Guides / Container planning

Loading restaurant dining tables into a 40HQ without paying for air

In short: Chairs load by volume, tables load by volume, and knocked-down furniture loads roughly twice as densely as assembled. Whether your order fills a container is a packing decision made at the quoting stage, not at the port.

Lead time

45–70 days door to door

Sampling

15 days, no sampling fee

MOQ

6 pcs per model

Load rating

150 kg whole-chair static

Custom sizes

No upcharge, no tooling fee

Volume first, weight second

A 40HQ holds about 68 cbm usable. For restaurant dining tables packed at 1 pc per carton, 0.30–0.45 cbm, the arithmetic is simple: divide 60 cbm — the practical usable figure once you allow for stacking losses — by the carton volume and you have the maximum piece count. Weight almost never binds first with furniture; volume does.

Ask for the packed carton dimensions before you confirm the order. A factory that cannot give you a carton dimension is a factory that has not packed for export before, or has not checked.

Knocked down or assembled

Knocked-down tables load at roughly half the volume of assembled ones and cost less per unit to ship. The trade is assembly time at destination and a small risk of missing hardware. For a project with its own installers, knocked down is usually the right answer; for a restaurant that wants furniture in place on opening day, it is usually not.

Either way, specify that hardware is packed per unit in a labelled bag and that a 2% spare fittings kit goes in the container. It costs almost nothing and it saves the one missing bolt that stops a whole table being built.

Mixed loads and stack planning

A mixed load of tables and chairs is normal for a restaurant fit-out, and it needs a stack plan: heavy flat-packed items at the bottom, cartons on top, nothing bridging a gap. Ask the factory for the loading plan with the carton count per row.

The failure mode is a container loaded to the doors with no allowance for the last two rows, which get crushed on closing. If the total volume comes to 64 cbm against 68 cbm usable, plan on 60 — the last 4 cbm are the ones that do not fit.

Why the specification, not the price, is the decision

Two quotations for restaurant dining tables are only comparable when they answer the same written specification. Once they do, the remaining difference is construction and material grade — which is exactly the difference that shows up in year two, in a room full of guests, with no spare chairs.

The cheapest reliable path is to fix the specification, fix the drawing, and then compare. It takes one extra week at the start and removes most of the reasons a project has to buy the same furniture twice.

Sampling, and what the sample is for

A physical sample takes about 15 days and carries no sampling fee; the courier is on the buyer's account. The sample is not a formality — it is the only point at which the seat height, the finish and the fabric can be checked together before a production run exists.

Keep the approved sample, or a signed photograph of it with the finish and fabric references written on the back. When the production run arrives, that sample is the specification. Without it, the comparison becomes a memory.

MOQ, tooling and what a first order looks like

The minimum order for restaurant dining tables is 6 pcs per model. There is no tooling fee and no charge for a custom size or a custom fabric, because the factory builds to drawing rather than to a fixed mould. A first order is normally one 40HQ or a shared container with a second project, and the price per unit does not change at that volume.

This matters more than it sounds. Buyers often assume a custom dimension carries a premium and accept a stock size that does not fit the room. On restaurant furniture built to drawing, the custom size and the stock size cost the same.

Where this fits on our own range

Our round restaurant tables, rectangular restaurant tables and restaurant dining tables are built to the same drawing discipline, so the numbers above apply there without translation. These are the pages the same workshop builds to, so the dimensions, finishes and load ratings discussed above apply directly rather than in principle.

Two models built to the specification discussed above are the JP-T108 dining table and the JP-T119 dining table; both are quoted against your drawing rather than a stock size.

Frequently asked questions

How is an order for restaurant dining tables packed for export?

Corner protection on every carton, a moisture barrier inside, and the model and quantity marked outside. Packed volume is 1 pc per carton, 0.30–0.45 cbm.

What load rating should I ask for?

Ask for a whole-chair static load rating that applies the load to the seat and back assembly together, not a seat-only figure. The target for restaurant use is 150 kg.

Is there a minimum order for restaurant dining tables?

The MOQ is 6 pcs per model. Custom dimensions and custom fabrics carry no upcharge and no tooling fee.

Sources and further reading

restaurant furniture specification — foshanrestaurant.com
restaurant furniture projects — foshanrestaurant.com