Why Plate Size Matters

Plates can have a massive impact on your restaurant; that’s why you need the right size of plate that will suit your presentation style, cuisine type, and portion size of your menu.

Plates are for a specific purpose; for instance, large plates are unsuitable for starters because the meal might seem lost. 

Furthermore, having 16 cm plates is inadequate for your main course except when you limit portion sizes. A regular dinner plate has a diameter of 27 cm, but over the years, many restaurants and diners have decided to use plate sizes of 30 cm or above.

The right plate size frames your meal, creates the illusion of a massive serving, and is useful when managing a cost per cover.

How To Utilize Your Table Space With Plate Sizes

This includes your appetizer plate, side plate, dessert plate, and dinner plate. Let’s explain further ;

1) Appetizer Plate: It is the smallest plate on your dining table and can serve amuse-bouche and appetizers. They should be 10 cm – 12 cm in diameter and should be used to display a petite, single, or ornate item. 

You can use this plan as an auxiliary plate for disposing of teabags or fish bones due to their small sizes.

2) Side Plates: They are generally 14 cm – 17.5 cm and can be used to serve bread before a meal or used to place napkins. Having side plates on your restaurant table is not compulsory, but should be made available when requested by customers, maybe when they want to serve small portions to children. 

If your restaurant’s back of house (BOH) space is limited, and you do not offer side plates on your table settings, you can substitute with starter plates. 

A 17.5 cm starter plate is an excellent compromise between a starter and a side plate.

3) Starter Plate: They are generally 17.5 cm – 20 cm in size. Its size helps build height into the presentation of minimal quantities of food. You can use your starter plates as salad plates, although some fit perfectly close to the dinner plate.

4) Dinner Plate: A standard dinner plate has a diameter of but has increased over the years to 28 cm – 30 cm. Dinner plates have broader and more decorative frames; large dinner plates for generous portions.

5) Dessert Plates: They are typically around 20 cm – 25 cm in size, although several desserts suit other sizes. For example, a crème brulèe is prepared in a 8 cm ramekin, but it can be challenging to decorate or fill in an 20 cm plate. So you can utilize smaller plates like starter plates for desserts, mainly when serving pre-bowled desserts. 

A delicious meal does not only appeal to your taste and smell, and it appeals mostly to your senses. If you want to use the correct plate sizes in your restaurant, you’ll need to consider the shape, size, and color of the plate, although colored plates depend on the form of your presented meal.

Your plate size should be a bit large, so your meal doesn’t overcrowd your plate, yet small enough to make the meal size look somewhat filling but not too small. In summary, a large plate will make your meal seem insufficient, while a small plate will make your meal seem too much.

On A Final Note;

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