A few things I learned in my long packaging search: Early on I decided I wanted trays to hold the chocolates rather than putting them in individual cups. Trays speed up the boxing process so much that I think of them as a necessity. But trays also carry huge restrictions: You have to find ones into which your chocolates will fit, and although there are many, many trays available (mostly sourced from Mod-pak), I was surprised at how restrictive they are. If you make small bonbons, you will be fine with what's available, but if, like me, you make larger pieces, problems ensue. Speaking from experience, I can say that custom trays are very, very expensive, and finding a company that makes them in relatively small amounts is daunting. These manufacturers are used to making 10,000, maybe 50,000 trays at a time for grocery businesses and usually can't be bothered with a boutique business.
And then there are boxes. Again, if you make small bonbons, you have lots of choices, but obviously, if you use trays, the boxes need to fit the trays. But the height of bonbons is something I didn't think of at first. I need boxes that are 1.5" high, and very few of those exist (that I could find, at least). So I had to go with custom boxes. I like them very much, and I finally found a reliable company that would make them in lots of 500. But they equal (at least) the cost of making the chocolates themselves.
