How To Store Bulk Bakery Boxes Efficiently in Your Business

When your bakery receives boxes in bulk from your supplier, your first instinct may be to drop them on a shelf or put them in a storage room until you need them. However, it is critical to take great care when storing these containers. Otherwise, you may cause ripple effects that hurt other aspects of your bakery. Read on to learn how to store bulk bakery boxes efficiently in your business so that you can help your operations flourish instead.

The Advantages of Storing Boxes Efficiently

Before looking at the various methods, you may wonder, “Why is it so important to store bakery boxes efficiently?” Read about the various advantages below and how a few small changes could greatly benefit your business.

Efficient Storage Helps You Save Space

One benefit of storing boxes efficiently is that it helps your bakery save space. By following the methods listed below, you could save several square feet in space that your business may need later when storing other containers, kitchen equipment, or even finished products. These strategies can also prevent your location from becoming too cramped in the future.

It Saves Workers’ Time

Another reason to utilize efficient storage methods is that it will help your workers save time when serving customers. For example, when an employee needs to fill a pink bakery cake box with chocolate chip cookies for clients, they need to promptly find the right container.

However, if you store your bakery boxes in a disorganized fashion, employees will not be able to retrieve the boxes quickly. This may mean that customers must wait longer for their orders while your workers struggle to find and retrieve the right containers.

These experiences may result in clients questioning your business’s professionalism and deciding to go to other, more efficient bakeries in the future, no matter how delicious your treats were. By storing them efficiently, you can improve the bakery’s speed and increase the possibility of the customer becoming a regular at your bakery.

Efficient Storage Prevents Box Damage

One last advantage is that efficient storage prevents damage to boxes caused by improper stacking. By keeping your containers neat and organized, you will ensure that they do not experience this damage, helping you avoid container shortages. It will also prevent you from handing a damaged container to a customer.

Tips for Storing Bulk Bakery Boxes Efficiently

Now, we can explore how to store bulk bakery boxes efficiently in your business. By following the steps listed below, you will be able to enjoy the various advantages instead of causing your bakery and its workers to deal with unnecessary challenges.

Keep Boxes Flat

One good tip is to keep your boxes flat before stacking them. For instance, if you receive a shipment of bulk cake boxes and they arrive flat in their container, keep them that way as you put them on your shelf.

Doing so will prevent them from taking up unnecessary room. If you folded them into their regular shape and then stacked them, they would take up more space. Instead, leave them as is, and you will give your bakery more room to operate.

Practice Vertical Stacking

Something else to remember while stacking your bulk bakery boxes is to do so vertically when possible. Many businesses don’t take enough advantage of the vertical space in their facilities, resulting in more clutter around their walking and working spaces. Taking up these spaces with packaging can make employees less efficient or even create safety risks.

But you can avoid that issue by stacking your boxes upward. The amount of space you create by moving packaging into vertical storage might surprise you!

Separate Your Boxes Into Categories

As a bakery owner, you will likely make a variety of different items for your clients, ranging from donuts and cakes to pies and croissants. This variety will require you to secure different containers to suit the changing order contents. While you might want to place all containers in one area for ease of retrieval, you should not mix up these different boxes when you put them into storage.

For example, it can hurt your bakery’s efficiency when one of your employees must root through a stack of window pie boxes to find a donut tray. Instead, make sure to separate them by size and type so that your team can quickly retrieve the containers they need and begin working on their customers’ orders.

You can use various methods to separate and organize the different types of boxes, including shelf dividers or containers. If you choose the latter, consider using clear containers, so your workers can easily see their contents and confirm they have found the right boxes.

Check Your Inventory

One last tip is to implement a system that helps you monitor your inventory of bakery boxes. Without one, you may run short on certain boxes, which can also hurt your customer service. Instead, a system will allow you to keep track of your stock better and make it easier to identify when you need to buy more from your supplier.

Additional Storage Tips

In addition to focusing on efficiency when storing bulk bakery boxes, business owners should concentrate on preserving their condition before they reach the customers. The two tips below can help you achieve that goal.

Avoid Storing Boxes in Humid Spaces

Bakery owners should avoid storing their boxes in humid spaces. Unfortunately, the moisture can cause damage to your boxes, making them less rigid and less effective at protecting your customers’ items. Instead, store them in drier spaces, where they won’t experience humid temperatures.

Keep Your Boxes off the Floor

It’s also wise to keep your boxes off the floor in your storage space. Although you may take great pride in keeping your surfaces clean and tidy, there may be a chance of pests entering the space while you are not around. By ensuring the boxes are at least four inches away from your floor, you can protect them—and customers who will ultimately eat the contents inside them—from possible contamination.

After learning how to store these boxes more efficiently in your bakery, you can better use your space, keep more boxes more organized, and help your employees be more productive. By making these simple adjustments to your storage practices, you will enable work at your bakery operations to flow much more smoothly.