Choosing a restaurant hand wipe sounds like it should be simple. After all, it’s only a wipe.
But the hand wipe you include with a takeaway shouldn’t necessarily be the same one you place alongside the bill in a fine dining restaurant.
Think about everything else you choose to match the experience you offer. The quality of your napkins, glassware, cutlery and even the way the bill is presented all say something about your restaurant. Your hand wipes are another small part of that.
So, how much should you spend and which type of hand wipe is right for your restaurant?
A useful place to start is your average customer spend per head.
Under £20 Per Head: Keep It Simple
If you run a takeaway, kebab shop, burger restaurant or other casual dining business where customers typically spend under £20 per head, practicality and price are likely to be high on your list.
This is where the mywipe Basic Hand Wipe comes in.
A simple biodegradable paper based wipe measuring 185mm x 95mm is smaller than our premium options, making it a straightforward, cost-effective choice for businesses that may be handing out large numbers of wipes. Its refreshing minty lemon scent leaves hands clean and sanitised in our specifically developed formula that has been tested to kill 99.999% of bacteria.
It does the job without adding unnecessary cost to every order.
£20 to £60 Per Head: Make the Wipe Part of the Experience
Once customers are sitting down for a meal and spending £20, £30, £40 or more per head, we'd generally suggest stepping up to the mywipe Luxury Hand Wipe.
Think about a good independent Italian or a steak restaurant. The food is beautifully presented, the table is properly laid and customers might stay for a couple of hours over several courses and a bottle of wine.
A very basic little sachet can feel slightly out of place.
The Luxury Hand Wipe comes in a larger 60mm x 120mm sachet and contains a fully biodegradable 100% viscose 180mm x 200mm tissue. The soft, thicker 50gsm wipe material gives customers something that feels more in keeping with the rest of the experience.
For most sit down restaurants, we'd consider this a good starting point.
£60+ Per Head: The Little Details Matter
At the higher end of dining, customers notice details.
If you're charging £60 or more per head, particularly in fine dining, the mywipe Ultimate Hand Wipe is designed to feel like part of that premium experience.
It comes in the larger 60mm x 120mm sachet and uses a substantial 70gsm wipe material, whilst remaining fully biodegradable.
It's a tiny detail in the context of an entire meal, but when you've carefully considered everything else on the table, why stop at the hand wipe?
What About Alcohol Free and Halal Certified Wipes?
Price isn't the only consideration.
For some restaurants, the ingredients and suitability of the wipe for their customers will be equally important.
The mywipe Sterizar Hand Wipe is alcohol free and Halal certified, making it an option for restaurants where those considerations are particularly relevant.
Looking to Take Sustainable Packaging Further?
Whichever mywipe restaurant hand wipe you choose, the wipe material itself is biodegradable and plastic free.
For businesses that want to take this further, we also offer a Biodegradable Hand Wipe in Recyclable Packaging.
This gives restaurants another option when packaging choices form part of their wider environmental goals, delivering a product that is gentle on you and gentle on our planet.
Don't Choose on Price Alone
The spend per head figures above aren't rules. A casual restaurant may decide it wants to offer a more luxurious wipe, while a particular style of food might mean you're handing out considerably more wipes than another restaurant with a similar average spend.
Instead, think about three things: your customer, your dining experience and how many wipes you use.
That last point is particularly important, because once you're using hand wipes in reasonable volumes, there's another option worth considering.
When Should You Put Your Own Name on the Sachet?
If customers are already leaving your restaurant with a hand wipe in their pocket, handbag or takeaway bag, there's an opportunity for that little sachet to carry your brand rather than ours.
Guardpack manufactures bespoke private label restaurant hand wipes from a minimum order of just 2,000 wipes.
For restaurants regularly getting through significant quantities, moving from an off the shelf mywipe product to a bespoke wipe can turn something you're already buying into another piece of branded marketing.
Your logo, colours and message can travel beyond the restaurant with your customer.
And because the minimum order is only 2,000 wipes, bespoke branding isn't necessarily something reserved for restaurant chains or very large hospitality businesses. However, they may work out more costly than our generic mywipe products, so we'll talk through your requirements and probably discuss your weekly covers to see if private label branded wipes are a cost-effective option for you.
Still Not Sure Which Restaurant Hand Wipe to Choose?
As a simple starting point, think Basic for takeaway and casual dining, Luxury for most sit down restaurants and Ultimate when the experience calls for something more premium.
Then consider whether you need an alcohol free, Halal certified option, recyclable packaging or perhaps your own branding.
And before choosing any restaurant hand wipe, it's worth making sure you know exactly what you're buying. Read our guide to restaurant hand wipe compliance for the simple checks every restaurant should make before ordering.