APW Wyott Plate Dispensers 101

When you run a public eating establishment you have to consider how you want to offer plates to your guests. You have to consider the appearance of it as well as the usefulness and the hygiene aspects. Having a stack of plates that your employees constantly refill may be the cheapest way to present plates; however, you have to consider all the labor that goes in to that. Someone has to load them and unload them from the dishwasher, possibly dry them, then take them over, set them down, watch the level and repeat as necessary. This process would be a full time job during a busy dinner service. And since you can't stack plates too high, could potentially cause a run-out of plates.
All of these are things to consider if you want a manual plate dispensing system. Otherwise, a busy restaurant or catering company should look into more of an automatic plate dispensing system. APW Wyott is a great manufacturer to turn to for this dilemma. They offer many different options for plate dispensing. You just have to determine what style best fits your needs. There are drop-in and mobile options, heated and unheated options, shielded and unshielded and enclosed options.
Drop-in vs Mobile Drop-in plate dispensers are what you would assume they are. They are the type that you will build into a countertop or buffet line. All you should see of them is the black plate guides that manage to keep the plates in place as they're being held and dispensed. These are best to purchase when first building or remodeling your restaurant. Once in, they're essentially permanent unless you perform construction. Built-in styles are more for restaurants that know their layout and don't expect it to change for a while. A mobile plate dispenser, on the other hand, is ideal for the ever-changing food service place. It gives you the ability to move the plate dispenser around to wherever you need it. More of a cart, it allows it to be wheeled around a room. These are ideal for caterers who constantly need to change the set-up based on their clients' wishes. While it can be used in a restaurant, typically they are not. The fact that it is on wheels can be a liability and look out of place in an otherwise stationary and built-in setting. One great benefit of a mobile dispenser over a built-in dispenser is that when it needs to be refilled, it can be carted over to the dishwasher and filled there. A drop-in kind, on the other hand, requires someone to either carry a small stack at a time or enlist the use a utility cart to transport the plates from the dishwasher. There's a time and place for both styles.
Heated vs Unheated Choosing between a heated or an unheated plate dispenser is really a thing of taste. We've all been to a buffet line where you grab a plate and it's still wet from the dishwasher. You have the choice to either set it down and try a different plate or just ignore it and keep going down the line. A heated plate dispenser helps to prevent this from happening to your customers. The heated elements will ensure your customers get plates that are dry. The warmth of the plate helps also to keep their food warm while they're eating, which is especially helpful if your restaurant is a family-style restaurant filled with talking customers. Customers want to be able to carry on a conversation and not worry about their food getting cold. While heated plates are one of the most popular styles, they do tend to cost more, but customers notice the difference. Unheated dispensers on the other hand, do have a very important place in a restaurant as well. You should consider the placement of where a heated dispensers along a buffet line is not wanted. The last place you want to put a heated dispenser is next to a salad bar. For these plates, you probably want an unheated plate dispenser. No one wants a hot plate for a cold salad or fruit. By the time a person has finished preparing their salad, the lettuce will start wilting, guaranteeing a ruined meal. So make sure you consider what will be placed on the plates before shelling out extra money for a heated element.
Shielded vs Unshielded vs Enclosed When you're considering which type of plate dispenser you need, you also need to consider how open your plates can be to the elements. Some versions of plate dispensers from APW Wyott come as shielded plate dispensers and others you can get as unshielded. Which you purchase depends on where you will be placing them. You won't want to put an unshielded dispenser out in the middle of a busy room. Dirt particles among many other things can have easy access to the plates causing them to become dirty and unsanitary. Also, nothing will protect the plates from having a beverage or other food spilt on them causing a possible food allergy to occur. An unsuspecting customer with a high-level peanut allergy can grab a plate that had peanut butter spilt on it and end up in the emergency room. You don't want to have that happen when you could simply purchase an enclosed or shielded dispenser. A time when unshielded dispensers are great is when they're built-in to a counter or part of the drop-in collection. This means that the counter is already its protection from the elements and having the extra material to enclose it or shield it ends up being an added and unnecessary cost.
With all of the options that APW Wyott offers, knowing the diameter of the plates you plan to be dispensing is an important guideline. There are a few "adjustube" options, that are adjustable between a set of plate diameters. Look to these as your solution if you are a caterer who uses two plate sizes and are able to change them between dinner and dessert. Either way, you have a lot of options when you begin your search for the perfect plate dispenser. Choose wisely, and shop the different styles. Make sure what you purchase is appropriate for your needs. Browse our wide selection right here: www.PublicKitchenSupply.com/PlateDispensers