Restaurant Furniture Manufacturer

Making Tables to a Plan Rather Than to a Catalogue

Tables are where restaurant manufacturing differs most from producing furniture for stock, because a table is the component most constrained by the room around it.

Base geometry decides how many people actually fit

A four-leg table seats four comfortably and a fifth person badly, because the legs sit exactly where a fifth chair wants to be. A central pedestal frees the whole perimeter and lets the same top take an extra cover, at the cost of stability under edge loading. A trestle or sled base pushes the supports outboard, which suits banquette runs because nothing obstructs the bench side. These are manufacturing choices with direct revenue consequences, and they should be made from the seating plan rather than from a catalogue image.

Tip resistance is engineered, not assumed

Restaurant tables are leaned on from one side constantly — guests standing up, staff clearing. A pedestal table's resistance to tipping comes from the footprint and mass of its base relative to the top's overhang. Getting this wrong produces a table that rocks whenever someone rests their weight on the edge, which is both irritating and, with drinks on it, expensive. We size bases against the actual top rather than pairing a standard base with whatever top is ordered.

Top construction has to survive service and stay flat

Restaurant tops take constant wiping, hot plates, spills and impact. Solid timber tops are built from narrower boards so that seasonal movement is distributed across several joints instead of concentrated in one, and they are fixed to the base through elongated holes so the top can move without splitting. Edge profile matters more than it appears: a sharp arris chips on the first knock, while a small radius survives years of trolley contact and can be sanded back when it does not.

Bench and banquette frames

Bench seating wins covers, and the frame is joinery rather than furniture — built to a wall run, to a plan dimension, with the seat height coordinated to the table height rather than assumed. We build bench and banquette frames to measured dimensions. Fully upholstered fire-rated seating is finished by an upholsterer in your own market; we supply the frame it is built on.

Solid Wood Dining Tables

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Catalogue, Modified, or Made to Measure

Three routes to restaurant furniture, differing in cost, lead time and how well the room works afterwards.

Catalogue as-is

Fastest and cheapest per unit, because the model is jigged and the setup cost is already amortised across previous runs. The room is designed around the furniture rather than the other way round, which is fine in a regular rectangular space and costly in an irregular one. Correct where the plan is simple and the opening date is tight.

Modified catalogue

An existing model produced at a different length, width or height. This is the option most operators do not realise exists, and it is usually the best value in the range: the design, the joinery and the jigs already exist, so a dimensional change costs materially less than a new piece while solving the actual plan problem. Changing a table from 1600 to 1750 to close a gap in a wall run is a modification, not a commission.

Made to measure

A piece designed for the room from the start. Necessary for irregular spaces, signature pieces at the entrance or bar, and banquette runs that must follow a wall. It carries prototyping and jigging costs that a modification does not, so it makes commercial sense for pieces that are either few and highly visible, or numerous enough to amortise the setup.

Where most restaurants land

Catalogue seating in depth, because depth in one chair model is where the price advantage sits; modified catalogue tables sized to the plan; and one or two made-to-measure pieces where the room needs them. That structure keeps the majority of the order in efficient production while solving the dimensional problems that actually cost covers.

The Information That Makes a Quotation Accurate

Made-to-measure work is decided by information rather than by budget. These are the things that let a manufacturer quote accurately rather than defensively.

The dimensioned plan, with the seating layout on it

Not a mood board. The plan with table positions, cover counts and wall runs tells us what dimensions are actually needed and where a modification solves a problem a catalogue size cannot.

Table height and seat height together

These are a pair. Standard dining, counter and bar heights each need a matching seat height, and a bench built to a table designed later is a bench that does not work. Fix both before either is made.

Which pieces repeat and which are singular

Quantity per model drives cost far more than total spend. Twenty of one table is substantially cheaper per unit than four each of five tables, because jigging and setup are fixed costs spread across the run. Where a budget is tight, consolidating table sizes is almost always more effective than reducing specification.

What the room is cleaned with

A finish that survives a damp cloth will not survive a nightly degreaser. Tell us the actual regime and we will specify a finish that can be repaired locally rather than one that has to leave the room.

Whether this is one site or the first of several

If a group rollout is likely, say so at the first order. Documenting a model and retaining its jigs at first production is what makes site three match site one; reverse-engineering it two years later never quite does.

The immovable date

Prototyping, production, inspection, freight and clearance run in sequence. Made-to-measure work needs the prototype stage protected; compressing it is where restaurant projects most often go wrong.

Models frequently produced for restaurant floors include the Nafsika Dining Chair, the Orlando Dining Chair and the Lionel Oval Dining Table. Ranges sit in our solid wood dining tables.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you make tables to a non-standard size?

Yes, and on an existing model it is usually far cheaper than clients expect, because the design and jigs already exist. Send the dimension the plan needs rather than choosing the nearest catalogue size.

Do you manufacture banquette seating?

The frame, yes — built to the wall run and to a seat height coordinated with the tables. The upholstery on top of it is finished by a specialist in your own market, because foam specification and fire-rating certification belong with an upholsterer rather than with a joinery workshop.

What is the difference between this and buying from a restaurant furniture supplier?

A supplier sells you what exists. A manufacturer makes what your plan needs, can change a dimension, and can reproduce the same piece for a second site because the specification is documented.

Can you match furniture in an existing restaurant?

In most cases. We need clear photographs including a joint close-up, accurate dimensions and ideally one original piece. A new timber batch will not take a stain identically to one cut years earlier, so new pieces beside originals will differ under daylight.

Do you supply used or clearance restaurant furniture?

No. We manufacture to order and hold no stock. Operators looking for immediate low-cost stock should approach a liquidator or a stockholding dealer; the trade-off is that quantities are fixed and matching replacements are not possible later.

How many tables justify made-to-measure?

It depends on whether the piece is a modification or a new design. Dimensional changes to an existing model are viable in small quantities; a genuinely new design carries prototyping and jigging costs that need either high visibility or reasonable volume to justify. We will tell you which side of that line your piece sits on.

Can you produce for a restaurant group across several sites?

Yes. Model specifications, jigs and finish references are retained so later sites are produced from documentation rather than recollection.

Testing the Piece in the Room It Was Made For

Made-to-measure restaurant furniture carries a specific risk: a dimension that is correct on the drawing and wrong in the room. A table at the right length that leaves too little circulation behind a seated guest. A chair that does not tuck under because the apron sits four centimetres too low. A bench height that leaves guests looking up at their plates.

We build a prototype before any series run and expect it to be tested against the actual conditions rather than approved from a photograph — the real chair under the real table, in the room's own lighting, with someone sitting in it. Every fault found at that stage costs one piece. The same fault found after production costs the floor. We ask that service staff walk it as well as the designer, because they identify things nobody else notices: a table edge that catches a serving tray, a base that a mop cannot reach around, a chair that is awkward to lift two at a time when resetting a section.

Once approved, that prototype becomes the physical reference. Frames and bases are jigged so geometry does not drift across the run, and finished pieces are compared against the object rather than a supervisor's judgement on the day. Model records — dimensions, joint details, timber specification, finish formulation and hardware — are retained, which is what allows a group to open a second site three years later with tables that sit correctly beside the first.

Our artisans in Bali work to that reference. The honest limits are the same ones we state everywhere: we hold no laboratory furniture-testing certification and will not claim any, and we do not produce fire-rated upholstered seating.

Starting From the Dimension the Room Needs

The most valuable thing a restaurant manufacturer offers is not bespoke design; it is the modified catalogue table that closes a gap in a wall run and gains you two covers for the price of an ordinary table. Operators who send a plan get that option. Operators who send a wishlist of models get quoted for the nearest sizes and design the room around them.

Send the dimensioned plan with the seating layout, the table and seat heights you need, and whether this is one site or the first of several. We will tell you which pieces are catalogue, which are worth modifying and which genuinely need making from scratch — and what each route costs. Reach our production team here, or review the stages in our order workflow guide.