Tableware

Enough for the largest simultaneous sitting, plus what will be in the dishwasher during it, plus a replacement allowance. For a busy venue that is well above one of each per seat.

Then check the plate you use most. Most venues run out of the main plate long before anything else, so that line needs a deeper buffer than the rest.

That is the question to ask before you commit, not after. A pattern that is discontinued leaves you either running two slightly different plates or replacing the whole service.

Favour established commercial ranges over a one-off look for the lines you will reorder most. Keep the distinctive pieces for the items that go out rarely.

Porcelain and vitrified china for the dining room: they look right and they take a commercial wash. The trade-off is chipping, and a chipped plate has to come out of service.

Melamine does not break, which makes it the answer for outdoors, poolside and venues with children. Stainless suits buffets and functions, where chafing dishes and trays dominate anyway.

Stacking and transport, not service. Plates chip against each other when they are stacked wet and carried in tall piles, and that is a process problem rather than a product one.

Rack them rather than stack them where you can, and keep stack heights lower than feels efficient. A plate lowerator at the pass removes a lot of handling.

Only if you intend to use it that way, and it should not be assumed. Plenty of commercial china is not rated for a microwave oven, and anything with a metallic rim definitely is not.

If the service model involves reheating on the plate, check the rating on the product page or the specifications before standardising on a line.

In a commercial machine with the right racks, which is both faster and gentler than hand washing. Hand washing china in a double sink produces more chips, not fewer.

Match the rack to the item. Plates in a plate rack and bowls in a bowl rack is the difference between a clean wash and a reload; see dishwasher racks.

Small items — teaspoons, salt shakers, sugar bowls, espresso cups — disappear at a steady rate in every venue, and it is cheaper to accept it and reorder than to police it.

Count the small lines more often than the plates. They are the ones that quietly run out.

With the menu. Count the dishes that need a specific plate or bowl, buy deep on those, and keep the rest of the service generic. A dining room does not need a different piece for every item on the list.

Then look at service items — serving trays, jugs, water carafes — which are usually the thing people forget until the first service.