Station 1 of 6 Choose and buy
Bread Trays for Artisan Bakeries: Special Requirements for Small-Batch Operations
Contents: 6 sections
A small bakery needs a handful of trays, possibly in more than one depth, that fit the racks and shelves it already has. Buy from channels that sell single trays or small cases, choose each depth by the clearance your tallest loaf needs, space irregular loaves so crusts do not touch, and pick one footprint you can keep as you grow.
This page is about trays for moving, storing and delivering baked bread. Baking pans, baguette pans and proofing baskets are baking equipment and are not covered here.
Where can you buy twenty trays?
| Channel | What it looked like (checked September 26, 2026) | Minimum | Fits when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurant supply retailer | ORBIS NPL620B 26 x 22 x 3.5 inch bun tray at "$17.99/Each" on WebstaurantStore | "You must buy a minimum of 4 due to manufacturer packaging." | You need a few trays of a known model now |
| Stock supplier | Solo Products ChillTray 29 x 26 x 9 inch at $31.03 | Order minimum of $200 | You need freezer-rated or deeper trays in small numbers |
| Maker direct | Quote on request | Set by the maker; ask | Your quantity reaches the maker's minimum, or you need custom colors or marks |
| Used trays | Varies by seller | Varies | You can inspect before paying and buy the same model you run |
Sources for the table: WebstaurantStore, ORBIS NPL620B; Solo Products, bakery trays and ChillTray. Prices change; recheck before ordering. These are examples of channels, not recommendations.
Buying used can stretch a small budget, but price the trays on what passes inspection and make sure you can trace the model; how to do both is in the used-tray section of the pricing page linked from the buyer’s framework.
Which depth does each product need?
The one whose clearance fits your tallest unit of that product with the tray above not touching it. Measure several of your tallest loaves, compare them with the clearance the maker states for each stacking position, and run a loaded-stack test with real product before you buy more than a sample. Boules with a high dome and tall batards may need a deeper tray than rolls or baguettes; one depth for everything wastes space on short products and crushes tall ones. How to read clearance and run the test is in matching tray clearance to your tallest loaf.
Some trays have two stacking positions, so one model can serve two clearances. Check both positions against your products; the lower one may be too short for large loaves.
How do you keep irregular loaves from damaging each other?
With space and a single layer. Round and oval loaves roll and shift, and crusts that touch in transit mark each other. Load fewer loaves per tray than the floor could hold, with clear space between them and from the walls, and keep one layer per tray. For crusty bread that travels unwrapped, a vented floor gives moisture a way out of the base, which is worth a side-by-side test with your own loaves; for moisture, bagged bread does not need one. Move loaded trays gently, and keep stacks level and braced in the vehicle.
What about trays customers see?
Display trays are a separate choice from the trays you bake for and deliver in. What a display tray needs, how to decide between one set and two, and how display trays fit food codes are set out in choosing display trays and deciding between one set or two. If a supplier’s certification comes up, it is one route to meeting your local food code’s equipment rules, not a separate federal requirement; the documents to ask for are in what compliance paperwork a tray should come with.
When should a small bakery standardize its trays?
When trays start leaving the building. As long as trays stay on your own racks, a mix of models is an inconvenience. Once you deliver to cafés or shops and trays ride in vehicles and come back, mixed models stop stacking and locking reliably, and every new customer adds trays to count. At that point:
- Pick one footprint that fits your racks, your vehicle and the customers’ shelves.
- Pick one model in that footprint, or two depths of the same model family if they stack together, and test them together.
- Add trays with the matching dolly or rack, not trays alone.
- Retire odd trays from delivery and keep them for in-house use.
Which trays should an artisan bakery buy first?
A sample of one model in the footprint your racks take, in the depth your tallest product needs, bought in the smallest quantity a retailer or stock supplier allows. Test it with real loaves, stacked and moved as they will be, before you buy more. When you start delivering, standardize on that model. For what a commercial bread tray is and how the rest of this guide fits together, start from the overview of commercial bread trays and their uses.