Serving & Server Trays

Server Trays: What You Need to Know

Restaurant serving trays, also known as waiter trays or waitress trays, equip your servers to bring food to an entire table simultaneously while buffering hot dishes from sensitive hands. Waitress trays, while often overlooked, are necessary to maximize efficiency at a sit-down restaurant. Spending a few minutes considering which will best suit your needs can have serious payoff. We carry several hundred different options, including various shapes, sizes, and styles, to ensure you find the appropriate tray for your dining room.

Several criteria must be considered when choosing the best restaurant serving tray. Its material determines how long the tray will last, how expensive it'll be, and what aesthetic it brings. Many models include nonslip inserts, usually made of rubber, that will increase the overall cost. You'll also want to examine how your new trays fit into your cleaning procedure, as there certainly will be spills and other messes that need to be dealt with. Many of our trays can be put in a commercial dishwasher. All these considerations will make your operation run smoother when the trays are employed in your commercial foodservice sphere.

Common Questions About Restaurant Serving Trays

What tray material should I choose?

First, determine if your aesthetic leans toward fine dining or casual. Elegant wooden or porcelain trays would be an unnecessary expense in a casual dining environment, while low-cost plastic and melamine options would be out of place in a fine dining establishment. This will help you eliminate several of the available materials and narrow your selection. Your next step should be to determine your budget – operators on a shoestring budget might not want to invest in materials that take many months to provide a return on investment. However, if you have the extra capital to spend, longer lasting materials such as fiberglass or stainless steel could be the wisest choice, as they'll outlast the plastic and melamine options.

Do I need a nonslip tray?

Again, this will primarily be a matter of cost. Anyone who has the capital to invest should probably choose nonslip waiter trays because a nonslip surface will reduce the risk of spills. Spillage can be a significant cost for a commercial restaurant because plates can be broken, food and drink can be wasted, and any customer unfortunate enough to get splattered will probably expect some form of compensation. Most tray brands come with some type of nonslip surface, so finding a style you like with nonslip properties shouldn't be a problem.

Maintaining your nonslip tray is also important. If grease and oils build up over time because of infrequent cleaning, the nonslip surface will become quite slippery. You should also follow the specific instructions found on the specifications sheet of your tray, as some can't withstand the high heat of hot plates or heat lamps. Many use rubber inserts, which may not be rated for those temperatures.

Are restaurant serving trays dishwasher safe?

Many of our restaurant serving trays are dishwasher safe, but not all of them. Some materials aren't rated to endure the high heat of a commercial high-temp dishwasher, so if you plan to sanitize your trays with your dishwasher, ensure you purchase units that specifically say dishwasher safe. Also, consider how tall your dishwasher is against the diameter of round trays or the height and width of rectangular trays. You don't want to start using your new trays only to discover they're bigger than the cavity of your dishwasher.