Tableware is much more than containers for serving food; it is part of your restaurant’s main attraction and table setting, emphasizing the beauty and enhancing the flavors of the dishes on the menu. The best tableware creates the perfect atmosphere for an excellent dining experience and helps chefs best express their personalities.
That’s why choosing kitchenware for your restaurant is a really important step for success. For chefs and restaurateurs, selecting the right tableware can make a huge difference not only in the presentation of food, but also in adding personality to the restaurant.
Considering various aspects, including primarily durability, porcelain is the material of choice when evaluating various types of tableware for a restaurant.
Cordonata impilabile line, for strength and sustainable aesthetics
The benefits of porcelain tableware for restaurant owners
The term porcelain refers to different clay production processes that require production with fire. Porcelain differs from other ceramics such as clay, earthenware, and stoneware in the fineness and color of the production material, as well as the difference in firing temperature that makes porcelain tableware more durable, even to heat.
Porcelain is a popular choice because it is both durable and aesthetically attractive and has important benefits for Ho.Re.Ca. professionals.
Durability and strength of porcelain tableware
Medium baking dishes and ware are not suitable for professional use because they would not withstand the wear and tear of continuous, daily use, between washing, use and stacking. MPS porcelain dinnerware is of high quality and designed with our customers in mind, to ensure durability and longevity, representing a cost-effective investment for caterers.
It all starts with the firing process inside the kiln and the temperatures used to produce the porcelain items: MPS Porcellane products undergo a single firing at 1300 degrees Celsius or a double firing at 900 degrees Celsius. These temperatures make them vitrified, strong and durable, as well as dishwasher safe and microwaveable. Because of their smooth, nonporous surface, salad bowls, dishes and cups are easy to clean and do not absorb water, also helping to retain the flavors of the food served.
MPS porcelain is resistant to breakage and chipping, although it can break if handled improperly, but it is undoubtedly one of the most durable materials of all, and, in fact, besides cooking, it is used in many other applications.
Creativity takes center stage in every form, Handpainted line
The sustainability of porcelain items
Porcelain is used daily both in the kitchen and in other areas, starting with furniture. Its presence is an indication of one more aspect, in addition to its versatility: its ability to respond to new environmental standards.
Porcelain is eco-friendly
MPS Porcelain’s wares are made from a feldspathic porcelain mixture composed of top-quality feldspar, quartz and kaolin from Limoges. The raw materials are thus derived from the earth, for environmentally sustainable use that does not upset the environmental balance in any way. In fact, the production processes to make the finished items have a low environmental impact, and we use only environmentally sustainable glazes and paints, for a result that is not only aesthetically valuable and durable, but also eco-friendly. Porcelain products are also sustainable for another reason: their durability. If porcelain baking dishes and cups are created to be durable, it means that they will withstand use for several years: this means less waste, as an item will last longer.
Porcelain is recyclable
Despite the durability of porcelain tableware, it is normal for the surface to become scratched after some time, just as it is equally plausible to think of breakage during use, especially if it is professional porcelain, which passes from hand to hand several times a day. If the item reaches the end of its life cycle, it is time to throw it away, meaning to recycle it: porcelain tableware is in fact recyclable. It is a biodegradable material, which must be disposed of by a waste collection center. A porcelain item can last for hundreds and hundreds of years – just think of archaeological finds, where clay or ceramic tableware is often found. History aside, however, it is important to dispose of porcelain properly, indeed, to give these products a second life.
Creative use can give porcelain a second life
The life cycle of porcelain: how to recycle it
All over Italy there are landfills and waste disposal centers that recycle porcelain items, including kitchenware of course. Porcelain products can be recovered in more ways than one:
- Reuse. If porcelain bowls or cups have simply “aged” and show signs of wear and tear that no longer fit the style of your restaurant, you can give them a new life. Options include employing them in alternative uses, such as stylish decorations with a creative twist.
- Second life with new items and uses. Porcelain products can be reduced to rubble and fine powder to re-enter the production process as raw material for new product creations. Porcelain and ceramic pieces can become filler material on construction sites or gravel for paving. Most importantly, they can be reused to create porcelain tableware. Experiments and research go on to best dose the amount of new and recycled material and thus achieve the optimal result in terms of strength and beauty.
- Creativity. Since several porcelain tableware items are true art applied to utility, such as our Handpainted line, a tribute to craftsmanship and one-of-a-kind pieces, it might be interesting to repurpose these items as a base for artists, not only in the kitchen and for more original presentations. What if a tray became part of a mosaic?
- Donation. “Dated” beauty can still be part of a different culinary experience, unpretentious presentations with maniacal attention to the smallest details, but that can bring smiles. Porcelain containers that are no longer good for caterers can be useful for soup kitchens or charities to help anyone in need of sturdy porcelain items, even if no longer aesthetically perfect.
Environmentally sustainable aesthetics: porcelain products from MPS
When choosing tableware for your restaurant, consider an essential issue for our future, namely sustainability. Porcelain is a material that originates from the earth, so the impact of tableware made from this material, during production and recycling, is very small. The strength and durability of the baking dishes, salad bowls and cups in MPS Porcellane lines are excellent, helping to make your investment truly efficient. But it’s not just about being environmentally friendly: our products are designed to meet the needs of all Ho.Re.Ca. professionals, such as Cordonata impilabile line. Shapes and sizes for every use in the kitchen and a presentation enhanced by delicately worked edges in classic colors that can enhance every dish, from sweet to savory. MPS Porcellane is more than functional aesthetics, it is the answer to the demand for sustainable aesthetics.
