Ordering Tables for a Restaurant Opening: A Working Timeline

Every restaurant opening runs on a countdown, and the tables have a way of becoming the item nobody owns until it's urgent. We've delivered enough build-outs — Brooklyn waterfront event spaces, Long Island bars, Florida watersides — to know exactly where table orders go wrong. Here's the working timeline.

T-minus 10–12 weeks: count from the floor plan

The seating plan is the source of truth. Count your two-tops, four-tops, rounds, banquette runs, and bar length — our table-size cheat sheet covers the standard footprints. Can't finalize? Order the fixed quantities now (the bar top, the banquettes) and hold the flexible two-tops for a second order. Send the plan to the shop and we'll do the counting with you — that's the service.

T-minus 8–10 weeks: place the order

Production lead time plus delivery scheduling means eight weeks out is comfortable and six is tight. Two decisions to lock here:

• Species and finish: walnut for the premium room, white oak for maximum wear, red oak for the same durability class at a value price. Our zero-VOC commercial finish handles nightly cleaning on all three. Order samples and judge under your actual lighting — dining rooms lie in daylight.
• One lumber lot: multi-table runs from our shop are milled together and grain-matched, so table twelve reads like table one. That only works when the run is ordered as a run — piecemeal orders come from different lots.

T-minus 2–3 weeks: coordinate delivery

Direct-to-site delivery gets scheduled around your GC — after the floors, before the FF&E crunch. NYC build-outs: we handle COIs and freight-elevator windows routinely. Tables arrive finished and fully cured; they can go straight onto bases the same day.

The mistakes we see

• Ordering tops without confirming base spread — match the base footprint to the top or the four-top wobbles forever.
• Skipping trade pricing — restaurant orders qualify for tiered B2B discounts; apply before ordering, not after.
• Treating tables as decor instead of equipment — a top that fails mid-service is an operations problem. Solid hardwood with a repairable finish is the equipment-grade answer: scars buff out and re-oil in place, no downtime.

Opening this year? Send the floor plan for a package quote — usually priced within one business day — or spec a single top in the Builder to see live numbers now.