What is melamine dinnerware

Melamine Dinnerware and serveware offers operators a wide variety of benefits ranging from budget-saving operational durability to fashionable styles and improved guest and staff safety.

Whether you`re a seasoned veteran or a budding pro, you may have questions about the melamine in your operation. Or maybe you`ve never used melamine and want to learn more. This buying guide will answer all your melamine-related questions and perhaps even some you didn`t realize you had.

What is Melamine?

Wood pulp is the base component of melamine, which, when heated along with hardening components, creates a very durable material. Melamine is not unbreakable and can chip along the edges when handled roughly over a long period of time. However, in terms of durability and in-service life, melamine far outperforms porcelain.

Melamine Dinnerware Benefits

Style

Thanks to improvements in technology and production processes, today`s melamine is as stylish as traditional porcelain. In fact, with high quality glazed melamine, it`s often difficult to distinguish it from porcelain without touching it.

These days, operators can find all manner of fashion-forward styles for melamine serveware. From vintage and farmhouse aesthetics to artisanal, modern or minimalist styles, melamine dinnerware designs are available for nearly all types of operations and service volumes.

Durability

When it comes to serveware, few things can match melamine`s durability, which is a primary reason it`s earned a spot in commercial kitchens. When cared for properly, melamine is typically replaced at a rate of 10% – 20% annually while porcelain`s annual replacement rate is 50% – 150%.

As you can imagine, the lower annual replacement rate of melamine translates into a significant cost savings for the operator. Melamine dinnerware is not always less expensive than porcelain for the initial investment – it may cost the same, or perhaps a little less or a little more. The best cost savings come over time from melamine`s low replacement rates and increase exponentially the longer you use melamine instead of porcelain.

Easy Care and Maintenance

To get the best in-service life from your melamine, you need to take care of it just like anything else in your kitchen. Fortunately, there`s not much to keeping melamine in great shape:

Do:

· Rinse immediately after use

· Gently scrub away leftover food that didn`t rinse off

· Follow with normal washing in a commercial dishwasher, both high or low temp machines are options

· Pre-soak for 15 – 20 minutes (or overnight if time is tight) every two weeks in a bleach-free granulated detergent

Don`t:

· Use scour pads, steel wool or other similarly harsh cleaning supplies as they will scratch melamine over time

· Use with steak knives

· Put in the microwave, under heat lamps, in an oven or expose to open flame

Different Tiers of Melamine

While no formal tiered system exists for melamine, manufacturers often sell their melamine based on weight and density. All melamine is durable and lightweight, but with shades of gray as you move through the spectrum from budget-conscious to luxury serveware.

Most budget-conscious melamine tends not to be very dense and therefore is typically the lightest weight and least expensive option. Luxury melamine is dense and heavier than its budget-conscious counterpart, but will still be lighter than porcelain. This type of melamine is usually priced similarly to porcelain, but will outlive porcelain as we mentioned above. And of course, most manufacturers have middle range options as well.

Is Melamine Dinnerware Microwave Safe?

Earlier, we mentioned the base component in melamine is wood pulp, and that is why melamine is not a good candidate for the microwave. If microwaved often, the wood pulp dries out, making the melamine brittle, which in turn shortens its service life because it will chip, crack or break far earlier than if kept out of the microwave.

Further, even if melamine is used in the microwave only once, but for several minutes, it can develop scorch marks on the surface and ruin the plate. These scorch marks look similar to what happens when a hot curling iron is left on a countertop for too long.

Additionally, melamine should not be used under heat lamps, in ovens or over open flame as these types of heat will similarly dry out your melamine.

Is Melamine Itself Safe?

Yes. Melamine as a food-contact material is safe. It`s been used in foodservice for roughly half a century and nearly every person has eaten from a Melamine Dish at some point (more likely several points) in their life.

When melamine serveware is used as intended, which is to say as a food-contact surface in a typical commercial foodservice operation, it is completely safe. It does not leach chemicals into hot, cold or ambient temperature food when used as serveware.