Blog posts tagged with 'dinnerware'

Next to the kitchen equipment required to produce the restaurant's menu items, it can be argued that dinnerware is the most important purchase a restaurant will make for its business success. Commercial dinnerware lends itself to the ambiance of the restaurant itself and can be utilized to enhance the presentation of the menu with creative use of intricately shaped dishes. Because dishes are such a pinnacle item for a restaurant there are a number of variables you should keep in mind when stocking your restaurant:

Budget

Buying dishes from restaurant suppliers can be notoriously expensive. Commercial dishes tend to be higher in cost than personal dishware as you’re looking for a higher durability dish. If you're looking for alternatives, try finding wholesalers who specialize in commercial-grade dinnerware. Factory-direct wholesalers who target the party rental and hospitality industry tend to have dishes that will be as suitable for a restaurant's needs as restaurant supply stores. They can also offer cheaper pricing than restaurant suppliers, especially for restaurants with multiple locations and high volumes.

Durability

Because the turnover in your establishment is pivotal to the success of your restaurant, it is vital that the dinnerware you buy be durable, commercial quality that lasts through many breakfast/lunch/dinner sittings. Take into account whether the dishes are commercial dishwasher safe, can withstand oven temperatures of up to 400 degrees, and can be turned over time and again while still looking like new. A lot of the leading brand names offer chip warranties but chip warranties do not cover breakage and are often quite restrictive in how you can make any kind of warranty claim. Make sure if the supplier offers a chip warranty, that you know all restrictions and conditions attached.

Aesthetics

Dinnerware should lend itself to the theme of your restaurant. Most restaurants tend to stick with traditional white dinnerware to allow the chefs free reign to dress the plate however they see fit. Traditional white dinnerware is also the most prevalent and readily available of the styles as many of the more ornate or coloured dishes tend to be for personal consumption.

Variety of place settings:

Look for a dishware supplier that has many different place settings, platters, bowls and other serve ware available such as risotto bowls, trio bowls, slanted bowls, etc. This allows you to have a cohesive line of dinnerware to focus your guests’ attention on your pièce de résistance, your food.

If you’re interested in viewing the tabletop items National Event Supply has to offer, including all our porcelain dinnerware, platters & bowls, download the National Event Supply Tabletop Catalogue.

In case you haven’t already heard, National Event Supply will be exhibiting in Booth #340/441 October 27 & 28th 2013 at the BC Connect Show, BC’s largest foodservice and hospitality industry event which brings together thousands of food, drink and lodging decision makers. In our previous blog post, we highlighted the Five Reasons to Attend the BC Connect Show. With the BC Connect Show less than a week away, we thought it made sense to showcase what to expect to see from National Event Supply at the trade show.

With the addition of our warehouse in the Vancouver area, we can more easily, quickly and cost-effectively ship many of our products to BC, Alberta and the surrounding areas. Because of this, we’re able to showcase the following items at the show:

If you’re interested in getting a quote on some of our tabletop items, request a quote here. We look forward to seeing you at the show!

Corporate holiday parties have been a source of networking and good employee morale for decades. With the downturn in the economy, it was thought that the corporate holiday party would meet its demise. Special event planners, party rental companies, caterers, restaurants, and hotel venues can breathe a sigh of relief-with BizBash and Seamless surveying more than 1,500 event professionals, it appears corporations still have reason to celebrate. With answers to burning questions such as when the parties are held, and where the food is from, check out this infographic on the BizBash site to get an idea of the event rental needs you should be stocking up on.

Source: BizBash

If you have ever considered purchasing porcelain for your restaurant, banquet hall, party rental, convention centre, golf course, or maybe even your house, you have probably considered purchasing from at least one of these five companies. They all offer an incredible selection of durable, commercial-quality, porcelain products and they likely have a local distributor in your area. See why these are North American leaders in Restaurant Dinnerware Supply.

Steelite International

Steelite International is a world-leading manufacturer of dinnerware products. Steelite offers an extensive collection of porcelain dinnerware to the restaurant and commercial food service industries. Manufactured in their modern, state-of-the-art facility in Stoke-on-Trent, UK they are masters at combining elegant styles with excellent durability to ensure a long lasting product. Their worldwide distribution has solidified their position as an industry leader.

Dudson

To put it mildly, Dudson has an incredible history. Founded in 1800 in Stoke-on-Trent, UK, Dudson has survived and thrived through 9 generations in the Dudson Family. Dudson is still a privately held, family-owned business with deep roots that continues to amaze with world class design and product quality. Dudson is ready to serve you with distribution centres in the UK, France, Australia, and Spain as well as showrooms in London, Paris, and Toronto.

Royal Doulton

Royal Doulton has always been at the forefront of fashion and design. Established in 1815 Royal Doulton has established themselves as a world-class British tableware brand. Royal Doulton is currently maintaining licensing arrangements with some of the world’s most high profile innovators in the home and lifestyle market including Vera Wang, Jasper Conran, John Rocha, Monique Lhuillier, Barbara Barry, Gordon Ramsay, Martha Stewart and Michael Aram.

World Porcelain - A Libbey FOODSERVICE Company

While their parent company is known and respected for their glassware, World Porcelain is known for their quality porcelain products. Their dinnerware is available is a wide variety of patterns, shapes, and colours to make sure you have the perfect plate from appetiser to dessert. Libbey also owns Syracuse China.

Oneida

The Onedia brand has been around for more than 100 years. Oneida is known and respected around the world for the innovative, quality products that they have been supplying throughout their history. Their wide variety of shapes, sizes, and styles ensure every customer has the opportunity to select the perfect plate for their world class food. Oneida also owns or distributes well-known brands like Buffalo, Schonwald, Sant’ Andrea, and Noritake.

It is interesting to note a few interesting things about this list. The first is that three of the top five companies have key strategic offices in Stoke-on-Trent, UK. Dudson and Steelite have their manufacturing and head office there while Royal Doulton has a design studio. It is also interesting to note that while Libbey and Oneida are more well known for other food service products (glassware and cutlery respectively) they both have very strong brands in porcelain dinnerware.

If you want to learn more about our dinnerware, why not ask us a question?

Porcelain Dinnerware can be a tough nut to crack. Sure, you have great round plates that rent reasonably well, but so do a lot of your competitors. What you need is something that will catch your customer’s eye, something that not all of your competitors have, and something that can make a statement on a tabletop. What you need is Square Dinnerware! With that said, here are three reasons why you should consider investing in square dinnerware.

1) It’s Not What Your Customers Have!

Go into the average kitchen and take a look at the plates in the cupboard. I bet that they’re round. Nothing makes an event feel different or special than something other than ordinary. Round dishes are normal and ordinary. Square dinner plates? They’re different and extraordinary! While Square Plates won’t guarantee an extraordinary event, they’ll help set the tone of the event for your customer. Their guests will look at their plate and be like “Yo dog, this plate is totally square. This event is off the hook!” or at least they do in my unfinished Great Canadian Novel “The Hunger Games: Four Weddings and a Funeral.” Seriously though, giving your customers something special can get them in your door and get your products into their event.

2) It’s not what your competitors have!

If you’ve got competition in your town, city, metropolis, centre of the universe, having something different can help you win business. Square dinnerware can help you stand out from the crowd and provide an important point of difference between you and every other rental company in the area. If customers can get the unique dinnerware from you, they may also choose to rent chairs, tents, tables, heaters, and a whole slew of your other rental products. Differentiating yourself from your competitors can improve your bottom line and drive rentals to other segments of your business. And who doesn’t like making more sales?

3) They’ve got the Look!

If you’ve got catering customers looking to make a splash, or event planners who want to make their event memorable, square dinnerware can help make a table go from blah to boom. Square dinnerware can be mixed and matched with other unique pieces to create a table to remember. Instead of a round salad serving bowl, they could go with a square salad serving bowl. Why use an oval platter when you could use a rectangular platter. And they don’t have to just stick with square dinnerware, small rectangular platters inject a bit of pizzazz into a plate of appetizers, or a fantastic dessert. We eat with our eyes, and plating a gorgeous piece of meat on a square dinner plate can make a good meal great! Don’t believe me? Restaurants are moving to square and rectangle plates because they add a little va-va-voom to the table.

If you think you might be interested in Square Dinnerware why not check out our Quadrato Line. Our Quadrato Line is a full service line with four different plate sizes, eight different bowl sizes, square and rectangular platters, and all the accessory pieces needed for a table that will drive your customers wild! Quadrato Dinnerware is heavy-duty porcelain dinnerware that will excel in a commercial or rental situation, while costing a fraction of what the square lines from Dudson, Steelite, and Royal Daulton which you typically buy at your local Restaurant Supply Houses charge.