Range overview
Melamine dinnerware delivers the look of porcelain at a fraction of the breakage rate, making it the default choice for outdoor dining, poolside, function catering, aged care, and high-traffic café floors. The HC range covers Superware, Ryner, and JAB — three Australian and Asian-supplied lines that span budget round plates through to designer Vintage and Gelato ranges. Stock includes plates, bowls, ramekins, tumblers, sandwich platters, and rectangular deep dishes in white, coloured, and printed enamel-look finishes. The lighter weight is also welcome on outdoor service trays where staff carry stacks across long distances or up flights of stairs.
Material and aesthetic
- 100% melamine resin: food-safe, BPA-free, weight roughly half that of porcelain. Standard depth of decoration is colour-through, not surface paint that wears off.
- Surface finish: matte and gloss options; modern designs include enamel-look rims (JAB Vintage) and reactive prints to mimic stoneware (JAB Gelato).
- Temperature window: safe for cold and ambient; do not microwave or use over open flame. Hot-fill with food up to ~100°C is fine in commercial use.
- Colour fastness: commercial dishwasher-safe to 90°C; pigments are encapsulated in the resin so they don't fade with repeat washing.
- Stack-friendly: most ranges nest tightly to save shelf space in busy front-of-house storage and event-hire transport.
Use cases by venue
Cafés and quick-service: rim plates and pasta plates in white, with optional colour rims for branded sets. Pubs and outdoor venues: shatter-resistant tumblers, mugs, and serving platters that survive handling on uneven surfaces. Aged care and healthcare: lighter pieces reduce strain on residents and staff; the JAB Vintage range offers familiar enamel-look styling that reads as traditional. Buffet and catering: lightweight serving dishes that survive transport between kitchen and venue without the breakage cost of porcelain. Pool decks and event hire: the only viable choice where bare-foot guests are present and broken porcelain is a real safety risk.
Working with our team
Hospitality Connect's catalogue depth in this category reflects 21+ years of supplying Australian commercial venues — single-supplier convenience across appliances, smallware, and consumables means fewer purchase orders, consolidated freight, and consistent specification advice from a team that's seen most operational scenarios before.
Specification matters more than buyers expect — undersized or oversized purchases waste both capital and operating cost. Our trade team spec'd thousands of fitouts across cafés, restaurants, hotels, function venues, and contract kitchens, and we'll match recommendations to your venue brief rather than push the catalogue.
Pair with
Coordinate the table with melamine drinkware and melamine servingware, or step up to porcelain alternatives like Tablekraft Core crockery for indoor dining rooms where presentation matters more than breakage cost. For mixed-use venues, melamine for outdoor terraces and porcelain for indoor dining rooms is a common split.
