Standard Commercial Bread Tray Sizes at a Glance
Six primary footprint sizes organize the commercial bread tray market, measured in length by width in inches: 29×26, 28×22, 27×23, 26×22, 23×20, and 20×16. These footprints are the horizontal dimensions of the tray – the lateral space it occupies on a dolly, rack, or conveyor. Depth is a separate selection covered by a different post. This guide focuses on the footprint dimensions and what products they serve.
The 29×26 and 28×22 are the dominant sizes in high-volume commercial distribution. The 26×22 and 27×23 occupy the mid-range. The 23×20 and 20×16 serve smaller-format and specialty applications.
ORBIS publishes the broadest publicly documented size range of any major manufacturer: 16×16, 23×21, 24×20, 24×22, 26×22, 27×22, 29×21, 29×22, 29×26, and additional variants. This range extends well beyond the six primary sizes, covering specialty footprints for markets with non-standard product dimensions or rack configurations.
All major manufacturers – ORBIS, Rehrig Pacific, Drader, Flexcon, Solo Products – produce the core sizes, but each has unique variants. Cross-brand dimensional compatibility is not guaranteed even at nominally identical footprints. Small tolerance differences between manufacturers can prevent trays from a different brand from interlocking correctly with existing dollies or racks in a fleet. This is a practical consideration when purchasing replacement trays or expanding a fleet from a new source.
The 29 x 26 Inch Tray: High-Volume Production and Distribution
The 29×26 is the largest standard commercial footprint and the preferred choice for high-volume bakeries supplying grocery chains and mass merchandisers. More product per dolly load means fewer dolly trips per route stop, which directly reduces labor and delivery time.
The ORBIS NPL660 (29x26x6 inch) holds 12 standard bread loaves per tray. The Buckhorn BA29260684 is another manufacturer’s product at the same 29×26 footprint. Flexcon offers a 29x26x6.5 inch Tall Bread Tray for operations that need slightly more clearance than the standard 6-inch depth. Solo Products offers the ChillTray in the 29×26 footprint in both 6-inch and 9-inch depths, designed specifically for cold storage and freezer-rated transport applications.
The 29×26 footprint requires compatible dolly and rack hardware. Operations adopting this size must verify that their dolly dimensions, rack rail spacing, and delivery vehicle loading configurations accommodate the 29-inch length dimension. Racks sized for 26×22 trays do not automatically accept 29×26 trays.
Baker’s Lane, available through webstaurantstore.com, also sells a 29x26x6 black bread tray as a standard commercial product, indicating broad market availability beyond the major specialist manufacturers.
The 28 x 22 Inch Tray: Mid-Range Versatility
The 28×22 is the second-most common commercial footprint and the dominant choice for mixed-product operations handling buns, rolls, and standard loaves in the same distribution system.
Rehrig Pacific’s 28×22 Stack and Nest Bread Tray is marketed as a multi-level tray with a 2-to-1 nesting ratio, multiple stacking heights, and compatibility with highly automated bakery systems. The reinforced bottom grid and rigid double-wall construction support heavy loads while the multi-level feature allows the operator to adjust clearance height to match product dimensions.
Flexcon offers both a 28x22x5 and a 28x22x7 Stack/Nest Bakery Tray – the same 28×22 footprint in two standard depths to accommodate different product heights. Solo Products offers a Stackable Bread Tray in 28×22 with vented bottom, available in 5-inch or 7-inch depths. The ORBIS BT2722-50 (28×22 footprint) provides internal heights of 4.3 to 5.5 inches, covering the full range of standard bun and roll dimensions.
The 28×22 footprint is compatible with a wider range of dolly and rack configurations than the larger 29×26. Its slightly smaller dimensions make it easier to retrofit into existing logistics infrastructure without modification. Rehrig Pacific also offers a 28×24 Stack and Nest HBB Bread Tray – a variant with a 24-inch width for operations that need a different proportion within a similar length range.
The 27 x 23 Inch Tray: Adjustable Stacking Heights
The 27×23 footprint is specifically associated with adjustable multi-level tray designs that offer variable stacking heights for different product types from a single tray.
The Solo Products Adjustable Bakery Tray in 27×23 footprint uses three stack levels: nested when not in use, bun-level for shallow loads, and bread-level for taller baked goods. Foldable arms lock into each position for secure stacking or collapse to enable compact nesting. The design is freezer-safe HDPE with a ventilated grid bottom and tongue-and-groove corners. This tray collapses the need for two or three different tray SKUs into one asset – the operator selects the height setting at loading time based on what is in the tray.
Flexcon produces a 27x23x6 Bread Tray and a 27.5×23 Bread Basket – the slightly wider variant accommodates product dimensions that fall between standard footprints. The 27×23 size sits between the compact 26×22 and the larger 28×22, serving operations that need more footprint than the standard 26×22 but do not require the full 28×22 tray.
The adjustable height feature of the Solo 27×23 tray is particularly valuable for operations distributing a mix of buns and bread loaves on the same routes, where having a single tray that handles both eliminates the need to sort products by tray type before loading.
The 26 x 22 Inch Tray: Compact Footprint for Tight Spaces
The 26×22 is one of the most widely distributed standard sizes in commercial bakery, serving bun, roll, and smaller loaf applications across retail grocery, convenience, and foodservice channels.
In addition to legacy manufacturer models, newer 26×22 footprint trays such as the SPF bread trays (26.9″ × 22″ with 5.2″ product clearance) are designed with a wider lateral interior to improve pack-out efficiency for bun packs, sub rolls, and wrapped specialty products. Straight 1:1 nesting designs in this size category can also reduce empty return handling time compared to rotational nesting systems.
The ORBIS NPL640 (26x22x6 inch) holds 10 standard bread loaves. The ORBIS NPL650 (27x22x6 inch) also holds 10 loaves – the slight width variation between the NPL640 and NPL650 reflects the tolerance range within the nominal 26-27 inch length category. The ORBIS NPL620B (26x22x3.5 inch) is a single bun basket designed for hamburger buns and rolls at shallow depth.
The 26×22 footprint fits the rail spacing of many standard in-store bakery display racks at grocery stores, making it compatible with retailer display infrastructure that the larger 29×26 footprint may not accommodate. Both Rehrig Pacific’s HBB-26 model and ORBIS’s NPL640/NPL620B models work at approximately this footprint.
Multiple secondary suppliers, including milkcrates1.com and milkcratesdirect.com, carry 26x22x6 inch models from various manufacturers. This broad secondary market availability confirms the 26×22 as a genuine industry standard rather than a proprietary footprint.
The 23 x 20 and 20 x 16 Inch Trays: Small-Format Applications
The 23×20 handles rolls, pastries, and smaller baked goods where a full 26×22 footprint would be unnecessarily large and reduce load density on the dolly. Solo Products produces a 23x20x4 Shallow Bread Tray with a reinforced vented bottom, low-profile design, and nesting for compact storage on carts and warehouse racks. Multiple colors are available for color-coded workflow differentiation. Flexcon also produces a 23×20 Bread Basket as part of their standard bakery container line.
The 23×20 is appropriate for specialty bakeries with smaller production volumes, for operations that need a secondary tray for non-standard products alongside primary larger trays, or for catering and institutional delivery stops where smaller quantities per stop make larger trays impractical.
The 20×16 inch size represents the smallest common commercial bread tray footprint. It is used for individual portion items, pastry display, and specialty contexts. Publicly available manufacturer data for this specific footprint is limited – the size exists in the market but is not a primary product for the major manufacturers. Operations requiring this footprint should contact suppliers directly to confirm current availability and specifications.
Small-format trays at 23×20 and 20×16 also serve catering and institutional food service contexts – hospitals, school cafeterias, and catering companies – where smaller delivery quantities match these tray sizes more naturally than the large-footprint distribution trays.
How to Match Tray Size to Your Product and Workflow
Four steps drive the matching decision from product measurement to tray selection.
Step one: measure the actual footprint of the most common product being transported, including any packaging. The tray footprint should accommodate the product with clearance on all sides for air circulation. A tray exactly the same size as the product with no margin creates tight packing that traps heat and moisture.
Step two: determine how many product units per tray achieve the target throughput per dolly load. The larger the tray footprint, the more units per tray and the fewer dolly trips needed per delivery stop – but only up to the point where the dolly and rack system can handle the tray size.
Step three: verify compatibility with existing dolly, rack, and vehicle loading systems. A 29×26 tray requires dollies and racks sized for that dimension. Retrofitting an existing logistics infrastructure to a different tray footprint involves hardware costs that must factor into the total cost of any size change.
Step four: weigh return logistics implications. A larger tray may improve outbound efficiency but create challenges on the empty return if the nesting ratio for that size is lower or if the return vehicle has different space constraints than the delivery vehicle.
General application guide:
- 29×26: large-volume bread loaf distribution to major retail accounts
- 28×22: versatile mixed-product distribution where one tray handles buns, rolls, and loaves
- 27×23: adjustable-height applications where product height varies across a single distribution route
- 26×22: standard bun, roll, and loaf applications to grocery and convenience retail
- 23×20: specialty and smaller-volume operations
- 20×16: pastry, portion items, and specialty delivery contexts
Capacity Charts: Loaves, Rolls, and Buns per Tray Size
Published capacity data from ORBIS for standard 6-inch depth trays provides the most reliable publicly available numbers:
- ORBIS NPL660 (29x26x6 inch): 12 standard bread loaves
- ORBIS NPL640 (26x22x6 inch): 10 standard bread loaves
- ORBIS NPL650 (27x22x6 inch): 10 standard bread loaves
- ORBIS NPL620B (26x22x3.5 inch): single-layer bun and roll applications
- Solo ChillTray 29×26: 12-loaf capacity comparable to the NPL660
Roll and bun capacity varies by product dimensions and loading method. A 26×22 tray typically holds 24 to 36 standard hamburger buns in a single layer depending on bun diameter, or 12 to 18 artisan rolls of standard size. Multi-level loading using adjustable-height trays can double these counts.
Capacity data for the 23×20 and 20×16 sizes is not available in publicly accessible manufacturer specifications. These sizes serve specialty and smaller-batch contexts where capacity varies by product type and individual bakery requirements. Contact the manufacturer directly with specific product dimensions for accurate capacity estimates.