Expo Hire delivers stainless steel cutlery to events across England and Wales. Dinner knives, dessert spoons, fish knives, serving spoons, and full place setting packages are all available with live stock and delivery to your postcode.
For a three-course dinner, allow four to five pieces per cover. For 100 guests, that is 400 to 500 pieces plus 10 per cent for replacements. Read the Cutlery Hire Guide for a full place setting guide by event type.
All cutlery is delivered clean and ready for use. Return it dirty. Expo Hire washes and polishes everything as standard.
Browse all cutlery and check delivery pricing to your postcode.
Expo Hire delivers cutlery across England and Wales. Enter your postcode at checkout for instant delivery pricing. Sunday delivery is available as standard. Cutlery is delivered clean and polished in linen-lined crates.
Three-course formal dinner: Starter fork and knife, main knife and fork, and dessert spoon or fork. Five pieces per cover. For 100 guests, order 500 pieces plus 10 per cent contingency.
Buffet: Main knife and fork per guest, plus serving spoons and tongs for each buffet dish. For a 10-dish buffet serving 100, order 100 main sets and 20 serving pieces.
Afternoon tea: Side knife, cake fork, and teaspoon per guest. For 50 guests, order 150 pieces.
Canapé reception only: Dessert fork or cocktail fork if food requires one. Many canapé receptions use no cutlery at all if food is finger-food only.
Pack it dirty in the crates or bags it arrived in. Expo Hire washes and polishes everything in commercial machines. Do not pre-wash before return — dried food is easier for commercial machines to handle than damp cutlery.
A simple two-course meal often needs one knife, one fork, and one dessert spoon or fork per guest, plus spare pieces for service issues. A three-course wedding breakfast needs far more. For 100 guests, it is common to order 100 starter forks, 100 dinner knives, 100 dinner forks, 100 dessert spoons, plus teaspoons if tea and coffee follow the meal. Add serving pieces for buffets and shared dishes.
Corporate lunches often need fewer pieces than weddings because the menu is shorter. Buffets need fewer place settings but more serving spoons, tongs, and ladles. If you are unsure, start with the menu rather than the guest count. Our cutlery hire range lets you build the order piece by piece, and you can add matching crockery in the same basket.
