Restaurant Service Stations and Waiter Stations for Restaurant Projects: Five Sourcing Routes for FF&E Contractors
Five sourcing routes for service stations, waiter stations and side stations, and what to put in the schedule so quotations can be compared line by line.
A service station is the cabinet at the edge of a dining room where cutlery, glassware, napkins, trays and a terminal live. Staff open it hundreds of times a shift, and it is drawn in a few lines on the plan. When the drawing names only its outside size, the maker fills in the inside, and the staff find out on the first service whether the right things fit.
This guide sorts the supply side into five sourcing routes so a project team can send one brief to the right makers and compare the answers fairly. It is not a ranking. No factory is named or scored here, and no claim is made about the performance of any product. For the wider range see our public area and restaurant furniture page and our restaurant and café tables page.
What should a service station brief state?
A brief that says only “service station, 1,200 mm, laminate” produces quotations that cannot be compared. State at least the following, copied from the plan and the item list.
- Item code and quantity: one code per station type, with the quantity per restaurant or per dining room.
- Dimensions: overall width, depth and height as drawn, with the clearance the plan leaves around the station.
- Contents: what the station holds, written as a list: cutlery trays, glass racks, linen shelves, tray stacks, a terminal, a water point.
- Interior layout: the number of drawers, shelves and dividers and their sizes, as drawn and not as the maker assumes.
- Surfaces: carcass, top and edge material, and the cleaning products the venue uses, written for the model quoted.
- Hardware: hinges, runners, handles and locks, with the model reference and a sample.
- Services: power, data and any refrigeration or heating the station carries, and who supplies each.
- Fixing: freestanding, on castors, or fixed to wall or floor.
- Packing: how stations are protected and marked by room, and which parts ship separately.
Five sourcing routes for service stations
1. Joinery shops building to the room drawing
Joinery workshops build the station in the same material and finish as the surrounding bar or wall. Ask for the shop drawing, the carcass and top description, the drawer and runner description and the fixing detail. See also our page on fixed furniture and joinery.
2. Casegoods and cabinet factories
Cabinet factories build repeated units from a standard construction with a choice of finishes. Ask for the construction description, the hardware description and a finished sample, and ask how the interior layout can be changed to your list. This route suits chains with the same station in many sites.
3. Stainless steel and metal fabricators
Metal fabricators build stations with stainless or powder-coated frames, shelves and tops for back-of-house and open service areas. Ask for the section and finish description, the weld and edge description, and how shelves and doors are fixed.
4. Equipment suppliers with refrigerated or heated units
Some stations carry a chilled drawer, a warming cabinet or a water point. Ask which items are made by the supplier and which are bought in, and request the documents in the name of the maker of each electrical unit. See our guide to commercial kitchen equipment manufacturers for the equipment side.
5. Full restaurant package suppliers
Some suppliers quote the whole front-of-house package: stations, tables, seating and counters. This gives one party to coordinate and one delivery, but ask the supplier to quote each item on its own line and to say which items it makes and which it buys in.
How to compare service station quotations
- What is included: carcass, drawers, shelves, dividers, top, hardware and electrical parts, shown as separate lines with the unit of measure stated.
- Interior match: the interior listed against your contents list, drawer by drawer.
- Construction detail: material, edge and hardware described on every line, so a cheaper line is read against what it contains.
- Samples: whether a finished sample is included and who pays for revisions.
- Services: who supplies and connects power, data and any chilled or heated unit.
- Packing: how units are protected and marked by room.
- Exclusions and substitutions: any change of material, finish or hardware the maker proposes.
A quotation that is cheaper on one line may be thinner on another. Read the descriptions side by side before reading the totals.
Send your service station schedule
Send the plans, item list and quantities, and we will tell you which details are missing before factories quote.
Designing the inside before the outside
The cabinet shell is easy to price; the inside is where a station succeeds or fails. Ask the operator’s service lead, or the restaurant designer, for the list of what each station holds and in what order, and draw the interior from it. A drawer sized for the cutlery tray the venue already uses is worth more than a drawer sized to the standard module.
Check also what the staff will do with the doors and drawers: how often they open them, whether they carry loads with one hand, and whether noise matters in a quiet room. These answers decide runners, closers and edge treatment and belong on the item list as fields.
- Contents list: every item stored, with its size, written on the item list.
- Drawer arrangement: the number and size of drawers, dividers and trays drawn to the contents list.
- Closing and noise: the type of closer or catch the operator wants and where it applies.
- Worktop use: whether the top is a working surface, a place for a terminal, or both, and what it must withstand.
Cleaning and wear in a working dining room
A service station is wiped down after every service and knocked by trays and trolleys all day. Write into the brief how the venue cleans it, which corners and edges take the most knocks, and where the station sits against a wall or a bar. Ask each maker to describe the top, the edge treatment and the lower panel for the exact model against that routine, and to say which parts are replaceable, such as runners, handles, door catches and feet.
- Cleaning routine: the products and frequency the venue uses, stated to every maker alike.
- Knock points: corners, edges and the lower panel, and how each is protected.
- Replaceable parts: runners, handles, catches and feet offered as spare parts, and how each is identified.
Samples, approval and acceptance on delivery
Approve a finished sample service station, including a drawer and the top, not a photograph, before bulk production, and record the approval in writing against the item code. Place it beside the other pieces of the room set so finish, height and edge are seen together. Keep the approved sample as the reference for the bulk order. Our guide to samples, finishes and approvals sets out the approval sequence.
On delivery, check a sample of cartons against the order: item code, size, finish, hardware and quantity of each part. Note any difference in writing on the day with photographs, so the maker can respond while the evidence is fresh. Before shipment our own team checks quantities, dimensions, finish, hardware and packing against the signed-off specification, and you receive a QC report with photos and video.
Name the rules in the specification
The rules that apply to restaurant furniture and equipment depend on the destination, the building and the materials. Name the requirement in the specification and ask each factory what evidence it can provide for the exact model offered. Our United States, Canada and Australia and New Zealand compliance pages explain how we approach the main rules. Your specifier or certifier decides what applies to your project.
What evidence to ask each route for
Evidence should be requested for the exact model, not for a product family. Ask for the following in writing and keep the answers with the quotation.
- Joinery shops: shop drawing, carcass and top description and the fixing detail.
- Cabinet factories: the construction and hardware description and a finished sample.
- Metal fabricators: the section, finish and weld description and a finished sample.
- Equipment suppliers: the documents for each electrical unit in the name of its maker.
- Package suppliers: a separate product sheet and sample for each item, quoted apart from the package.
Specification gaps to close before quotation
A quotation cannot answer the questions below for itself. Check that the brief answers these questions before it goes out.
- Which items does each station hold, and which drawing shows the interior?
- Which services does the station carry, and who supplies and connects them?
- Is the top a working surface, and what must it withstand?
- Which hardware, with a sample approved against the item code?
- Is the station freestanding, on castors or fixed?
- How are cartons marked by room, and which parts ship separately?
Next steps for a restaurant package
Send each maker the same brief: the plans, item codes, finish codes and quantities. Ask for answers in writing, line by line, and request samples before bulk production. For suppliers you nominate, we charge a 5% commission; for products we source for you, we quote a direct price. Our own team performs one inspection after bulk production is complete and before shipment, and your team is welcome to attend.
Frequently asked questions
Should service stations be quoted with tables and seating?
You can ask the same factory to quote them so finishes match, but keep each item on its own line with its own item code. A package price can hide thin lines.
How should the interior of a station be specified?
Write the contents list first, then draw drawers, shelves and dividers to it. Give each maker the same list so that every quotation answers the same interior.
Who supplies power and data to a station?
Settle this in the brief. Ask each maker whether outlets and cable routes are included and who supplies and connects the electrical parts.
Do we need a sample before ordering?
Yes. Approve a finished sample of the station with a drawer and the top against the item code, and keep it as the reference for the bulk order.
How does FBM Furniture charge for restaurant furniture?
For suppliers you nominate, we charge a 5% commission; for products we source for you, we quote a direct price. Our own team performs one inspection after bulk production is complete and before shipment, and your team is welcome to attend.
Send your service station schedule
Send the plans, item list and quantities, and we will tell you which details are missing before factories quote.