Nobody leaves a five star review because the washroom was well stocked. But plenty of people leave a one star review because it was not. In hospitality, the washroom is the one part of your operation a customer inspects alone, unhurried, with nothing else to look at.
This is a practical stocking checklist for pubs, cafes, restaurants and hotels, plus the volumes that actually keep you out of trouble.
The non-negotiables
1. Toilet tissue
For anything above light traffic, a dispenser format beats household rolls. Mini jumbo rolls at 150m or 200m suit most cafes and small pubs. Busier sites and hotels should be on jumbo rolls at 300m or 400m.
Check your dispenser core size before ordering — 60mm or 76mm. Getting this wrong is the most common ordering mistake in the trade.
2. Hand towels or hand drying
Paper is the safer default in food-adjacent settings because it removes moisture and physically lifts residue from the hands. Whatever you choose, run it in white for customer-facing washrooms — blue reads as industrial.
3. Blue roll for the kitchen
Separate from anything in the washroom. Blue roll belongs in prep areas, on the pass and behind the bar. The colour exists so a stray fragment is visible against food, which is exactly what an Environmental Health Officer wants to see supported in your food safety system.
4. White roll for front of house
White roll for tables, glass, front counters and anywhere a customer can see you wiping. Same product, different job, and the visual split makes your zoning obvious to staff.
5. Soap and sanitiser
Wall-mounted rather than loose bottles wherever possible. Loose bottles walk, get knocked over and look untidy by mid-service.
The things that get forgotten
- Spare rolls stored in the washroom itself. If a member of staff has to walk to a stockroom mid-service, the cubicle stays empty.
- Sanitary disposal in every female and accessible cubicle, with a serviced collection arrangement.
- Baby change facilities if you serve families — and the liners to go with them.
- Bin liners in the right size. The wrong size is a daily irritation nobody ever fixes.
- A visible cleaning check sheet. Cheap, and it does real work on customer perception.
How much to hold
Work from washroom users per day, not covers. A rough planning figure is 4 to 5 metres of tissue per user per day.
| Venue | Washroom users/day | Suggested tissue format | Sensible stock holding |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small cafe | 30 to 60 | Mini jumbo 150m | 2 to 3 cases |
| Busy cafe or bar | 80 to 150 | Mini jumbo 200m | 4 to 6 cases |
| Restaurant | 100 to 250 | Jumbo 300m | 5 to 8 cases |
| Hotel or large pub | 250+ | Jumbo 400m | Pallet quantities |
Aim for two to four weeks of cover. Less and one late delivery leaves you buying 9 packs from a supermarket at retail price. More and you are storing stock in space that could hold something you sell.
Seasonal peaks
Hospitality demand is not flat, and washroom consumables track footfall exactly. Build a bigger buffer ahead of summer, December, local events and bank holidays. It is the cheapest insurance in the business.
Buying it properly
Most venues buy washroom supplies reactively — a cash and carry run when something runs low. That is the most expensive way to do it: retail-adjacent pricing, staff time, and a van trip.
Consolidating into one monthly or quarterly trade order across tissue, blue roll and white roll cuts the unit price and the carriage. If you run more than one site, the case gets stronger again.
Midland Tissue Company supplies hospitality venues across the UK with tissue, blue roll and white roll in trade quantities. Request a wholesale quote with your venue type and footfall and we will build a list around it.
Frequently asked questions
How much toilet roll does a restaurant use per month?
Roughly: washroom users per day × 4.5 metres × opening days. A restaurant with 150 washroom users a day, open seven days, gets through around 20,000 metres a month.
Do I have to use blue roll in a commercial kitchen?
UK law does not mandate a colour. It requires effective controls. Blue is the established convention and what auditors expect, and once your food safety management system specifies it, following it becomes a requirement for your business.
What is the best toilet roll format for a pub?
Mini jumbo for most, jumbo for high-volume venues. Both cut refill trips dramatically compared to household rolls, which matters most on a busy Friday night.
How often should washroom stock be checked?
Every service in a busy venue, and at minimum at open and close. A logged check sheet on the wall is the simplest system that actually gets used.