Brown Paper Bags – Sizes, Dimensions, and Custom Options

If you own a food business, café, or retail store, the brown paper bag is probably one of your most frequently used pieces of packaging — and one of the easiest to get wrong. Order the wrong size, and you waste material and money on oversized bags, or you have to deal with grease-soaked, torn bags that damage your product and your brand. Buying the right size the first time saves money, eliminates waste, and keeps your packaging consistent order after order.

Here’s how to determine the sizes for your brown paper bags. And how Sharp Custom Boxes can produce them to your specifications.

What Makes a Brown Paper Bag Different

Brown paper bags are made from natural, unbleached kraft paper. Kraft paper is strong, yet light. That’s why they are a favorite for food packaging. They’re strong enough to carry meals and groceries, they can be recycled, and their natural look is refreshing when paired with an eco-friendly brand. Brown paper bags are also one of the most cost-effective packaging options available, especially when packing in bulk.

Brown Paper Bag Sizes at a Glance

Brown paper bags can be grouped into small, medium, and large — although “medium” may be something completely different to one business. Here’s a general guide, but your bags may not fit exactly.

Small Brown Paper Bags

Typically around 5–7.5 inches in height and length, with 2–4 inches of depth. Compact and easy to hand across a counter, small bags work well for:

Chocolates and sweet treats
Coffee and tea
Single snacks or small pastries

Use Case	Approx. Dimensions (L x W x H)
Snacks or a small sandwich	8 x 5 x 12 in
Chocolates and sweet treats	5 x 7 x 3.5 in
Chips, fruit, and a drink	6 x 9 x 4 in
Small takeout order	7 x 10 x 5 in

Medium Brown Paper Bags

Roughly 7.5 inches wide with 8–15 inches of height and 3–5 inches of depth. This size gives you the room for combo orders and slightly bulkier items:

Pasta and grain salads
Prepared fruit or portioned meals
Leftover or takeaway containers

Use Case	Approx. Dimensions (L x W x H)
Bento box + fruit	10 x 6 x 13 in
Breakfast, lunch, or loaded snacks	8 x 11 x 16 in
Full meal or multiple cans	10 x 13 x 7 in
Meat, poultry, fish, or vegetables	12 x 15 x 8 in

Large Brown Paper Bags

Around 13 inches wide and long, with roughly 5 inches of depth as a baseline — though large-format bags scale up well beyond that for grocery and bulk orders. Look at bag weight as well as size here, since heavier items need thicker kraft stock to avoid tearing.

Full meals and multi-container orders
Grocery and bulk pantry items
Baked goods in volume

Use Case	Approx. Dimensions (L x W x H)
One or two sandwiches or wraps, single burger boxes	15 x 6.25 x 11.25 in
Muffins, cookies, brownies, pastries, donuts	12 x 5.5 x 15 in
Main dish with sides, or mixed snack orders	14 x 18 x 9 in
Boxed goods, jars, bottles, bulk pantry items	16 x 20 x 10 in
Large sandwiches, wraps, burritos, or multi-item combos	18 x 24 x 12 in

Dimensions of Brown Paper Lunch Bags

Lunch bags are a completely different category: they’re designed to hold a full meal, rather than just a snack item. When you’re packing meals for a café, deli, caterer or school lunch program, here’s how the sizing usually breaks down.

Common Lunch Bag Sizes

No two menus pack the same way, but most food businesses will fill one of the three sizes for their usual order. Knowing where your order falls in this category makes reordering easier and your packaging costs less expensive.

Small bags are the ideal solution for single-item orders: a pastry, a coffee, a handful of snacks – where speed and convenience over capacity matter.
Medium bags contain the bulk of real-world lunch orders because the majority of combo meals — a main, a side, and a drink — fit comfortably within this range.
Large bags earn their keep on bigger orders: catering pickups, family or event-based orders, or anything with multiple containers that needs a little more support.

Generally, businesses find they only have to stock three sizes to cover 90% of what goes out the door. When you sell out of the three standard sizes, you should only order custom sizes.

Small Lunch Bag Dimensions

Small lunch bags run about 7.5 inches in height and length, with depth flexing between 2 and 4 inches depending on what’s inside. They’re the go-to choice for lighter lunch items and grab-and-go snacks:

Food Items	Dimensions (L x W x H)
Snacks and small meals like sandwiches	8 x 5 x 12 in
Chocolates and sweet treats	5 x 7 x 3.5 in
Classic lunch items — chips, fruit, and a drink	6 x 9 x 4 in
Larger meals and takeout bags	7 x 10 x 5 in

Medium Lunch Bag Dimensions

Medium lunch bags start around 7.5 inches wide, with height ranging from 8 to 15 inches and depth between 3 and 5 inches — enough room for a main container plus a drink:

Food Items	Dimensions (L x W x H)
Bento box and fruit (approx. 8L capacity)	10 x 6 x 13 in
Breakfast, lunch, and loaded snacks	8 x 11 x 16 in
Full meal or 12 cans (approx. 9L capacity)	10 x 13 x 7 in
Larger items — chicken, meat, poultry, fish, seafood, vegetables	12 x 15 x 8 in

Large Lunch Bag Dimensions

Large lunch bags are roughly 13 inches in width and length, with about 5 inches of depth as a starting point. At this size, paper weight matters as much as the dimensions — a bag carrying multiple containers or a heavier meal needs sturdier kraft stock so it doesn’t tear or sag:

Food Items	Dimensions (L x W x H)
One or two sandwiches or wraps, single-serve burger boxes	15 x 6.25 x 11.25 in
Baked goods — muffins, cookies, brownies, pastries, donuts	12 x 5.5 x 15 in
A main dish with sides, or a mix of snacks and treats	14 x 18 x 9 in
Boxed pantry goods, jars, bottles, and bulk items	16 x 20 x 10 in
Large sandwiches, wraps, burritos, pasta salads, and quiches	18 x 24 x 12 in

Getting the lunch bag size right isn’t just about looks — it directly affects how well the bag holds up on delivery, how much filler or padding you need, and how much you’re paying per unit at scale. If your lunch program or menu doesn’t map neatly onto the sizes above, that’s exactly where a custom spec pays off.

Custom Brown Paper Bags from Sharp Custom Boxes

Standard sizes are a good place to start, but they don’t always go perfectly with any product you have. At Sharp Custom Boxes, we make paper bags that will exactly fit your products in terms of size, weight, and finish — with your logo and branding printed directly on the bag. This results in less wasted material, fewer damaged orders, and packaging that looks right every time a customer opens it.

In short, tell us what you’re packing and how many cartons you need, and we’ll work with you to find a size and stock weight that works best for your product and budget. Read more: Custom Mailer Boxes with Inserts Wholesale Cost

Faqs

What is a brown paper bag lunch box?+

A brown paper bag lunch box is a kraft paper bag designed to carry a full meal rather than a single item — sturdy enough to hold a sandwich, sides, and a drink together in one pack. At Sharp Custom Boxes, we build ours to handle the weight and shape of a packed lunch without sagging or tearing.

What is the size of a brown paper lunch bag?+

Sizes vary by what's being packed, but most brown paper lunch bags fall between 5 and 18 inches in length, with depth ranging from 2 to 12 inches depending on the meal size. Sharp Custom Boxes offers this full range — from compact snack bags to large formats built for full meals and bulk orders.

What size is a standard brown paper lunch bag?+

The most commonly used "standard" size measures around 7.5 inches in height and length, with a depth of roughly 3 to 5 inches — enough to fit a sandwich, a side, and a small drink. It's the size Sharp Custom Boxes recommends most often to cafés and delis before customizing further for specific menu items.

Are brown paper lunch bags biodegradable?+

Yes. Because they're made from natural kraft paper rather than plastic or synthetic coatings, brown paper lunch bags break down naturally over time when exposed to soil, moisture, and microbial activity. All standard kraft bags from Sharp Custom Boxes are made with this natural, lower-impact material.

Are brown paper lunch bags compostable?+

Uncoated brown paper lunch bags are typically compostable in both home and industrial compost settings, as long as they're free of plastic linings, wax coatings, or heavy inks. Sharp Custom Boxes can advise on which finishes stay compostable if sustainability is a priority for your brand.