Logo kraft takeout bags for Imperial Beach restaurants.

Small town, big appetite

Imperial Beach is the southern tip of the county's coast, a short drive from the border and a world away from the busy tourist strips up north. The food matches the town: surf shacks, breakfast burrito counters, fish taco windows, mariscos, coffee bars, pizza by the slice and a few sit down spots with a view of the water.

Most of it sits on two streets. Seacoast Drive runs along the sand with the pier in the middle. Palm Avenue carries the drive through traffic in from the freeway. Locals bounce between the two all day, and so do the surfers, Navy families and weekend visitors who come down for a quieter beach.

That mix is good news for a printed bag. In a small town, people notice names fast. Once they see your logo a few times on the boardwalk, you become the place they mean when they say lunch.

The plaza at the foot of the pier

Portwood Pier Plaza is where Seacoast Drive meets the pier. It has picnic tables, bike racks, public art like the Surfhenge sculpture and a stage for live music. Restaurants with outdoor seating line the edge of it. People eat there, sit there and walk the pier with food in hand.

The Port is now building a splash pad in the plaza and says nearby businesses should stay open while it goes in. Earlier pier upgrades had the same goal in plain words: get visitors to use the oceanfront restaurants. Families with wet kids will want something to eat, and they will carry it right through the busiest square in town.

Think about who sees your bag in that plaza. Every bench, picnic table and walk out to the end of the pier is a few more strangers reading your name.

Wind, salt air and a long walk back

IB is breezy, and lunch often travels down the sand or out the pier before anyone eats it. Thin sacks flap and tear. Ours is 110 GSM kraft with a square base, carries up to 22 lb and comes in at 12″ × 7″ × 14″, so a full order stays upright on a picnic table.

• Hot trays go flat on the bottom so the heaviest food anchors the bag in the wind.
• Tuck napkins and lime wedges down the side, not on top where a gust can grab them.
• Fold the top twice and add a food tamper-evident sticker so the bag stays shut on the walk out the pier.

Fish taco shops can dig deeper on our fish taco shop bag page, and seafood counters should see the poke and seafood bag guide.

Designing for a laid back town

IB brands lean relaxed: hand lettered names, waves, palm trees, a surfboard or a fish. Those look right at home on brown kraft in one strong color. Bright tropical palettes look cleaner on white kraft.

The print area is 12 × 14 in on the front. Make the name big. A shop name someone can read from the next picnic table does more than a detailed drawing nobody can make out.

This is the same bag we make for every shop looking for custom printed kraft takeout bags around San Diego, from the north county coast down to the border.