Pizza Boxes.

It is condensation rather than grease, and packaging can improve it a lot.

A pizza comes out of the oven around 200°C and gives off water vapour for several minutes. That vapour rises, meets the lid — the coldest surface in the box — and condenses back into liquid, which runs down onto the toppings and soaks through to the base.

Three things in the box design help:

• Vent holes let vapour escape before it can condense.
• Corrugated board traps air in the flutes, which slows heat loss so the lid stays warmer and condenses less.
• The exposed flute edges absorb some moisture that would otherwise pool on the base.

What packaging cannot fix is a pizza boxed while still steaming heavily, or a long delivery in a sealed insulated bag. Venting and board choice buy you time, not immunity.

Boxes are named for the pizza they hold and step in two-inch increments: 8", 10", 12", 14", 16" and 18". A 12" pizza goes in a 12" box — the box's internal dimension already includes the clearance.

The figure people forget is depth. Standard is around 1.75", which is fine for a thin or classic base. Deep dish, stuffed crust and heavily loaded pizzas need more, or the lid presses down into the toppings and arrives smeared across the underside.

If you run several pizza sizes, it is worth checking that your boxes nest sensibly in the storage space behind the counter — flat-packed pizza boxes take more room than most operators plan for.

Yes. The grease-resistant treatments the industry used for decades were fluorochemical, and PFAS in food packaging is now restricted across a growing list of states including California, New York, Washington, Minnesota, Oregon and Illinois. The rules target intentionally added PFAS, with total organic fluorine thresholds around 100 ppm used as the test.

We specify PFAS-free grease barriers as standard. They perform well for pizza, which is a moderate-grease application — the harder cases are very hot oil products like fries straight from the fryer.

If you are reordering against an old specification sheet, this is worth checking. A spec written a few years ago may name a coating that is no longer compliant where you sell.