A practical guide to calculating crockery quantities for events, covering sit-down dinners, buffets, tea service and breakage allowance.
A practical guide to calculating crockery quantities for events, covering sit-down dinners, buffets, tea service and breakage allowance.
For a seated dinner service, the baseline is one dinner plate and one side plate per guest. Add a soup bowl per guest if you are serving a soup course, and a dessert bowl per guest if you are serving dessert plated at the table rather than in the kitchen.
If you are running multiple courses that require plate changes, add one extra dinner plate per guest per additional course requiring a clean plate. Most caterers running a standard three-course sit-down dinner can work with one dinner plate, one side plate and one dessert bowl per head, with service staff collecting plates between courses.
Buffet events use more crockery than seated dinners. Guests take a fresh plate when they return for a second serving, rather than using the same plate twice. The standard allowance is one dinner plate per guest, plus 20% extra on top.
For 100 guests at a buffet, order 120 dinner plates. If you are providing a dessert station as well, add one dessert bowl per guest. Side plates are useful for bread rolls or side items at the table.
If you are serving tea or coffee after a meal, allow one cup and saucer per guest. If service runs over an extended period and cups are cleared and reused, you can reduce this to one cup and saucer per two guests, but only if you have a washing-up facility on site.
For events without a kitchen or washing area, order enough cups for every guest to have one at the same time. Expo Hire collects crockery dirty, so there is no need to wash on site before the collection.
Add 5 to 10% to your calculated quantity to cover breakages. Crockery is ceramic and breaks when dropped. At a busy event with non-professional service staff, breakage is common. Ordering spare pieces means you do not run short mid-service.
Expo Hire includes a Minor Damage Waiver with every hire order at no extra charge. This covers minor chips and small breakages that occur during normal use. It does not cover deliberate damage or large quantities of breakages caused by negligence.
Expo Hire supplies standard white catering china. This includes dinner plates, side plates, bowls, soup bowls and cups with saucers. All pieces are white with no pattern. This is commercial-grade crockery designed for repeated use in catering environments.
We do not supply fine bone china, decorative plates, or plates with coloured rims. If your brief calls for a specific decorative style, you will need a specialist supplier. For most events, white catering china is the right choice: it is clean, neutral and compatible with any table scheme.
Crockery is delivered in plastic crates, typically with plates stacked in column dividers and bowls nested. Count the pieces when you receive the delivery and note any discrepancies before the event starts. Return all crockery in the same crates after the event.
You do not need to wash crockery before returning it. Expo Hire operates a Send It Back Dirty scheme: load the crates after the event and we collect and wash everything at our depot. Do not leave crockery stacked loose outside crates, as this causes breakage in transit.
Crockery, cutlery, glassware and table linen are all available from Expo Hire and are usually ordered together. Combining these items in one order means one delivery, one collection and one invoice, which reduces the logistical overhead for your event.
If you are ordering across multiple categories, confirm the delivery address and access arrangements once. We deliver to venues across England and Wales.
Contact Expo Hire to get a quote for crockery hire. Tell us the number of guests, the courses you are serving and whether you need other catering equipment alongside. We will provide a full itemised quote and confirm availability for your event date. Get in touch here.
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