Most restaurants invest time and money into their menus, signs and custom napkin packaging, and then give a guest a plain white napkin, just in and of itself saying nothing about the business. That's a strange gap, one napkin is in front of each and every customer for the duration of their stay, longer than a menu, longer than a receipt. Print, size, and ply and such an ordinary product are one of the least costly ways left to put a brand in front of the captive audience

What Is a Custom Napkin?

A custom napkin is a restaurant napkin with a business' logo or branding on the same type of paper as a standard disposable napkin. The primary distinction among grades is ply: 1-ply napkins are thin and inexpensive, and are typically found at fast counters where napkins are used frequently; 2-ply are for casual dining and bar service; and 3-ply and airlaid napkins are thicker and softer, and are used where a more cloth-like feel is important. 

Custom paper napkins are available in standard sizes (beverage, luncheon and dinner), as well as standard folds (usually 1/4 or 1/8), which correspond to how a restaurant dispenses or presents them.

Why This Packaging?

The best case made for printed napkins is 'exposure per dollar'. There are few surfaces that are in a guest's hands for the span of a meal or drink order that a restaurant purchases, and few branding surfaces cost as little per impression as a napkin does at wholesale volume.

The ply choice is also a quality indicator. Even in a restaurant that's doing it right, a thin, low-ply napkin that shreds or hardly absorbs a spill reads as a corner cut. Frequently, guests do not associate that impression back to that printed napkin in a deliberate method, but it does impact their recollections from the see to visit.

Another, less obvious way that food service napkins influence operating cost is what it shows. Thin napkins can be used two or three times during a meal per guest, whereas a slightly higher ply napkin may be used just one time, which can make a difference in the increased cost of case for full service over a meal.

Features & Specifications

Ply, size and fold determine the napkin's ability to work on the bar top, at the dinner table or in a to-go bag. Please verify these prior to ordering by the case:

By Industry Use Cases

The right restaurant napkin specification depends largely on the type of service being offered and not only industry type. When a quick counter and a formal dining room order two products, both are called "napkins" but they are actually different products. The standard proportions are as follows:

Customization Options

The Deli Paper sizes and folds your food service napkins to your restaurant's kitchen roll sizes and folds and is printed with your logo, colours and messaging, ensuring no change to your staff's paper napkin dispensing and setting processes. MOQ ranges from trial quantities for one site to pallet quantities for multiple sites. Multi-color designs use the same set-up for each reorder and standard sizes and folds ship faster.

To choose the right Napkin, there are some factors to consider.

Begin with turnover not budget. For a high-volume counter that consumes hundreds of napkins over the course of a shift, 1-ply or 2-ply may be more appropriate as cost per napkin may be the more important factor. Two ply or three ply is more important to a sit down restaurant where the guest uses the napkin throughout the meal.

The ability to fold and fit on existing dispensers is more important than most buyers consider initially. This is because an 1/8 fold on a dispenser that is cut for 1/4 fold can lead to jams or funny presentation, not necessarily bad quality of napkins.

Most common error: Price per case of napkins rather than cost per guest. A thinner, cheaper napkin that the guest uses three times can cost more than a slightly more expensive napkin that is used just once.

Why Choose The Deli Paper?

There is no distributor mark-up and no guesswork involved as to whether the reorder is the same as the sample Deli Paper initially approved. All orders are subject to the same quality control process before they are shipped and low MOQs allow a single restaurant to place an order for custom printed napkins without having to sign up for a pallet of napkins just to give it a shot.

Orders are shipped quickly from US-based facilities, which means a restaurant doesn't have to wait for an order to arrive from overseas, before a weekend rush. Custom runs are produced in house from initial proof to actual production, and there is a real person available to talk to if there is a spec adjustment that needs to be made prior to printing.

FAQs

Q: What is the optimal number of ply for a sit down restaurant? 

A: 2-ply is suitable for most casual dining and 3-ply or airlaid may be used in the fine dining or catering segments for a higher quality look.

Q: Will I need to purchase a new dispenser for my custom napkins? 

A: Yes, provided the size and order of fold is the same as the size and order of the dispensers is. Please verify both prior to ordering.

Q: Are custom napkins more expensive than standard napkins? 

A: Not much at wholesale volume because the per-unit cost of print becomes lower when the design and the plates are in place.

Q: What's the smallest order available for custom napkins? 

A: Low minimums make it possible for a single restaurant site to order custom napkins without needing to purchase a full pallet.

Q: Are napkins allowed to be printed multiple colors? 

A: Yes, multi-color flexographic printing can be achieved, although additional set-up time is required, primarily for the initial production run.

Get a Free Quote

Preparing to display your logo to all visitors, all the time? Call the the Deli Paper today for a free quote and sample of custom napkins. For wholesale or custom printed pricing please contact us by phone at 832-900-9245 or by email at sales@thedelipaper.com and we will get you a price within one business day. Check out the complete collection at thedelipaper.com.