Your local retail store has a great looking set of bar stools, and you wonder if they’ll work in your bar or restaurant. You only need a few outdoor dining tables and chairs for your cafe’s small outside patio, and you wonder if you can pick them up at your local discount center. Your friend just got a great table at the local furniture store, and you think the design will be a great fit for your restaurant or public dining hall.

Wait! Are they commercial grade?

V.

There really is a difference between the quality of furniture designed for residential use and the tables, chairs, and bar stools used in commercial settings.  Commercial restaurant and hospitality industry furniture must undergo stability, durability, and weight testing to meet the commercial grade standards.  These standards are designed to ensure the repetitive usage of the product by people of all shapes and sizes.  Much like you would expect your restaurant’s ovens, mixers, and freezers to be of a different grade than your house’s kitchen appliances, the furniture should also stand up to the commercial grade tests.  Designed for heavy everyday use, commercial furniture can withstand the rigors of the hospitality industry and typically outlast their consumer grade counterparts.  The same is true for office chairs; commercial office chairs are designed to be sat in for ten hours a day, seven days a week, while your home office chair is made for more light duty work.

For example, metal chairs and bar stools designed for home use usually are constructed of 20-22 gauge steel frames.  Commercial metal chairs and commercial metal bar stools tend to feature frames of 16-18 gauge steel.  The lower the gauge number, the better the quality when it comes to strength and durability.  Another example is the type of wood wooden chairs and bar stools are made from.  Many consumer products made for the home are built with rubberwood.  However, commercial grade wooden chairs and commercial wooden bar stools usually are constructed of beechwood, a better quality wood.

Why is this important to you?  For one, even though the upfront cost of a commercial grade chair may be more than a consumer grade chair, you want to avoid the costs (and hassle) of fixing or replacing your restaurant chairs in the future.  Also, local retail stores change out their inventory frequently, and if you want to replace a chair for a matching one, you take the risk of not finding the same chair again if you rely on your local store.  Secondly, you want to prevent as many accidents as possible, and by using the right commercial grade furniture, you reduce the risk of injury.  Residential-designed chairs or bar stools could break and send a customer tumbling to the floor.  In addition to someone getting hurt, the costs of settling accident reports and incidents can be great for a business.

That’s why we caution you to buy commercial grade for your business. Look for high quality furniture with added braces and supports, and prevent the hassle you could face if you don’t buy commercial restaurant furniture.

In memory of Oprah’s Ultimate Favorite Things, we thought we’d keep the tradition alive in 2011, and put our own spin on a favorite things wish list!  I’ve taken a staff poll and have rounded up some of our most popular items from tables, chairs, and barstools.

Looking for some year-end spending opportunities?  We think you’ll love our favorite things:

1.
One of our staff loves this black with gold dot stacking chair so much she owns one!  Great for banquet centers, social club halls, meeting facilities, event venues, or other businesses looking for easy-to-stack and store chairs, this banquet stacking chair features a fabric upholstery in black with a gold dot and is designed with a solid gold frame of 16 gauge steel.  With an extra brace on the front, this chair is sturdy and durable.  It ships in 1-2 days of ordering and comes with a limited lifetime warranty on its frame.

On sale now, order your selection of these stacking chairs for just $21.99/each plus shipping.
Item # TCB-W60126-XY-017BLK

2.
This mahogany wooden ladder back bar stool tops the favorite things list of another one of our staff members.  Besides the owners, this staffer is our most veteran staff and has the greatest product knowledge of anyone.  The timeless style of this class wooden with ladder back bar stool includes a double support bar structure, a foot rest with kick plate, durable nylon floor glides, and a 7-year limited commercial warranty.

This bar stool will add some class to any bar or restaurant!  Order your shipment today at the low sale price of $59.99/each plus shipping.
Item # TCB-WB101-MAH

3.
Several of our staff voted for our new Steel City Collection.  While our East Coasters have added the tall-backed steel chairs and bar stools to their kitchens and can visualize them in their home’s man caves, our business customer base have also fallen in love with the Steel City.  To read more about our Steel City Collection, read our previous blog entry.

With a variety of chairs and bar stool options available, find the right item for you!

4.
Who doesn’t love a picnic?  When I see our line of outdoor commercial picnic tables, I think about all the fun times I had while growing up, of gathering around a table with my girlfriends at our local amusement park, sharing Potato Patch fries or Dippin’ Dots.  Give your outdoor park, school yard, ball field, or outdoor beer garden guests the same kind of warm, fuzzy feeling and memories of a lifetime by adding this park table to your casual outdoor dining space!  Not only is it heavy-duty and weather resistant, it is even graffiti proof! (Now you can’t beat that!)

We have coordinating outdoor trash receptacles, benches, and an entire line of outdoor commercial umbrellas for your entire outdoor area!

This model comes in several colors and is on sale for $629.99/each plus shipping today.
Item # TCB-LC-T46RO

5.
Looking for a cafe table top?  One of our East Coasters likes our resin table tops.  They come in cherry, natural, walnut, and her favorite, mahogany finishes.  Available in many different sizes, in both square or round, they feature a waterfall edge and are extra thick, proving durable in a commercial setting.

A 30″ round mahogany resin table top costs $61.99 plus shipping.
Item # TCB-W-RS30R-MAH

In an attempt to be humorous…or honest...when asked what his favorite product was, one of our owners said, “the one that sells!”  Who says you can’t give your customers a special gift for the new year?  Give your restaurant, bar, or other business a mini-makeover with one of our favorite things!  You’ll be happy, your customers will be happy, and our owner will be happy, too!

Whether it’s tables, chairs, barstools, or something different…we wish you a season surrounded by all your favorite things.

Who is East Coast Chair & Barstool? We are a dynamic group of people with our own hobbies and interests, but when we’re not hunting, fly fishing, scrapbooking, running our kids to and from after-school activities, playing Bunco, walking our doggies, or hanging out with friends and family, we are working together in our office/warehouse. Here, we help bars, restaurants, resorts, hotels, conference/banquet centers, social clubs, and churches find the tables, chairs, and barstools to fill their businesses – and fit their brands. To us, furniture is exciting. Along with a lot of other things.

East Coast Chair & Barstool, an authorized dealer of many manufacturers, started in the basement of our owners’ home in 2002. We’ve grown a lot since then. Today, we have multi-million dollars in annual sales, have accounts that range from small corner bars to huge theme park resorts, and employ a team of talented and passionate staff. In addition to being an authorized dealer of many national, made-in-the-USA vendors, we also import from manufacturers in China, with whom we directly collaborate with on design and quality standards, making sure we can pass along the best products at low prices.

Our products are available on our three Web sites: www.TablesChairsBarstools.com, www.RestaurantFurniture4Sale.com, and www.OutdoorRestaurantFurniture4Sale.com.

As I type, there is snow falling outside our Grove City, Pennsylvania, headquarters, but we deliver to all 48 continental states. So if you are opening a restaurant in Pittsburgh, ordering chairs for your temple in Boise, or remodeling a spa and resort in Phoenix, we can help you find the indoor and/or outdoor commercial furniture your business needs! With an array of products in various sizes, shapes, colors, and styles, we are confident we can help you find what you’re looking for.

We know purchasing furniture for your business isn’t always easy. There are a lot of questions. What is the benefit to offering church chairs instead of pew seating? Should I choose a swivel barstool or a stationary one? Would tables and chairs fit better in my restaurant than booth seating? How many banquet chairs will fit comfortably around this size of table? What base goes best with my commercial cafe table umbrellas? We know tables, chairs, and barstools. That’s why we are starting this blog! Because you know what you do best – whether it’s preparing the tastiest, juiciest, and most delicious filet mignon in your restaurant, bringing together a community of ministry in your church or temple, or accommodating your guests in your resort/hotel – we can help make your commercial furniture purchases a little easier. (We know how busy you are!)

Plus, you might hear some humorous, cute, heartwarming, or just plain quirky anecdotes about the people behind the tables, chairs, and barstools! While most of the blogging will be written by Emily, the web coordinator (that’s me!), the content will be borrowed from the collective knowledge, experience, and imaginations of our entire team of East Coasters. I hope this compilation of articles will be interesting, resourceful, helpful, and even a little fun – for both of us!

I invite you to follow me on this journey into all things chair and barstool. Learn with me. Learn from me. And learn to love reading me (so I hope)!

If you ever want to read an article about a certain topic, please just ask! I’ll see what I can do for you. Because any of my friends will tell you, I aim to please!

Until the next entry, welcome and happy furniture pondering.