Wholesale pack sizes: pound, sack, box, bunch and unit

Why so many pack sizes exist

In the wholesale market each product is sold in the format in which it travels and keeps best. Herbs are tied in bunches because they sell by visual volume, not exact weight; citrus goes in mesh bags that let the fruit breathe; roots hold up in sacks; delicate items go in trays or boxes. Understanding the format is the first step to comparing prices seriously.

The most common pack sizes, explained

These are the formats you will see in our catalog and in the wholesale market at large:

• Pound (and kilo): sale by weight. It is the most useful baseline for comparing prices between suppliers. Common for tomato, onion, potato, carrot and roots.
• Unit: product sold by the piece, such as pineapple, watermelon, melon or cabbage. Price per unit depends on the size of the piece.
• Bunch: a tied bundle of herbs or greens, such as culantro, cilantro or green onion. Bunch size is a commercial standard, not an exact weight.
• Dozen: a count of twelve pieces. Used for products handled as small units.
• Tray: a rigid base holding delicate product, such as cherry tomatoes, strawberries or mushrooms. It protects against bruising and makes quality easy to check.
• Mesh bag: a net with an approximate count or weight, typical for Persian lime, orange or onion.
• Bag: flexible packaging by weight, common for processed, frozen or pantry product.
• Sack: a volume format for potato, yam, otoe, cassava, onion or cabbage. Sack weight varies by product.
• Box: the wholesale format par excellence for delicate fruit and vegetables. Its contents are defined by approximate weight or by piece count.

How to compare prices across pack sizes

The rule is to bring everything to the same baseline before comparing. If one supplier prices by the box and another by the pound, ask for the box's approximate weight or count and work out the price per pound or per piece. Comparing “box against box” without knowing the contents is the most common way to believe something is cheaper when it is not.

For the kitchen, the most honest baseline is cost per servable portion: what the part of the product that actually reaches the plate costs. Two formats with the same price per pound can yield differently depending on peeling and trimming waste.

Why the contents of a box vary

A box is not an exact measure: it is packaging. The number of pieces depends on size — bigger fruit, fewer units per box — and size depends on the farm, the season and the year. That is why the same pineapple box can hold a different number of fruits in different weeks.

This is not a supplier defect: it is the nature of agricultural product. What matters is that the supplier tells you the current approximate contents when quoting, so you can calculate your real cost. It is a question always worth asking.

How to order without getting it wrong

When building your list, always state product, pack size and quantity: “Persian lime — mesh bag — 10”, “Culantro — bunch — 24”, “Potato — sack — 2”. If you do not know a product's pack size, write the quantity in the unit you use in the kitchen and our team will translate it into the right wholesale format when quoting.