Dinner napkins at wholesale volume for restaurants, hotels and banqueting operations. Airlaid linen-feel and 3-ply tissue in 1/8 and 1/4 fold, plain or custom printed, from 5,000 pieces per design.
A dinner napkin is defined by size and fold, not by material. It is the largest napkin on the table, typically 40×40 cm unfolded for a 1/8 fold, and it is expected to sit on a lap or beside a full place setting without looking undersized. A cocktail napkin at roughly 25×25 cm fails this test immediately.
| Specification | Standard option | Premium option | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unfolded size | 40 × 40 cm | 45 × 45 cm | Larger sizes raise material cost |
| Fold | 1/8 fold | 1/4 fold or pocket fold | 1/8 fits standard dispensers |
| Ply | 2-ply | 3-ply | 3-ply for spill handling |
| Substrate | Tissue | Airlaid | Airlaid for cloth-like hand and low lint |
| Emboss | Standard | Linen emboss | Linen emboss reads as premium |
| Plain | 1–4 colour flexo | Pantone matched, proof on substrate |
This is the decision most dinner napkin buyers get wrong. 3-ply tissue is thicker but still reads as paper; it absorbs well and costs less. Airlaid is not paper in the conventional sense — the fibres are air-laid rather than wet-laid, which produces a material with the drape and softness of cloth and, critically, very low lint.
The practical test: put both on a dark linen tablecloth under warm light and rub them. The tissue leaves visible fibre. The airlaid does not. For a banqueting room with 300 covers and dark linen, that difference is the entire reason to pay more. For a high-turnover casual restaurant with paper placemats, it is not. Full comparison: airlaid vs paper napkins.
Wedding and event venues have a different consumption curve from restaurants: demand is lumpy, concentrated in specific weekends, and highly sensitive to colour matching. A venue that needs 800 ivory napkins for a Saturday in six weeks cannot wait 30 days for production plus transit. We hold the common dinner formats in stock so these orders can ship on a short clock, and we keep colour consistency across production runs so a reorder six months later matches the original. See wedding napkins and linen-feel napkins.
A printed dinner napkin carries a logo, monogram or event name. We print water-based flexo up to four colours. Two practical notes: first, water-based ink on airlaid sits slightly differently than on a coated reference, so we always send a proof on the actual substrate. Second, large solid ink coverage on a dinner napkin can affect the hand feel in the printed area — fine linework and small logos print more elegantly than full-bleed blocks. Our printed napkin buying guide covers artwork setup.
Our standard dinner napkin is 40 x 40 cm unfolded in a 1/8 fold, with a 45 x 45 cm option for premium service. 1/4 fold and pocket-fold formats are available where the venue needs a larger surface or a cutlery wrap.
Choose airlaid when the napkin sits on dark linen or polished wood and lint would show, or when the venue positions itself as premium. Choose 3-ply tissue for high-turnover casual service where absorption matters more than hand feel and cost control is tighter.
5,000 pieces per design. We print water-based flexo up to four colours, match Pantone references, and send a printed proof on the actual substrate before the production run so you approve the real result.
Yes, and we keep colour consistency across production runs so a reorder months later matches the original. For weddings and events we hold common dinner formats in stock, which matters when an event is only a few weeks out.
Standard is 1,000 to 3,000 napkins per master case in inner wraps inside a corrugated shipper. We can pack to your storeroom or dispenser requirement, and confirm exact case counts with your quote since they vary with ply and fold.
Tell us the format, ply, size, print colours and quantity. We reply with price bands, lead time and a sample plan within one working day.
