In all kinds of dining areas, ropes and stanchions for restaurants play various roles. A set of stanchions and ropes can distinguish a V.I.P. dining section, point out off-limits areas, or help customers figure out how to access the host/hostess desk. Buyers can choose from metal, plastic or customized stanchions and ropes to give a dining area the right look.

For keeping restaurant stanchions and ropes in good shape, restaurants can utilize a few helpful tools to get results from ropes and stantions for restaurants and keep the dining area running smoothly. Buyers who have stanchions and ropes ready to go onto the restaurant floor may want to make a few quick online purchases to go along with these helpful tools, including:

1. Cleaners and polishes for keeping restaurant stanchions looking good.

2. Signage to complement food service stanchions and provide direction to customers.

3. Security cabling for storage or floor use.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Find cleaners and polishes online for ropes and stanchions for restaurants

When you want to make sure that restaurant stanchions and ropes will look good weeks after they're placed on your dining floor, a multi-surface cleaner will do the job. Pick out one of these products along with all of the other cleaning supplies you use every day and make your purchases quick and easy with online cleaning vendors.

I recommend: Get furniture polish for stainless steel restaurant stanchions and ropes at Shop Cleaning Supplies, a wholesaler offering deals to restaurants and business clients. Get more for kitchen stanchions and other installations from online supply store UClean.

Look for classy signs for standing with restaurant stanchions and ropes

Another tool that goes along with your restaurant stanchions and ropes is signage to indicate the purpose of restaurant stanchion installations and where the customer should go. For a hostess desk, the sign can instruct the visitors to wait for seating; for a V.I.P. section, a simple 'Reserved' sign ensures no one will get the wrong idea. Signage can also be for menu displays and other helpful information.

I recommend: Custom Class Signs offers restaurants and other businesses a customized result for message and style. Look at some examples, browse types of signs and order on-site. For wooden sign varieties to go along with stanchions and ropes for restaurants, check out Woodmaster Graphics.

Get security cabling for restaurant stanchions and ropes

You may also want to buy some simple cable locks. These items can help make sure the restaurant stanchions and ropes stay put during the day, as that would defeat the purpose of placing them. The cable locks can also be great for overnight storage.

I recommend: Get Targus cable locks at NewEgg for securing restaurant stanchions and ropes. Get more at ABC Target.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  When looking to outfit your restaurant with stanchions and ropes for kitchens, try to ensure that styles match: an overly lavish display can be seen as a little gauche, and rugged, oversimplified models can turn off customers.

Restaurant stanchions perform a great service for restaurant owners. Whether you own a fast food joint, a movie theater concession or the hottest restaurant in town, you’ve no doubt been in need of crowd control. Stanchions for restaurants are posts that hold up the velvet ropes that customers respect.

Foodservice stanchions with their velvet ropes encourage customers to apply the rule: first come, first served. As a restaurant or foodservice manager, you can use foodservice stanchions to perform a variety of tasks, including:

1. Organize order and pick-up lines by dividing them with foodservice stanchions and ropes.
2. Use restaurant stanchions to form a line at the hostess station.
3. Block off reserved seating areas with foodservice stanchions.
4. Use stanchions and ropes as patio dividers and to block access to patios from outside the restaurant.
5. Use ropes and stanchions for restaurants to rope off valet stands or taxi stands to encourage customers to form a single line.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Buy stanchions and ropes that fit in with your restaurant décor

Restaurant stanchions come in chrome and brass and in a variety of shapes and styles. Stanchions and ropes also come in numerous colors to match the upholstery in your establishment.

I recommend: Signature Fencing’s restaurant stanchions come with optional sign holders and wall mounts. Find a variety of square, circular and spherical stanchion bases at Crowd Control Warehouse. Displays2Go offers a variety of stanchion accessories and post-top signs. Alvarado Manufacturing Company makes wholesale ropes and stanchions for restaurants and cafeterias.

Retractable stanchions for restaurants

Ropes for kitchens aren't always practical, since velour can get soiled easily. Retractable belt stanchions for restaurants are a good choice for kitchens and cafeterias where customers and food come in contact with the dividers. The belts are easy to wipe clean, and there's no need for storage for ropes since the belt retracts back into the stanchion base.

I recommend: The retractable belt kitchen stanchions at MARKSTAAR come in lengths of seven feet and in black, red, green and blue. The selection of retractable stanchions for restaurants at EquiCross includes wall mounted stanchion belts, retractable bases and dual retractable belts. Stanchions 4 Less features commercial-grade retractable kitchen stanchions.

Portable stanchions and ropes

Manufacturers of ropes and stanchions make portable versions that can be used outdoors and will resist rust in inclement weather. Lightweight and easy to store, portable stanchions and ropes are also a good option for restaurants that use them infrequently.

I recommend: Instawares Restaurant Supply sells plastic restaurant stanchions and chains that are lightweight and portable. For outdoor stanchions that are made of heavy gauge aluminum and powder coated to resist rust, visit Visiontron Corp.

Search for ropes for restaurants in the lengths and materials that fit your needs

Ropes for kitchens are available in Naugahyde, plastic or the traditional velvet.

I recommend: Zesco Products offers a large selection of ropes for restaurants, including velour and vinyl options in more than 15 colors. MARKSTAAR’s traditional velour ropes come in five-, six- and eight-foot lengths and are available in red or black and with chrome or brass clips.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Place signposts on top of restaurant stanchions to direct customers with instructions, such as 'please wait to be seated', 'order here' or 'pick up here.'
• •  When using stanchions and ropes, always keep some slack in the ropes. If there is no slack in the rope, the stanchions are more likely to tip over when bumped.
• •  Portable stanchions for restaurants can be used in cases of dining room spills. Simply rope off the area until it has been mopped and dried to prevent slip and falls.

Ropes and stanchions for restaurants are a great way to jazz up a dining floor, set aside areas for various purposes, and give customers helpful direction about how to enjoy your food service establishment. There are various ways restaurant owners can use restaurant stanchions and ropes to help customers navigate.

For all of the different models of restaurant stanchions and ropes that provide solutions for cafes, restaurants, and other businesses, check out online companies that can make ordering and buying ropes and stanchions a breeze. Restaurant owners can find:

1. high class metal plated restaurant stanchions and velvet or plush ropes for showing off a V.I.P. area or reserved table

2. modern 'crowd control' restaurant stanchions for setting up delivery/pickup lanes, hostess seating lines, or any other kind of instructional queue for customers

3. foodservice stanchions that delineate an 'off limits' area, where the ropes and stanchions act as a barrier to visitors who should not access an area that may not be part of the business

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Find luxury V.I.P. restaurant stanchions

For some restaurants, high class stanchions and ropes for restaurants are a good investment. These models can be pricy, but they carry that association with opulence and good taste that can attract the wealthiest type of customer. Though some might think they are old-fashioned, these kinds of decorative options still have the power to make a restaurant look top-notch.

I recommend: Choose from a selection of ritzy gold or classy metal stanchions at Stanchion World online. With some velvet or plush ropes, these quality models will give your floor that V.I.P. feel. Or get polished brass posts and stantions for restaurants with vibrant colored ropes at Displays 2 Go.

Look for restaurant stanchions for directing customer traffic

Using restaurant stanchions for directing visitors is a very common choice for a lot of restaurants and other businesses where each part of the shop has a different spatial use. Ropes and stanchions can efficiently let people know where to go to order or pick up food or wait for seating, and restaurant stanchions can also help staff know what order to take customers for seating.

I recommend: Retractable belt stanchions and other models at Jarco Industries provide a quick online buy for crowd control. Get more of these solutions wholesale for restaurants and business clients at Crowd Control Warehouse.

Locate barrier-style restaurant stanchions for off-limits areas

Other businesses may need helpful reminders to customers that certain areas aren't for the public. Rope off kitchen areas with dangerous machinery. Likewise, if the restaurant has an open stair or doorway to a residential area, that should also be off limits.

I recommend: Get plastic stanchions with plastic chain and other barrier solutions and ropes for kitchens at Equicross, where lots of products carry same-day shipping guarantees. Get chains, ropes and food service stanchions wholesale at Discount Crowd Control.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  When you're looking at kitchen stanchions and ropes for restaurants, find the best style fit for your shop. Generally, the wholesalers mentioned above can get you choices that will fit into your design: solid color dark plastic is a popular choice for practical use.

Anywhere that a crowd has to be guided to a specific destination or around a specific obstacle or off-limits area, ropes and stanchions can do the job effectively. These metal or plastic installations provide "traffic control" for deli lines, buffet lines, pick-up lines, valet areas, V.I.P. tables and much more. Knowing some of the main terms and ideas used in maintaining crowd control with barriers will help a restaurant manager create the kind of barrier system that will help customers and make the place look good as well.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Crushed velvet

Crushed velvet is a type of cut-thread fabric in which the small ends of threads give the material a very soft feel. This popular material is often used for deluxe ropes and stanchions; its impressive color and texture combine to present a good image for a restaurant or other business.

I recommend: Get a history and details on crushed velvet from All American Gifts.

Retractable ropes and stanchions

Retractable ropes and stanchions are mobile belts, often made of vinyl or synthetics,that can be extended to create easy barriers, and removed for cleaning or other contingencies.

I recommend: Find visuals and descriptions of retractable ropes and stanchion setups at Vivid Advertising.

High-design stanchions

Some restaurants will want to go with something other than the traditional pole on the ground. 'Mod' and high-design choices will provide a modern look for a food service business or nightclub, where they need to match high-end glass designs or other decorations.

I recommend: Look for examples of these designs at Interior Design.

Queue-in-a-box

What is the queue-in-a-box? A queue is a line formed by a crowd. A queue-in-a-box is all of the conventional gear needed to help the crowd form the queue or 'queue up.'

I recommend: Find out more about the queue-in-a-box at VisionTron Corp.

TensaBarrier

Tensabarrier is actually a registered trademark for a system that is widely used for restaurants and other businesses. The TensaBarrier is a modular type of stanchion barrier setup made of plastic and synthetic pieces.

I recommend: See more details on the TensaBarrier system at T-Barrier.com.

Floor protector strips

Floor protectors, often made of felt or soft materials, are shaped like the bottom of a stanchion for easy attachment. These handy, soft pads keep floors from getting scuffed or otherwise marred by crowd control systems. Simple add them to the bottoms of stanchions to make sure your crowd control barriers aren't harming your dining floors or other areas.

I recommend: See visuals on floor protector strips (at bottom of page) at MatsEtc.com.