Round Plates

One main size, one entree size and one side size, chosen by plating your actual dishes rather than from a size chart. The main plate is the decision that matters, because it sets what a portion looks like.

Resist buying a very large main plate to look generous. A large plate makes the same portion look smaller and costs you table space and shelf height.

A rim gives a cool place to hold, frames the food and contains sauce. A coupe has no rim, so a plate of the same diameter gives you noticeably more usable surface and a cleaner modern look.

Coupe plates are harder to carry when hot and let sauce run closer to the edge. Decide by how your dishes are plated, not by which looks better empty.

Because they stack and wash without being aligned. A round plate drops into a stack centred, sits in any rack and does not present a corner for another plate to knock.

Fewer alignment chances means fewer chips. That is most of the reason kitchens default to round even when a square would present better.

Lower than most kitchens run them. Weight at the bottom of a tall stack is what starts rim chips, and a stack tall enough to need two hands is a stack that gets dropped.

Split into several short stacks by size. Modular shelving with the shelves set to plate height is better than a single deep shelf.

Round is the one shape that works properly in a tube or lowerator, because the stack stays self-centred as plates are taken off the top. That is a genuine operational advantage for high-volume service.

Check the diameter against the tube before buying. A heated shelf is the simpler alternative for smaller venues.

To staff, yes, over a whole shift. A heavier plate feels better on a table and usually takes more knocks, but three heavy mains on one arm is a different proposition from three light ones.

Front of house should hold a sample before you order a hundred. Weights are on the product page specifications.

Within a course, yes — an entree and a main from different runs on the same table reads as a mistake. Across a whole venue you have more latitude if the shapes are clearly different.

Order all sizes together from the same run, and order the replacement allowance with them. The rest of the crockery range follows the same rule.