Christmas market stall: the consumables list (and the rule that rules out half of it)

The three Regions do not share the same rule, and it is the rule of the event's location that applies — not that of your registered office. A caterer from Namur running a stall in Brussels falls under the Brussels rule.

Two practical consequences. First, a cardboard cup is not a fallback in Brussels: the ban there is on single use, not on plastic. Second, in Wallonia the responsibility does not sit with the market organiser alone — the text names the traders in the area. Your stall is directly covered.

Mulled wine, Christmas beer and hot chocolate now go into reusable glassware. That is not only a constraint: a reusable glass holds better in the hand at −2 °C, does not crush, and the deposit brings part of your stock back at every round.

The ban covers drinking cups. A soup cup, a cone or a tray remain ordinary food packaging: kraft keeps its place there, and it is in fact what holds soup at 80 °C best on an open stall.

The prices below are catalogue prices as of 14 October 2026, broken down per unit. The real cost of a reusable glass is in practice far lower, since it serves several times: divide it by the number of rotations your deposit secures.

A full soup-and-cutlery serving therefore costs about €0.20 in consumables. On a soup sold at €6, that is 3 % of the selling price.

The calculation hangs on one question: do you wash on site ?

• Without washing on site — you need as many containers as drinks served between two return rounds. That is the most expensive case, and the one where the deposit has to be high enough for the customer to bring the glass back.
• With on-site washing or an organised return system — the stock you need drops to peak hourly volume multiplied by rotation time. Many markets share that service between stalls: ask the organiser before ordering, since in Brussels it is the organiser who carries the 90 % return obligation.

For kraft there is no rotation: count the portions you expect, plus a margin. The 480 and 960 cc formats come in packs of 500, which covers an average weekend.

Beyond containers, a stall runs on a few items that are systematically forgotten in the first year:

• Table covering — the 1.2 × 50 m Airlaid roll handles damp better than ordinary paper, which matters on an open stall. The full comparison is in our article on paper versus fabric tablecloths.
• Tealights — to keep soup warm or simply to dress the standing tables. The 6 h and 8 h models cover a whole evening without replacement.
• Hygiene — gel, wiping paper, bin bags. A Christmas market generates a lot of drinks waste: plan the bag volume accordingly.
• Napkins — in standing service they go twice as fast as in a dining room.

If your stall mainly serves savoury food eaten by hand, our guide to chip shop packaging compares cone, tray and bag on cost and sturdiness. And for pasta or stew portions, the kraft pasta cone remains the easiest format to hold standing up. The general overview is in our guide to professional food packaging in Belgium.

Is a cardboard cup allowed at a Christmas market ?

In Wallonia, yes: the decree of 9 March 2023 targets single-use cups made of plastic. In the City of Brussels, no: since 1 September 2026 the ban covers single use whatever the material. Cardboard is therefore not a universal fallback — check the territory before ordering.

Who is liable in an inspection, the organiser or the stall ?

Both, depending on the territory. The Walloon text explicitly names mobile and fixed traders located in the event area: your stall is directly covered. In Brussels the obligation to secure a 90 % return rate sits with the organiser, who then imposes the resulting conditions on exhibitors.

Can single-use still be used for food ?

Yes. The ban covers drinking cups. Soup cups, cones, trays and cutlery remain ordinary food packaging. Kraft stays the reference material there, and it is recyclable in the paper and board stream as long as it is not soiled.

Is a deposit required, and how much ?

A deposit is not imposed as such, but without one the return rate collapses — and it is exactly that rate which is checked in Brussels. The amount has to exceed the value the customer puts on the glass, otherwise they keep it as a souvenir. Most Belgian markets impose a single amount on all stalls: ask the organiser before setting your own.

When should you order to be delivered for opening ?

Belgian markets open between 20 and 27 November. For a 27 November opening, an order placed by mid-November at the latest leaves the necessary margin, including on the reusable references which move fast at that time of year. GL Distribution delivers to Belgium, Luxembourg, France, the Netherlands and Germany.