How Many Towels Do You Need for Your Restaurant?

Created: Friday, 30 December 2022 04:34

Towels are the unsung heroes of restaurants everywhere — from cleaning to polishing, they're essential for maintaining a safe, sanitary space for customers and employees alike. Getting the right towels in the right amounts ensures your operations run smoothly, even in the face of spills and accidents.

Part of keeping a restaurant well-stocked is buying the right kind and number of towels. You should use each towel type for a specific task to help prevent the spread of germs and maximize towel efficiency. But how many towels do you need for your restaurant, and what kinds should your order? We've got all the information you need to find the correct number and type of restaurant towels for your business. 

How Many Towels Does a Restaurant Need?

There's no set number of towels you'll need for a restaurant — employees use them to clean tables, wipe hands and carry hot trays. You want to make sure you have enough towels for efficient workflow and cleanliness, along with some extra in case of spills and emergencies. Many restaurants choose to buy their towels in bulk to ensure they have enough and to get the best possible deal. 

In a restaurant, a cook might typically use four towels per shift: one for minor cleanup, one for sanitizing, one for holding equipment and one kept on their person for general use. A bartender might go through several towels a shift but should keep two on them at all times — one for wiping glasses and the other for spills. You need enough kitchen towels to ensure everything stays clean and no one runs out of towels during a shift. 

An effective way to estimate your minimum restaurant towel amount is to track the towel amount your employees use every shift for a week. Then you can take the average and add a few extra to get your restaurant towel count. This way, you know exactly how many are used and what wiggle room you can add to ensure your restaurant is set up for success. 

What Kind of Towels Are Used in Restaurants?

You'll need a variety of towels to ensure your restaurant stays clean during service hours. Getting the right kind of towel allows employees to perform specific tasks with their towels and prevents you from using the wrong towel for the job. If you only have one towel type, certain cleaning and wiping tasks will be performed more inefficiently, wasting labor, money and time. Let's look at the different types of restaurant towels so you have a better idea of what your business needs. 

Dish Towels

Dish towels are only for drying clean dishes. These towels help dry dishes quickly so they can get back on the line to be plated for service. You need towels reserved for dishes to reduce cross-contamination and keep your dishes clean. 

Since dish towels soak up lots of water, they have to be highly absorbent. Cotton is the ideal material for the job — it's excellent at absorbing large amounts of water and can easily withstand frequent use in a restaurant. 

Washcloths

These are smaller, more lightweight towels. You want them on hand to clean smaller spaces that bulkier, heavy-duty towels can't clean effectively. They're perfect for light, focused cleaning that doesn't require serious elbow grease. Use them gently on delicate surfaces to wipe them down without damage. Servers and bussers may use washcloths to wipe down tables between customers. 

Kitchen Towels

A kitchen towel is essential for anyone working in the back of house. They're the kitchen workhorse, cleaning up spills and wiping down boards, equipment and plates throughout the day. Look for restaurant-specific kitchen towels — these are more durable than regular kitchen towels and will hold up to hard shift use with ease. 

Grill Towels

Grill towels are stronger than kitchen towels. Designed to withstand the heat of the grill and provide a good clean, these towels are critical for maintaining grill cleanliness throughout shifts. These towels help your scrub grease and grime from your grill's nooks and crannies while keeping employees safe from the high grill heat. 

Bar Towels

Sticky spills are unavoidable at the bar. Sugar, fruit, soda and alcohol all fly during a shift. Without a quality bar towel, the space quickly becomes a sticky, dirty mess. Bar towels are extra absorbent to ensure anything spilled gets wiped up quickly and cleanly. Bartenders should have several on hand to quickly wipe up any small spills while making drinks. 

Utility Towels

Utility towels put in the work around your restaurant. They're incredibly durable so that you can tackle tough stains, spots and spills. With high absorbency and oil-wicking properties, utility towels can clean knives, surfaces and more. They also provide superior protection from heat, making them perfect for carrying hot pans and plates without danger. 

Glass Towels

Another staple of bartending, glass towels carefully clean delicate glass objects around the restaurant. They're lint-free, so you can clean glasses, cutlery and serving items without worrying about scratches, streaks or lint. Keep glass towels stocked so your restaurant looks sophisticated and sparkling at all times. 

Why You Need Different Types of Towels

While you might think buying one kind of towel for your restaurant is more cost-effective, doing so will inconvenience your team in the long run. Different towels allow each task to be completed efficiently and thoroughly. They also help prevent cross-contamination — their different looks and uses mean workers won't accidentally use a dish towel for glass cleaning. Your restaurant will look nicer and run better when you have the right towels for every job. 

Buy Your Restaurant Towels in Bulk

With so many tasks and so much cleaning to do, restaurants regularly go through vast amounts of towels. Buying towels bulk is the best way to ensure you get all the towels you need without spending excess time and money on individual towel orders. Bulk ordering lets you get all the towels you need in one place and massively cuts the price per towel. You'll get all the kitchen towels you need at an excellent price. 

Shop Towel Super Center Today

If you're looking to update your towel stock, Towel Super Center has all the towels you need to keep your restaurant clean and safe. From bar mops to kitchen towels, we offer a wide selection of quality restaurant towels so you can ensure your employees have everything in place for excellent service. Shop our towel selection online and order in bulk to get great deals and great towels today!