Dining Room

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well,” said the famous English author, Virginia Woolf, in ‘A Room of One’s Own.’ It goes without saying, there should be great consideration given to the dining space and time. The Chef who keeps his kitchen well stocked, and the restaurateur who keeps his restaurant well managed, can hope to see his guests return more often – to some great dining. If you can boast of the best food in town, we boast of the best buys in the restaurant supplies and restaurant equipment – at AppleRestaurantSupply.com. Let’s take you through a detailed guide of what you must have in the dining room of your restaurant.

Smoke without Fire

Ash Trays, Candle Holders, Check/Tip Trays, Baskets, Trivets & Wicker
If you’ve got a bar, you will invariably get smokers. And if the sight of cigarette stubs on your furniture and flooring is not what you are looking for, get in some ashtrays. Depending on the look of your place, and the mood you want to create, get in some classic ashtrays in glass, from Libbey, or Anchor; or ceramic ones from World Tableware.
The finer points of a fine dining scenario or a special occasion celebrated with a candle-lit dinner go beyond the food. Service in style, and just the right ambience make these occasions click. One of these special things are candles and candle holders. Elegant candleholders in cut glass – Finedge Votive, Hurricane Shade, or a regular Votive, are available from Libbey.
The soup and stock is served with accompaniments made of bread – like breadsticks and buns. A variety of Weave baskets, and bread and bun baskets, in different shapes, can be ordered from G.E.T. at AppleRestaurantSupply.com.
Carlisle offers some interesting ceramic bowls, and Cambro offers salad bowls in Basket-weave, and a wooden finish.
If your service is good, your staff will get a lot of tips with the checks, which need to be picked up in smart check or tip trays from Cambro, Carlisle and Johnson-Rose Corp.

Bus & Serving Carts, Bus Tubs
Moving around the orders can be cumbersome on trays, especially for room service. Use mobile bus carts from Carlisle and Johnson-Rose Corp. For carrying dishes, a dish dolly from Cres Cor could increase mobility and efficiency in the kitchen, and for making life easier for your staff. Add trash containers from Carlisle and Cambro to the bus cart. Another useful item from APWwyott is the Lowerator Cup and Glass Dispenser – which as the name suggests – helps in stacking and dispensing cups and glasses.

Condiment Dispensers, Napkin/Cup/Straw Dispensers, Easels & Display Stands
Condiments, or the sauces and herb mixtures accompanying your meals have to be served in separate dispensers designed for the purpose. These can be placed at your concession counters, and customers can access these through dispensing taps attached to it. APWwyott and San Jamar offer a range of condiment dispensers in different sizes and arrangement of raw materials and dispensing options. Standard pump kits in sets of six from Carlisle can be ordered from AppleRestaurantSupply.com. Or you could choose from San Jamar’s condiment pump kits with or without caps.
Besides making and serving coffee, you can get the aroma of freshly ground beans to lure your customers. Get hold of a whole coffee bean dispenser from Winco. If you serve ice cream in your menu, pick up a useful waffle cone stand from Winco. Stack up the waffle cones and serve.
Also, stocking up on your restaurant supplies of disposables like napkins, straws, and cups, right down to the toothpicks, is not enough. You need to organize the use of these disposable items as well. Cup dispensers are needed if you sell coffee or tea as take away. Further, these cup dispensers could come with cup dispenser counter mounts. Then there are the Easy fit Cup Dispensers from San Jamar for convenient mounting and dispensing of glasses. Water cup dispensers can be put up next to the water container or purifier machine. Going further in the list of coffee and tea deliverables, one often needs caps to cover the disposable cups, to keep the liquid from spilling. Pick up lid dispensers and organizers in steel or acrylic from San Jamar. Another great utility item to stash away the knick-knacks is the Condiment and Straw Organizer from San Jamar. If steel dispensers do not fit into your restaurant decor, transparent straw dispenser racks in clear acrylic are also available from Winco.
Another common use-and-throw item in a restaurant is the napkin. Napkin dispensers are available from San Jamar in countertop, regular, and wall mounted versions. You can also pick up sets of tabletop napkin dispensers. For the post-snack or post-dinner picking needs of your guests, a toothpick dispenser in clear acrylic is available from Carlisle.

On a Platter

Fast Food & Serving Trays, Tray Stands
In a fast food restaurant setting, you will need a number of utility service trays, preferably in attractive hues. You can order plastic trays in over ten bright shades, and in different shapes, from Cambro and Carlisle. In another scenario, like a dine-in restaurant, service trays would need to be placed on tray stands. G.E.T offers tray stands with a height of over 30 inches. Carlisle offers similar foldable stands in plastic and walnut wood. And Winco offers elegant tray stands in mahogany and walnut. For service in a bar or a restaurant, elegant service trays with a non-skid surface can be ordered from Carlisle or Cambro. You can choose from these options at AppleRestaurantSupply.com.

Lobster Accessories
Making lobsters is not a piece of cake, and there is a host of specialized kitchen supplies that are needed for cooking lobsters and other seafood. You can take a pick from the elegant silver-plated lobster crackers and lobster pricks offered by World Tableware and Johnson-Rose Corp. And once cooked, these lobsters, as well as other food items like vegetables, can be dipped in melted butter served in elegant butter warmers from Johnson-Rose Corp.

Menu Boards/ Number Sets, Menu Covers, Table Tents & Card Holders
If the orders for fast food are plenty, then you need to organize the workflow by giving out table numbers. These number sets should be chosen carefully, as these have to be placed on tables, right in front of the guests. And if the table is reserved, or decaffeinated coffee is available at your restaurant, and you need to display this on the counter or table, G.E.T and Winco offer numbers table tent signs and plastic boards for the purpose. Another place where all eyes are focused, and where you can make or break your joint’s reputation, is on the simple menu card. Table Craft offers elegantly designed menu card covers in single, double and triple fold.

Ramekins & Sauce Cups
Service of crème brûlée, ice creams, cheese preparations, soufflé, and several condiments, requires small glazed, ceramic dishes – ramekins. Highly utilitarian and multi-purpose ramekins should make it to your inventory, especially so because these are heat resistant, and also make for good cook and serve utensils. Carlisle and Gessner offer ceramic ramekins in very interesting colors and shapes, while Libbey has a range of Winchester ramekins in glass. And if you have spicy gravies and accompaniments are listed on your menu, dishes called gravy boats, because of their peculiar shape that facilitates pouring, can be added to your dinnerware. Order from the gravy boats offered by Gessner in sets of twelve pieces.
Shallow bowls for serving sauces or condiments, also known as monkey dishes can add to the variety on your dinner table. They have great utility as small dishes to carry accompaniments. Monkey dishes from Gessner can be used for carrying salad dressings. Orders can be placed on AppleRestaurantSupply.com in multiples of 3 pieces.

Concocting Tales

Sugar Holders, Syrup Dispensers, Shakers & Pourers
Optional sugar packets or sugar cubes – usually placed on the service counter, or the guest’s table should accompany the beverages ordered in your restaurant. Libbey, Carlisle and Gessner offer packet holders and sugar cube holders in Gibraltar glass, and in acrylic. A sugar merchandiser caddy in plastic could also be added to your concession counter. For pouring syrup, add a syrup pitcher made of glass, or stackable utility servers made of stainless steel – from Johnson-Rose Corp. – to your kitchen equipments. The flat-bottomed flasks with narrow tube like necks – or cruets, as they are better known – can be used as dispensers for liquid condiments. Oil and vinegar cruets, cruets with stoppers, and cruet sets in glass, are available from Libbey. Salt and peppershakers are available in glass from Libbey and Anchor. These kitchen supplies are available on AppleRestaurantSupply.com.

Wine Buckets & Stands, Pitchers & Wine Decanters
If you serve only the finest fermented grapes from the world’s best vineyards at your restaurant, you would rather serve it in great style. An elegant wine bucket stand from Johnson-Rose Corp. or silver plated wine coolers from World Tableware or Carlisle, and wine cooler bucket servers in glass from Cambro would do justice to your expensive wine collection. And for your bar, invest in some good quality glass and steel pitchers for serving beer and water, and glass decanters for wine, available from Carlisle, Cambro, World Tableware, and Johnson-Rose Corp.

A connoisseur of food would know the difference between ‘eating’ and ‘dining.’ If you are in the business of food, you ought to know that too – that unlike just eating, dining is an art. You could begin by being well equipped for the challenges presented by a fine dining enterprise. Come to us for the dinnerware and other dining room equipment. But, there is a lot more we can help you with n the restaurant business, at AppleRestaurantSupply.com.