Restaurant dinnerware is more than a set of plates. It’s a little vessel of brand identity that greets every diner.
Whether you’re a themed restaurant or simply a club with high aesthetic standards, it’s important that your restaurant dinnerware complements your dining room design. Your restaurant dinnerware helps build your establishment’s brand and your kitchen’s reputation, so it needs to work with your restaurant theme and look good on the tablescape every time.
We’re here to share a few tips to help you choose the perfect dinnerware for your club or catering business—a set that reflects your restaurant’s personality and lets your culinary creations shine.
1. Choose a versatile pattern
Restaurant themes are fun for diners, and chefs can use them to get playful with their creations. But while your dinnerware should look like it belongs on your themed tablescape, it’s important not to lay it on too thick. If you’re too heavy-handed with your restaurant theme, it’ll start to feel kitschy to your diners. Subtle and versatile are a smarter move.
Look for a restaurant dinnerware pattern that complements your theme but can adapt to other events, too. You’ll get more use out of a pattern that upholds your décor standards and flexes to fit seasonal meals, weddings, and occasions, too. We recommend looking for:
Geometric shapes: They’re universally appealing, and they look modern and crisp. They’re a savvy dinnerware pattern choice for fusion restaurants or establishments that appeal to a young crowd, but they’re polished enough to work in an elegant dining room, too.
Floral or natural patterns: Styles inspired by nature are great for restaurants that focus on food sustainability or traditional cooking methods. These patterns tell diners you’ve prioritized natural ingredients and slow-food techniques, yet they’re flexible enough to lend any event a softer, more romantic feel if you need to pivot.
2. Consider durability
Whatever dinnerware you choose, you want it to last. Stoneware and china dinnerware are considered the toughest materials for restaurant dishes. If you’ve bought them from a reputable restaurant equipment company (like Corby Hall!), stone and china dishes will be twice-fired for extra strength and might include a rolled-edge design along their rims for added durability.
One thing’s for certain—you don’t want melamine dishes. Plastic dinnerware warps under heat and stains within months. You’ll be disappointed that your restaurant plates, bowls, and cups are starting to show unmistakable signs of wear, and they’ll reflect poorly on your restaurant’s aesthetics.
3. Look for practical functionality
Your plates might look good, but can they take the heat (and cold!) of a commercial kitchen? Plates in your kitchen need to handle all of these scenarios:
- Extreme heat and water pressure in the dishwasher
- The plummeting temperatures of the fridge and freezer
- Intense heat under warming lamps
- Heat waves in the microwave
And sometimes, your dishes will experience all these environments in the same hour! Melamine dinnerware definitely won’t last under those conditions.
4. Coordinate with your restaurant décor
Some restaurant themes require an extra-special material choice to help drive the concept home. Stoneware dinnerware is a distinctive material that looks right at home in a variety of restaurants, from seafood to comfort food to American-inspired cuisine.
Porcelain dishes can heighten the dining experience. They exude class and polish—an understated elegance that’s flexible enough to suit any tablescape. Porcelain and china dishes look right in high-end restaurants and exclusive clubs, like golf clubs.
Whether your décor is refined or casual, your dinnerware collection should reflect it. Think carefully about the mood you want to set and the values you want to convey with your dinnerware. Then, find the pattern that supports that theme.
5. Consider sets that mix-and-match
When you’re crafting a cohesive dining experience, a unified aesthetic is important. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun!
Carefully-designed dinnerware collections offer playful ways to mix up your plating. Look for collections that have different plate shapes and sizes, and offer plate covers that fit a variety of styles.
You’ll add interest to your tablescape and enchant diners with innovative plating for your innovative meals.
Examples of dinnerware for themed restaurants
These dinnerware collections from Corby Hall can help you build an engaging restaurant theme without compromising on material strength and aesthetic versatility.
Saturno
Saturno’s strength is in its deep bench—this collection features 34 unique pieces, each one crafted to stay strong in the face of whatever your kitchen throws at it.
The design is timeless. A crisp, white canvas featuring innovative shapes and clean lines on which you can plate your masterpieces. And with 34 pieces in the collection, there’s a plate or bowl for every course, and interchangeable plate covers to add more visual interest. Check out Saturno.
Bandera Stone
We love Bandera Stone’s homey vibe—an unforgettable mix of rustic Scandinavian and hearty American design that’s perfect for anything from cafes to comfort food.
With 17 pieces in the collection, including plates, platters, bowls, and mugs, it’s versatile enough to serve whatever you’ve cooked up in the kitchen. And its one-of-a-kind design will complement your themed restaurant’s design. Take a look at Bandera Stone.
Custom dinnerware
Of course, the best way to ensure your restaurant dinnerware matches your theme is to customize it!
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We can customize plates and dishes to match any restaurant design. You choose the plate size, shape, colors, and patterns, and Corby Hall can make it happen. You can even add your restaurant’s logo, or feature the name of your club across the plate in any font you choose.
Explore the custom dinnerware options available at Corby Hall, or contact our team to learn more.
