What you need to know:

Melamine vs Porcelain Crockery: Which Suits Your Venue?

When a tray of plates hits the floor at the end of a busy Saturday lunch rush, one of two things can happen. If the plates are porcelain, someone has the job of sweeping up and re-ordering more. For melamine, someone just has to pick them up.

This is the trade-off most venues are deciding between when they compare melamine vs porcelain. There are also the other areas to consider, such as how porcelain handles heat and looks smarter on tables. Both have a place in commercial crockery, with the final choice ultimately coming down to where each plate is going.

Melamine vs Porcelain Crockery: Which Suits Your Venue?

What Is Melamine?

Melamine is a hard resin that’s moulded under heat and pressure to create plates and bowls. Commercial melamine is much denser and sturdier than the lightweight picnic plates you may have at home, designed to hold up to more constant use in a busy venue.

The melamine ranges AGC stocks are also BPA free and made specifically to use in commercial settings.

What Makes Porcelain Different

Porcelain is clay fired at very high temperatures. During a second firing it vitrifies, meaning it partly turns to glass. This process leaves crockery dense and non-porous with a surface that’s resistant to scratches and chipping.

There are also two types of porcelain crockery that you’ll come across:

  1. Vitrified porcelain, which is the thicker, tougher hotelware most venues use day to day.
  2. Fine porcelain that’s thinner and more delicate, better suited to fine dining where presentation is more important.

Is Melamine Safe for Food?

Sturdiness aside, many people wonder if melamine is safe to eat off. The answer is yes, commercial melamine is perfectly safe for serving food at normal temperatures. However, heat can cause issues.

Resin can start to break down when it’s exposed to high temperatures, which is why melamine shouldn’t be used for either cooking or reheating.

Can Melamine Go in the Microwave or Dishwasher?

Melamine is able to go in a commercial dishwasher, but not a microwave, and this can often trip kitchens up. This is not the case for porcelain.

  Melamine Porcelain
Commercial dishwasher safe Yes Yes
Microwave safe No Yes
Oven safe No Yes
Heat lamp or salamander safe No Yes
Safe for reheating food No Yes
 

Heat ratings also vary between ranges, so always follow the manufacturer’s care instructions.

What This Means for Service

  • Porcelain is better suited for plating dishes hot from the pass.
  • Anything that will be sitting under a heat lamp or reheated to order needs to be on porcelain.
  • Melamine suits cold platters and buffet food that’s sent straight out.
  • Any melamine crockery can go through the same wash cycle as the rest of your plates and bowls.
Is melamine dishwasher safe? Yes, melamine is dishwasher safe when washed in commercial machines. Just avoid using abrasive scourers on them as this can dull their surface.
 

Durability, Breakage and Replacement Cost

Both melamine and porcelain wear out differently.

  Melamine Porcelain
If dropped Won’t shatter Can chip or break completely
Scratching Can scratch from knife contact Resists scratching
Staining Can stain over time, especially from tea or coffee, while tomato-based sauces can leave marks Resists staining
Replacement Lower ongoing cost Adds up quickly with frequent breakage
 

This is why it’s important to look at how much it would cost to replace crockery over a set period rather than the initial per-piece cost upfront. The price of losing a few porcelain plates every single week would quickly outweigh the upfront cost of melamine that’s less likely to break or need to be replaced. Although cost alone shouldn’t answer whether porcelain or melamine fits best into your kitchen.

Weight, Stacking and Service

What plates look like and how long they last is often the priority of someone fitting out a new kitchen or restocking crockery levels. For your staff, it’s often the weight and how plates and bowls stack that’s a bigger difference.

Melamine is:

  • Noticeably lighter for staff carrying loaded trays or restocking buffet lines.
  • Lighter to stack in and out of storage.
  • Safer to carry out to pool decks and outdoor areas as it’s less likely to shatter.

Porcelain is:

  • Heavier to carry, especially in stacks.
  • Good at holding heat so the food stays warm on the plate for longer.

If your service staff have a long way to carry hot mains from the kitchen, such as for room service, having a plate warmer can help keep the dishes hotter for longer.

Where Each One Works Best

Many venues don’t look at melamine vs porcelain as an overall decision, but rather as a way to work out where each plate and bowl may perform better. This often means having a mix of both. This is where each may fit into your kitchen and service setup.

Melamine may be better for:

  • Serving around pools or outdoors where there is high customer volume.
  • Buffets and catering.
  • Aged care and hospital dining rooms.
  • Kids’ menus.

Whereas porcelain may be more suitable for:

  • Fine dining and à la carte service for enhanced presentation.
  • Hot dishes plated at the pass or reheated to order.

Shop Melamine and Porcelain Crockery at AGC Equipment

Browse AGC Equipment’s range of melamine plates and bowls for buffets and outdoor dining or porcelain crockery for hot plating and more premium tablescapes.


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