Customizable 61oz/1800ml 10"x7.7" Aluminum Foil Tray for Large Family Roast & Buffet Serving

Walk into any restaurant supply warehouse and you'll see rows of aluminum trays in every imaginable size. But the 1800ml ones – they sit in a special spot. Big enough to hold a whole roasted chicken with potatoes, or a half-pan of baked ziti that feeds eight. This one measures 10.04 inches by 7.68 inches, with a 55mm wall. That's not a takeout container anymore. That's a small roasting pan made of aluminum.

The beauty of a tray this size is how it bridges home cooking and light commercial use. A family of five can do Sunday dinner in it – think a bottom layer of sliced onions and carrots, a whole chicken on top, then roasted at 200°C for an hour. The aluminum conducts heat evenly, so the bird browns while the veggies soften. No need to wash a metal roasting pan afterward. Just recycle the tray.

On the production side, making a tray with a 55mm depth and a 10x7.6 inch opening requires a multi-stage draw press. The aluminum coil feeds into the first die, which forms a shallow cup. Then a second die pushes it deeper. A third irons out the walls to keep thickness consistent. Factories that specialize in large-format trays often use progressive tooling – the strip moves through four or five stations before a finished tray drops out. Cycle times are slower, maybe 25 to 35 pieces per minute, because the material has farther to travel.

Customization options become more interesting at this scale. You can emboss a logo into the bottom of the tray – a subtle brand mark that customers see when they open the lid. Or add ridges to the floor for fat drainage if you're targeting the roasting market. Some buyers ask for reinforced rims on large trays because the extra aluminum helps the fold stay tight. All of that requires custom tooling, which means a higher upfront die cost but lower per-piece pricing once you hit volume.

What about the industry trend? Large-format aluminum trays are gaining ground in the prepared foods section of grocery stores. Think Whole Foods or Wegmans – they sell "heat and serve" family meals in trays just like this. The shift away from black plastic is real. Several states have banned certain plastic containers, and more are considering it. Aluminum doesn't face those restrictions. It's also microwave-safe (though you should transfer food to a plate if you care about sparks – small risk, but it exists).

One catering director we spoke with switched her entire buffet line to aluminum trays this year. She used to use stainless steel chafing dishes that needed washing and sanitizing after every event. Now she uses disposable 1800ml aluminum trays. The event staff simply folds the rims over the lids after serving, tosses the whole thing in recycling, and goes home an hour earlier. Labor savings alone paid for the trays.

The 55mm depth is intentional. Shallower than a steam table pan, so it fits in standard home ovens. Deeper than a pie plate, so it holds saucy dishes without overflow. It's a compromise size, but compromises sometimes win because they work for the widest range of customers.

So whether you're a restaurant testing family meal kits, a caterer looking to cut dishwashing labor, or a grocery store swapping plastic for aluminum, this 10.04x7.68 tray is worth a look. It's big, it's recyclable, and it doesn't need a lot of introduction – the size speaks for itself.