Wholesale food packaging for New York City and New Jersey
Polystyrene foam foodservice products are banned in both states. Plastic carryout bags are banned for New Jersey restaurants and exempt for New York ones. This page sets out what each state allows, what to order instead, and how we supply it — from distribution centers in New Jersey and Long Island.
- Stocked in NJ and Long Island
- Rep in New York City
- No minimum order
- Free member shipping
- Next-day options
What food packaging can you still use in New York and New Jersey?
Both states ban polystyrene foam foodservice products, so foam clamshells, cups, plates, trays and lids are out in both. The difference is bags. New Jersey's ban covers food service businesses, so a restaurant there cannot provide a plastic carryout bag. New York's ban exempts them. If you operate on both sides of the Hudson, the same order needs different bags for each location.
- Foam foodservice products: banned in both states. New York from 1 January 2022, New Jersey from 4 May 2022
- Plastic takeout bags: still legal for New York restaurants, banned for New Jersey ones
- Paper carryout bags: fine in New York, with a mandatory 5-cent fee in New York City. Banned at New Jersey grocery stores of 2,500 sq ft or more
- Rigid #6 polystyrene is not foam, and neither foam ban covers it
- Foam coolers and ice chests joined New York's ban on 1 January 2026
New York's bag ban is broad but exempts prepared food, so a restaurant can still provide a plastic takeout bag where a grocery store cannot. The foam ban has no equivalent exemption for foodservice. Enforcement began on 19 October 2020, after the law was upheld in court.
- Plastic carryout bags
- Banned for anyone required to collect New York State sales tax
- Restaurant takeout bags
- Exempt. Prepared food from a restaurant, tavern or similar food service establishment may still go out in plastic
- Paper carryout bags
- Allowed. New York City charges a mandatory 5-cent fee, with SNAP and WIC customers exempt
- Polystyrene foam
- Banned. Covers bowls, cartons, hinged clamshells, cups, lids, plates and trays, plus loose fill packing peanuts
- Rigid #6 polystyrene
- Explicitly exempt from the foam ban
- Foam coolers and ice chests
- Banned since 1 January 2026 unless wholly encased in a more durable container
- In force since
- Bags 1 March 2020 (enforced 19 October 2020), foam 1 January 2022, cold storage 1 January 2026
The rules above come from the states' own published guidance: New York's Bag Waste Reduction Law and polystyrene foam ban from NYSDEC, the paper bag fee from NYC311, and New Jersey's P.L.2020 c.117. We supply packaging and are not a compliance advisor. The exemptions have edges, so if your operation sits near one, check the source or your attorney rather than relying on a supplier's summary.
What to use instead of foam
Most operators replacing foam move to molded fiber, and for most menus it is the right choice. It is pressed from bagasse, it holds heat, it stacks, and it is certified for commercial composting. Its one weakness is sustained contact with oil or sauce, where an unlined tray will soften at the corners. A PLA lining solves that and remains compostable, for a modest premium per unit.
Two things are worth checking before a large order. The temperature rating, because a tray that warps at 200 °F will warp in a customer's microwave. And the lid, because fiber bases and clear lids are often sold as a system and mixing brands rarely seats properly.
On cost: fiber is more expensive per unit than the foam it replaces. The gap has narrowed and closes further at case volume, but it is worth budgeting the switch on real numbers rather than a best case. Our bagasse range carries live per-case pricing and there is no minimum order, so you can price your actual basket rather than work from a quote.
Foam-free foodservice products we stock, by material
Order across categories from one account
Switching one material should not mean adding a second supplier. These are the categories New York and New Jersey customers order from us most.
How ordering works
Tell us what you operate
A cafe, a delivery kitchen, or twelve locations. It shapes what we recommend, not whether we can supply you.
It ships from the metro
From New Jersey or Long Island, and free at any order size for members.
Four steps, and no minimum order to get started.
What membership actually gets you
Free shipping at any order size matters here, where storage is limited and most kitchens order weekly rather than in bulk.
Free Shipping on All Orders
SupplyClub partners with the best logistics companies in the industry. Expect quality on-time delivery, every time.
Precision Member Pricing
Our proprietary software calculates your cost-plus pricing in real time, never spend time waiting for a quote again.
Bulk Cart Discounts
Automatically earn discounts in your cart with the click of a button. Get rewarded for buying in bulk.
Rewards Program and CO2 Offset
Earn loyalty rewards points and save the planet. Our GreenBux program is an industry first.
Flexible Payment Terms
We know cash flow is the life blood of any business. We're happy to extend terms to customers who partner with us.
24/7 Support
We give our members true concierge service. Speak with a human right away, through our Support Center.
Built around how New York kitchens actually run
Kitchens here operate on less room than almost anywhere else in the country, and they operate well. A basement prep space and a back-of-house the width of a hallway are normal, and operators plan around them — ordering weekly rather than quarterly, holding days of stock rather than weeks, and turning a forty-seat room over several times a night. That is a hard thing to do consistently, and the people who do it have earned a supply chain that works the same way.
In practice that means no minimum order, stock held close enough to arrive quickly, and lead times you can plan a week against. A supplier built for quarterly pallet buys asks an operator here to carry inventory they have nowhere to put.
Volume is the other half. A small room can send a few hundred delivery orders across a weekend, and all of it leaves in packaging, so container performance and cost per unit compound faster here than for a business serving mostly dine-in. And the rules keep moving: New Jersey extended its bag ban to food service businesses in 2022, New York banned foam for everyone, and New York's foam rules reached coolers and ice chests on 1 January 2026. We track those so you can order against current requirements.
How we serve the metro
About a quarter of what we ship goes to New York or New Jersey.
2 centers
Stock in New Jersey and Long Island
Metro orders ship from distribution centers in the New Jersey and Long Island areas rather than from across the country.
New York City
A local representative
One point of contact for the city, so questions about fit, lead times or a substitution get a direct answer.
Order by 3pm
Next-day delivery
Orders placed by 3pm arrive the next day across the metro on our in-network truck delivery.
First set free
Samples before you switch
Test candidates in your own kitchen during a real service. Specifications do not tell you how a clamshell holds up under a heat lamp.
$0
Member shipping
Free shipping for members at any order size.
1,900+
Products in stock
Containers, cups, bags, cutlery and cleaning supplies on one account.
Printed packaging
For a delivery-led business the container is often the only physical thing a customer keeps from the order, which makes printed packaging worth pricing alongside other marketing spend rather than treating it as a cost of goods.
How the pricing works: the colours you choose do not change the price, the number of colours does, and setup is the charge that comes down with volume rather than the unit price. You can review a proof before paying. Custom printed paper bags are the usual starting point, or see the full custom print range for cups and containers.
Custom printed packaging
Upload artwork in the Design Studio, set the colours, and review a proof before you pay. These are example designs showing the formats we print.
Kraft bag, 10 x 7 x 12 in
Kraft bag, 13 x 7 x 13 in
White bag, 8 x 5 x 10 in
Double-wall hot cup, 12 oz
Clear cold cup, 16 oz
Pulp coaster, 4 in round
Example designs created to show print quality and format. They are not customer artwork.
What customers say
We treat every customer and project as if we were part of your team.
- 87
- towns and cities served
- 1 in 4
- of all our orders
- 1,900+
- products in stock
Across New York and New Jersey since October 2022
Ship to this metro area
No minimum on any of them
What operators here ask us
Trial a replacement before you commit
Pick the foam item you use most, order a single case of two alternatives, and run them through a normal service. There is no minimum, and the first sample set is free.