need a bag that stands on its own on a retail shelf. A flat, box-style bottom does that and gives you a tidy front panel for a label.

These bags fill like a small carton. Measure the pack you want to sell, such as eight biscotti. We size the bag around it.

If your product is loose and pours, compare a box-bottom bag with a kraft stand-up bag. The stand-up style has a gusset in the base that opens out as you fill it.

Shelf packs live or die by the front panel. Keep the brand at the top third, where it shows above the shelf lip.

For baked goods sold in packs, see our flat bottom bakery bags.

How do roasters choose paper coffee bags?

Coffee bags are sized by fill weight rather than inches. Roasters usually give us the fill, such as 12 oz or 1 lb of whole beans. We size the bag to that.

Ground coffee packs denser than beans, so the same bag holds more of it. A bag sized for 1 lb of beans looks half empty with 1 lb of ground. Tell us whether you sell beans, ground or both.

A flat bottom bag looks more like a small box on a café shelf. A simpler flat bag costs less and suits wholesale packs that go straight into a cafe's storeroom.

Leave a strip on the front for a roast label with origin, roast date and grind. Most roasters print the brand and hand-apply that label per batch.

Kraft outers suit a craft roaster look, while white outers take bright labels and full-color print. Compare shapes on our paper coffee bags for roasters page.

Closing a bag customers open again and again

Snack and coffee packs get opened many times. A tin tie is a flexible metal strip glued along the top. It folds the bag shut and opens again by hand.

That makes tin tie bags popular for popcorn, granola, trail mix, dog treats and coffee. Customers roll the top down as the contents drop.

Leave extra height above the fill line so there is room to roll the top. A bag packed to the brim leaves the tin tie nothing to grip.

See fill sizes and paper choices on our tin tie bags for snacks and coffee page.

Treat bags for parties, kits and small gifts

Treat bags are small square-bottom kraft bags. Bakeries fill them with cake pops and mini cookies; party planners fill them with candy and small toys.

They are a common add-on for birthday cake orders, Easter and Halloween bake sales, and school events. Many bakeries print a small logo and sell them by the dozen.

Keep the size small. Three or four items fill a small treat bag and look generous. The same items in a big bag look sparse.

See common sizes on our small paper treat bags page.

How should you print and label bakery bags?

Small bakeries often start plain and use a rubber stamp or a round sticker. It costs very little and lets you change the design every season.

When you print, keep artwork simple and bold on brown kraft. White ink and dark inks read clearly, and our guide to kraft and white paper shows how each prints.

Common printing and labeling mistakes we see on bakery quotes:

• Putting the logo where the fold will cover it.
• Printing a window bag without allowing for the window.
• Using fine script fonts on rough kraft, where thin lines blur.
• Ordering one bag size for loaves, pastries and cookies alike.
• Leaving no space for a handwritten label or price sticker.

How to order bakery and café bags

List what you bake and sell, then group it by bag style. Most bakeries end up with three or four styles on a single quote.

Shelf packs often belong in a different bag from counter sales. Dry goods on a retail shelf may suit our kraft stand-up bags for retail packs better.

1. Choose the styles you need from the table above.
2. Measure your largest bake or pack, or note the fill weight for coffee and snacks.
3. Decide on kraft or white paper, and whether you want a window.
4. Email or upload your artwork, with a count for each bag.
5. Approve the written quote and your free design proof.
6. Bakery bags take 4–6 business days to make. Free, tracked shipping then takes 2–3 business days.