{"id":36528,"date":"2023-05-24T14:50:18","date_gmt":"2023-05-24T04:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/?p=36528"},"modified":"2023-09-08T11:59:21","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T01:59:21","slug":"dishing-it-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/blog\/dishing-it-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Dishing it up"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\u201cIt\u2019s not just what\u2019s on the plate, it\u2019s the plate itself,\u201d says Sadik Ardolli, Sales and Marketing Manager for national hospitality supplier Chef\u2019s Hat. \u201cWhether you are the Ritz-Carlton or a corner caf\u00e9, you are selling an experience,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd the plate you put down in front of the customer says as much about your brand as the chandelier hanging from the ceiling to the way your menu is designed.\u201d<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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In the past decade the colour palette for restaurant tableware has become more muted. Ten years ago, there was a lot more colour in the ceramic on which food was served, now those colours have moved from earthy pastel to more neutral earthy tones. \u201cI have just sat down with a new restaurant that wants a real \u2018nonna\u2019 feel so I am now sourcing a range of brown-hued crockery for that client. Sadik says that restaurants, bistros and even pizzerias want to make their own mark on the table and are turning to branded crockery. \u201cIt is not a long process,\u201d he says. \u201cThe client will come to us with some finished artwork and we will have some samples made for their approval to make sure it works on the plate and with food,\u201d he says. \u201cOnce the client approves, we then have the artwork glazed onto each piece. The process can take under four weeks.\u201d

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When it comes to bespoke ceramics, no one knows pottery like third-generation potter Sam Gordon. Based in Gembrook in Victoria\u2019s Dandenong Ranges, he handmakes tableware for restaurants from Sydney to Manhattan. Sam recently put his pottery wheel on a trailer to work with a restaurateur in Sydney. \u201cIt starts with a conversation,\u201d says the affable potter. \u201cThey tell me how deep the plate needs to be and what will be served in it. I can\u2019t sketch, so I start to throw a plate using clay on the wheel, to give them an idea of the shape and size,\u201d he says. He might add a dint in the lip of the plate for a spoon or a place for a jug to go. He is also aware that the plate needs to meet the demands of different parts of the restaurant. It needs to hold the food for the chef. It needs to add visual value for the customer. It needs to withstand the rigours of the washing up sink and it needs to be stackable. \u201cA good plate needs to work with the food, the atmosphere of the dining room, it needs to make great food look just that little bit better.\u201d<\/p>


\u201cWhile some customers are going for the Japanese-style glazes there is a real growing demand for the white porcelain bistro plate,\u201d says Sadik. \u201cThere is a lot of value to be had with the brands from Turkey, while the lustre is coming off the English made plates. The costs are rising.\u201d Sadik says whatever tableware a business invests in, you get what you pay for. \u201cYou could be handing over as little as $5 a unit,\u201d he says, \u201cbut you\u2019re taking a risk on its longevity, while a $40 plate could last a decade. The problem with that is,\u201d he says with a little laugh, \u201cfor some that is too long as they like to change over their plates when they change chefs or do a big menu change.\u201d<\/p>


Tableware is a big investment for any business and it needs to be cared for. \u201cA lot of people are opting for stoneware because of its beautiful texture,\u201d says ceramicist Shelley Panton. She has been making fine ceramics for chefs and domestic kitchens for 15 years. Shelley says to avoid earthenware as it is not durable enough for a commercial dining room. \u201cStoneware is stronger but look for plates made with at least 10% porcelain,\u201d she says. \u201cThey need to be oven, microwave and dishwasher safe and that little bit of porcelain makes it that bit stronger.\u201d She says the biggest enemy of tableware is thermal shock. \u201cYou break your wine glasses in the sink, not the dishwasher and not when you\u2019re clinking them to say \u2018cheers\u2019. Right?\u201d she asks. \u201cSo don\u2019t put your plates through rapid temperature changes,\u201d she says. That\u2019s when they are most likely to break. \u201cOr, when there\u2019s a klutz who drops them. That cannot be helped.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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As seen in Winter 2023<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSee more<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The plate you put down in front of the customer says as much about your brand as the chandelier hanging from the ceiling to the way your menu is designed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":36799,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration-trends","category-industry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36528"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36535,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36528\/revisions\/36535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bidfood.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}