Why You Should Just Buy Dishes From a Restaurant Supply Store
I’m not afraid of impulse purchases on social media. I bought booty TikTok leggings (and a young man yelled at me from his car when I was in them) and I bought an exfoliating scrub (also for my ass) but I never bought any dishes because I saw it in Instagram. However, a lot of crockery ads appear in my feed, including ads for Great Jones , a company that sells a very photogenic line of pots, pans and baking trays.
If you follow the news about cookware – who doesn’t? – You’ve probably seen the company crash recently , mainly due to a feud between two female bosses who started the company with family money. I can’t talk about the quality of the Great Jones cookware because I have never used it, but it is very beautiful and I guess some people will be sad if it disappears. [ Update: Great Jones reached out to us and made the following statement: Great Jones has no plans to stop making its cookware, but instead continues to grow rapidly. The company expects a 100% increase in revenue in 2021 over 2020, and had the best quarter ever in the last quarter of 2020.]
Fortunately, Great Jones isn’t the only place to buy pots and pans, and it never was. If you need a pot, skillet, baking sheet, or even a knife, do what the pros do and head to a restaurant supply store.
Why shop at a restaurant supply store?
We’ve written about our restaurant store essentials before – we’re big fans of soup containers – but my obsession has gone beyond this initial list. In addition to the soup containers, I recently purchased a $ 10 kiwi knife, a huge pot for poaching chickens, and several large Cambro containers for sous videography.
Some restaurant stores also sell food and you should buy it. I often buy obscene amounts of brown patties and white American cheese from the store formerly known as Cash & Carry because they only deal with “obscene amounts”.
Every store is different, but according to Twitter and my personal experience, the common theme for everyone is affordability, durability and standard sizes , which may not seem like a big deal, but there is nothing more annoying than baking a cake just to figure out that your An incredibly photogenic cake pan is an inch or two smaller than the one your recipe calls for. Plus, you can have trays of every imaginable size, from quarter to giant, and you can never have too many trays.
What to buy in a restaurant store
In terms of quality, the items sold in restaurant supply stores are made for restaurants, which means they are expected to find much more value than what they might experience in your home. While shopping at restaurant supply stores, I found that the items for sale generally fall into two categories: made to last forever, or not as durable but so cheap that you don’t care if it breaks. Basically, if something is enough for a restaurant, it is enough for home cooking.
Need a prep table, kegerator or storage trolley on stainless steel casters? They are usually found in restaurants. Some also have furniture, ashtrays and cool neon signs. Again, each store is different and I’m sure there are a few overpriced stores out there, but once you find a good one, you’ll never look back.
If you want cast iron, usually carry with you Lodge, a brand I’ve been using for years and have no complaints about. (I can’t compare it to Le Creuset because I could never afford anything from Le Creuset other than a ceramic brazier I bought at the mall, but the Lodge’s cast iron works like cast iron.)
If you want something “cute,” restaurant stores usually sell cactus-shaped margarita glasses, but you can also just go to a thrift store. Some of my most adorable and unique pieces were bought from Goodwill, usually for less than $ 10. I found punch bowls, brass crockery, cocktail glasses, teak cheese domes, tons of antique pyrex, and a yellow enamel cast iron Dutch oven – all in second hand. Not only are these pieces cute – and generally cheap – but they are far more unique than any millennial pink brazier you’ll find on social media. I’ve also had decent success buying items on Etsy, eBay, and (more recently) the Facebook Marketplace, which is technically a social network, but you’re buying from another user and not the company that advertises on the platform.
How to find a restaurant supply store
If you are unsure where to find a restaurant supply store, do a quick Internet search to find one in your area (there are also several online stores), or ask someone you know who works at the restaurant and ask them … for some pot and pan advice while you do this. The utensils are for cooking, not photographing, and who better to ask than people who prepare food thoroughly.
Updated at 3:50 pm EST on June 29, 2021 to include a statement from Great Jones.