Find the Perfect Plates and Platters for Your Restaurant at Eleven36
Plates and platters are as important to your food as canvases are to artists. Many restaurant owners recognize the necessity of having quality plates and platters but often find themselves at a crossroads, unsure of where to start. The right choice in dinnerware is more than just a matter of utility; it's about complimenting your culinary creations, enhancing the dining experience, and reflecting the essence of your establishment. Each plate or platter serves as a canvas for your dishes, and choosing the appropriate type, shape, and size can significantly impact presentation and perception.
Beyond aesthetics, practical considerations such as durability, ease of cleaning, and storage requirements are essential. Eleven36 is here to help you step up to the plate. We understand your needs and offer a comprehensive selection of restaurant-grade plates and platters, available for bulk purchasing, to ensure you find exactly what your establishment needs.
A Love-Plate Relationship: 7 Types of Restaurant Dinner Plates
Platters
Platters are large, flat serving plates designed for presenting and serving a variety of foods, from appetizers to main courses. They're ideal for family-style servings, buffet setups, or game-day snacks.
Appetizer/Dessert Plates
Smaller than dinner plates (sigh), appetizer and dessert plates are perfect for the opening number or sweet treat at the end of a meal. Their size encourages portion control and adds a touch of elegance to the dining experience.
Dinner/Salad Plates
A staple in any restaurant, these plates are flexible enough to serve a variety of dishes, from salads to main courses. Dinner and salad plates come in more styles than just round, bringing some novelty to the dining room and elevating the food.
Saucers (Non-Flying)
Typically paired with a cup for coffee or tea service, saucers also serve as a small dish for cookies or a chocolate treat.
A Shellibration of Seafood Trays
Specially designed for seafood presentations, seafood platters and trays can accommodate ice beds for chilled delicacies or feature sauces and shell disposal compartments to keep your diners from getting crabby.
Compartment Plates
Compartment plates are ideal for meals requiring separation of ingredients or courses, such as bento boxes or school cafeterias and healthcare facilities.
A Twist of Plate: Pizza Trays
Pizza plates and trays are circular trays designed specifically for – you guessed it – serving pizza. They can be made of various materials, including metal for oven-to-table service.
First-Plate Materials
Selecting the right material for your dinnerware is crucial for aesthetic and practical reasons. Whether setting a table for fine dining or outfitting a bustling cafeteria, the material of your plates can significantly impact the overall dining experience.
Porcelain Plates
Porcelain is known for its fine, white, and translucent quality, and it is made from a clay mixture that includes kaolin. It's fired at high temperatures, producing a durable and non-porous material.
Porcelain Plates are Best for: Fine dining restaurants, upscale cafes, and special occasions where presentation is paramount.
China Dinnerware
China plates, often called bone china, incorporate bone ash into the porcelain clay, giving it a unique warm white color and added strength. It's known for its high level of whiteness and translucency.
China Plates Are Best for: High-end restaurants, banquet halls, and any setting that demands sophistication and elegance.
Melamine Dinnerware
Melamine is a type of plastic known for its durability and versatility. Melamine plates and dinnerware are an excellent choice for outdoor dining, casual eateries, and children's use due to their nearly unbreakable nature.
Melamine Plates Are Best for: Casual dining, outdoor events, cafeterias, and family-friendly restaurants where practicality trumps formality.
Stoneware
Stoneware is a durable ceramic made from clay and fired at high temperatures. It has a denser, heavier feel than porcelain and often features a glazed finish.
Stoneware Plates Are Best for: Casual restaurants, bistros, and establishments aiming for a cozy, homey atmosphere.
Working with a Blank Plate: Common Restaurant Plate Edge Styles
The edge style of a plate contributes to its aesthetic appeal and functionality in presenting various types of food. From ensuring sauces stay on the plate to enhancing the visual presentation of a dish, the choice of edge style is an important consideration for any culinary setting.
Coupe Rim
Coupe rim plates are characterized by smooth, rounded edges with no distinct rim. The entire surface slopes gently upwards from the center, creating a shallow bowl-like effect.
Best for Serving: This style of restaurant plate is ideal for dishes with sauces or gravies, as the slight concavity helps contain liquids. Coupe-rimmed plates are great for elegantly presenting meals that benefit from a minimalist backdrop.
Wide Rim
Plates with a wide rim feature a broad, often flat, edge around the perimeter of the plate, with a more pronounced well in the center for the food.
Best for Serving: Perfect for plated meals where presentation is key, as the wide rim frames the food. It’s also suitable for dishes with elements that require separation.
Narrow Rim
Narrow rim plates have a slim edge around the plate, maximizing the surface area available for food.
Best for Serving: Narrow-rimmed plates are great for dishes that need ample space, such as large cuts of meat, or for buffet-style servings where variety is presented on one plate.
​Raised Rim
A raised rim plate features edges that tilt upward sharply, creating a distinct barrier between the plate's center and edge.
Best for Serving: Excellent for foods with juices or broths, such as steaks or stews, as the raised rim prevents spillage.
Medium Rim
Medium rim plates strike a balance between wide and narrow rims, offering a moderate edge that provides both a frame for the dish and sufficient space for food.
Best for Serving: Versatile for almost any cuisine, these plates are particularly good for meals that benefit from both worlds – framed presentation and ample eating space.
Give it to Me Plate: Sizes and Shapes of Dinnerware
Getting Into Shape
The shape of things matters, and the shape of a plate can greatly influence both dish presentation and the overall dining experience. That's why Eleven36 offers a diverse range of different shapes, including circle, oval, rectangle, and square plates, and even more unique options like triangular or irregularly shaped plates.
Each shape is better suited for certain kinds of food and settings, and understanding these nuances can help you make the perfect choice for your establishment.
- Circle Plates: ​This classic choice is versatile and ideal for a wide range of dishes. It's perfect for standard dining settings. Circle plates are universally appealing, easy to handle, and easy to store. However, they may be considered too traditional for modern or eclectic cuisines.
- Oval Plates: These are great for plating fish, steaks, or other elongated dishes. They provide more plating space without taking up extra room on the table, but they are slightly more challenging to store efficiently.
- Rectangle Plates: Excellent for sushi, appetizers, or desserts. They allow for creative plating by aligning elements in a row. ​The modern look of rectangular plates enhances the visual appeal of linear dishes but is not as versatile for all types of cuisine.
- Square Plates: Square plates offer a contemporary aesthetic, suitable for any modern commercial establishment. They offer a unique visual presentation but can awkwardly fit into traditional round dish storage.
- Unique Shapes: These are best for themed events or specific culinary presentations that require unique character to really stand out. They can create a memorable experience but are less versatile and more niche in their application.
When choosing the shape of your plates, consider your restaurant's theme, the type of cuisine you serve, and how the shape might enhance or detract from the presentation of your dishes.
Lord of the Size
Recognizing that the size of your dinnerware is just as crucial as its shape, Eleven36 boasts an endless catalog of plates and platters of different sizes to ensure our customers find the perfect fit for their needs. Whether you're looking for something compact for appetizers or expansive for family-style meals, we've got you covered.
We offer plates and platters in various sizes, including length, width, height, and diameter, to accommodate every possible dining requirement. Our collection ranges from small plates starting at 1 inch, ideal for amuse-bouche or single-bite servings, to large platters reaching up to 23 inches long, perfect for communal dining experiences or buffet-style service.
Understanding the importance of size in relation to portion control, table setting, and the type of food being served will guide you in selecting the right dimensions for your plates and platters. A well-chosen size ensures practicality and enhances your table service's overall aesthetic and functionality.
Have Your Plates and Serve Them Too: Other Customization Options
Plate Color
We believe in providing our customers with a wide selection of color options for their restaurant's plates and platters. Understanding that the color of your dinnerware can significantly impact the presentation of your meals and the overall ambiance of your dining space, we strive to cater to every possible aesthetic preference.
Whether you're looking for classic white plates that make your culinary creations pop, sleek blacks for a modern edge, vibrant colors to match a lively theme, or pastel shades for a softer look, we have you covered.
Colors can evoke emotions, set moods, and even influence appetite, making your choice in dinnerware color a crucial aspect of your restaurant's identity. We're dedicated to helping you find the perfect hue to complement your cuisine and décor, ensuring that your dining experience is as visually appealing as it is delicious.
Top Industry Brands
When it comes to selecting the right plates and platters for your restaurant, the brand matters. At Eleven36, we supply some of the industry's most trusted and popular brands, known for durability, quality, and design excellence. We offer various brands to ensure that we meet our customers' diverse needs and preferences.
Some of the top brands we proudly supply include:
Wholesale: Worth Your Plate in Gold
When selecting the right plates and platters for your restaurant, consider the immediate aesthetic appeal and the long-term practicality. Durability, ease of cleaning, stackability, and compatibility with your restaurant's theme are crucial factors.
At Eleven36, our extensive range of restaurant-grade dinnerware meets the diverse needs of culinary establishments.
Whether you need square dinner plates for dinner service or rustic dinnerware, we ensure you can find the perfect match for your menu and ambiance. Our bulk purchasing options also give you discounts to help you save money.
Explore our restaurant dinnerware collection today and elevate your dining experience with the ideal plates and platters. Contact us to learn more!