Skip to content

About Us Consistently Delivering Outstanding Service Since 1999

EHA Logo
About Us

Plato Catering Hire is a catering equipment, linen and furniture hire company with a proven business track record of 25 years. We specialise in hiring superb quality tableware, glassware, cutlery, linen, furniture and catering equipment of the highest quality that is spotlessly clean, hand polished and ready to use. We are part of the Event Hire Association (EHA), the industry-leading trade association for the event hire industry.

Plato Catering Hire works with private individuals, caterers, event management companies, corporates, marquee hire companies, and hotels. With anything from gin glasses to a small dinner party to crockery, cutlery, glasses, tables, chairs, bar stools, and outside furniture for 1000-strong awards dinners, we’ve been a core part of events in the West Midlands for over two decades. Whether you’re a private individual hosting a dinner party for ten, a caterer organising a wedding for 200, or a company planning corporate hospitality for 2,000, we’re here to help. We can be relied on to help ensure your event looks stunning and runs smoothly – and we’ll even do the washing up afterwards.

Founded in 1999, Plato Catering Hire is about providing high-quality catering equipment and embodying core principles guiding our business and services. You can explore Our Values here.

With our extensive experience and dedication, we’ve been recognised as a SafeHire© Certified company and received numerous industry accolades. For a detailed look at our achievements and the standards we uphold, take a look at our Awards and Certifications. This recognition is a testament to our commitment to delivering exceptional service across Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Birmingham, West Midlands beyond. 

What we do

We hire fine glassware, cutlery, crockery, linen, furniture, and catering equipment for clients of all sizes for events of all sizes. Whether you’re a private individual hosting a dinner party for ten, a caterer organising a wedding for 200, or a company planning corporate hospitality for 2,000, we’re here to help. We can be relied on to help ensure your event looks stunning and runs smoothly – and we’ll even do the washing up afterwards. Click the boxes below to find out more about what we do.

Crockery Hire

Whether you’re after classic white, fine dining or contemporary square or rectangular plates, you’re sure to find the perfect crockery for your event among our great choice of products. From dinner plates to rice bowls, and from espresso cups to soup plates, we can supply you with everything you need to serve an unforgettable meal.

Glass Hire

Our stylish and sparkling glassware range features every type of glass you could wish for, including champagne flutes, tumblers, numerous sizes of wine glass, shot glasses and much more. We stock only the finest quality glassware, so you can be confident that you’ll create a great impression at your event.

Cutlery Hire

We can supply you with every conceivable item of cutlery you might need for whatever feast you’re planning to serve. We have two superior cutlery ranges for you to choose from: our distinguished Rattail range is perfect for private parties, while our Bead design is best suited to commercial use at hotels, restaurants and larger events.

Linen Hire

Create a feeling of luxury at your event with our fine-quality table linen, which comes in numerous shapes, sizes and colours to fit any table and suit the theme or style you have in mind for your event. To put the finishing touch on each stunning table setting, we can even provide organza chair sashes in whatever colour you choose.

Furniture Hire

Whether you’re planning an informal get-together or a sumptuous banquet, our fantastic range of tables and chairs features everything you need to create the look you’re after. We have several sizes and shapes of table to suit your event type and the space you have available. To match, we have a comprehensive choice of chair types.

Kitchen Hire

The quality of the equipment behind the scenes is every bit as important as how good your tables look, so we pride ourselves on supplying high-quality kitchen equipment. From ovens and fridges to Jack Stacks, paella pans and prep tables, we can provide everything needed to ensure your event runs smoothly in the background.

Areas We Cover

For 25 years, we’ve been supplying catering equipment to event organisers in Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire & The Cotswolds, Stratford-upon-Avon, Birmingham, Oxfordshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands to help them do just that.

Interesting Facts

  1. You can spot our products in Hollywood and British films, dramas, and documentaries.
  2. Since 1999, we’ve delivered over 4 million plates, 3.5 million glasses, 4.5 million pieces of cutlery, 390,000 tablecloths and napkins, 71,000 tables and 204,000 chairs.
  3. We deliver over 1 million products and over 16 miles of tablecloth yearly.
  4. We have a vast range of over 600 product types for hire, covering tableware, glassware, cutlery, linen, furniture, and catering equipment. We’re always adding to this range to ensure we’re constantly introducing fresh ideas, following current trends and giving our clients more choices.
  5. We drive 5.5 times around the Earth’s circumference (24,906 miles) annually to deliver our products.

Memberships and Certifications

Book With Confidence

Proud members of the Event Hire Association.

The Hire Association Europe (HAE) / Event Hire Association (EHA)  is the UK’s internationally recognised trade association for the event hire industry.

SafeHire© Certified – Look for the logo

SafeHire© was developed and written with the assistance of BSi – The British Standards Institution; HSE – Health and Safety Executive; and CHAS – Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme.  

All drivers are LPG Gas Safety Trained, which includes safe transportation and storage of cylinders.

SafeHire Certified

High quality in all that we do

Customer Service

Our customers are the focus of everything we do. We are proud to provide outstanding customer service from the moment you first make an enquiry with us to collecting your order after your event. You’ll find our staff friendly, welcoming, and professional, and they’re here to offer you outstanding customer service. 

Mission and Vision

We promise to provide exceptional quality products and outstanding customer service always!

Our business is built on a strong set of values that form the backbone of our company. We continually evaluate these to ensure that we are always delivering on our customer promises.

  • Our mission is to consistently provide outstanding customer service in a process-driven environment.
  • Our vision is to become the most successful service provider in the Event Hire Industry.

Our Values

  • Respect
  • Integrity
  • Passion
  • Excellence

Our People

Our team is the most important asset to our business. We rely on them to communicate our ethos with a shared sense of purpose and a common performance culture; they know what the company stands for and never let us down.

We feel the same about all our partners. We like to work with partners who share our approach to outstanding service and are local to us. We work with people we like! We apply this approach to all the other talented people who make Plato Hire tick along.

Reviews
5 Over 97 Reviews
google
Yet again Plato have given us excellent service and we would highly recommend them.
google
Plato Catering Hire was amazing. We hired jugs for an afternoon tea. Collection was so easy and the jugs were individually wrapped.
We would definitely recommend Plato.
google
Everything was extremely good!
My order was small and at late notice, the staff were extremely helpful when getting my quote and accepting the quote.
Glasses themselves were in immaculate condition and the delivery to my offices was all good. When contacting the company, they were always happy to help and efficient in answering my queries.
Thank you!
google
Super helpful staff (and easily accommodated last minute changes to our order) and everything arrived on time and in excellent condition. They also picked up - which included a cleaning service - so we didn't have hours of washing up! (which we were enormously grateful for!). Highly recommend!
google
Plato are a super-efficient friendly company. My order was quite last minute but they were brilliant and very helpful on the phone. Everything was spotless. Delivery and collection were on time. Thank you so much.
google
Plato makes party entertaining an easy pleasure: plates and glassware simply ordered online, delivered and collected when agreed, and no washing up! Good to support this local business.
google
We used Plato for our wedding from the moment I sent my first enquiry to the moment they collected the final glasses after the wedding the service was excellent always responsive to any queries last-minute changes and advice. Their website is comprehensive extremely easy to use with a wide range of excellent tableware and other services I would thoroughly recommend Plato for any event and we shall certainly be using them again in the future thank you so much to the Plato team
google
Was recommended by a local catering company to use plato and found the service faultless.
With it been my first big event i asked for an earlier drop, so that i could check the power supply to the barn, which helped put my mind at rest. Once again thank you for delivering a great service.
google
Extremely helpful in advising us what items would be needed for our wedding. The champagne buckets were stunning. Thank you!
google
Communication and service was amazing from Plato Catering! Everything arrived in perfect condition, on time, and the process was seamless! Thank you so much!
google
Communication and service was amazing from Plato Catering! Everything arrived in perfect condition, on time, and the process was seamless! Thank you so much!
google
Plato Catering Hire are brilliant. Incredible customer service - accommodating, friendly and attentive. They made it all so easy for us. We will find excuses to work with Plato again! Thank you Stuart and team!
google
Stuart and his team delivered an absolutely amazing job for my party at very short notice. The quality of the equipment was 5*, the delivery service and collection were completely on point, with both being lovely friendly guys where nothing was too much trouble for either of them.
You could tell they loved what they do, they'r job satisfaction shone from both of them, which I feel speaks volumes about a company and how they treat their employees. The website is so easily to use and the prices are beyond reasonable. Plato took all of the hard work out of my event and meant that I could really enjoy it myself without becoming stressed. I would highly recommend them to anybody from the most tiny gathering to a mass event, they are capable and beyond professional, and I will be using Plato every time going forward. Thank you so very much guys!!
google
Thank you Plato Catering for a fantastic professional service. The products we used were excellent. It was surprisingly easy to order online and we had the choice of delivery or pick up. Everything was really well packaged and even the glasses were marked so we couldn't mix them up with our own. Could not have been easier. Will most definitely use the services of Plato again - cannot recommend enough for any parties or events.
google
Stuart and his team are brilliant!
We have used them for many years, impeccable service and quality crockery and glassware hire..

Well recommended!
google
Plato are friendly, responsive and very easy to deal with. The website is easy to navigate and the variety of products offered is extensive. Plato delivered exactly what they said they would, when they said they would. It was wonderful just to put the used items back into the crates and not have to wash them up. They were collected exactly as agreed. Will definitely use again and highly recommend
google
After searching for hire companies for my wedding I came across plato and I couldn’t be more happy that I did. The service was truly amazing! The communication was absolutely amazing! Every time I needed to add something it was easy and plato were so good with answering every single question that I had regarding sizes. I would definitely use plato again and definitely recommend them to anyone who needs to use a hire company. Everyone at the wedding loved the rustic chairs and I couldn’t believe how good it looked! Thank you so much plato!
google
I have hired from them previously and I have always had an awesome experience. not time wasters, they go to the point, make everything crystal clear and the process all and all is effortless. pick up also promptly so you don't have the hired items for days on end. I will defo hire them again and I am also recommending them to everyone I know.
google
Working with Plato was so easy. I kept tweaking my order and each time the quote was quickly refreshed without any bother. Everything arrived neatly packed and was collected promptly after our party without me having to do any washing - amazing, would recommend.
google
Very efficient company and the delivery guys, very friendly and helpful.
google
We used Plato for a family party at home, we hired tables, Wine glasses and drinks glasses. all arrived on time, glasses clean and ready for use all collected on time. A great experience from delivery, collection and administration teams thank you very much. Edward
google
Plato Catering had exactly the items that we needed for our 1920’s party. The items were delivered on time and picked up in a timely manner.
Very professional, efficient and friendly and helpful communications.
google
This is a brilliant company. Extremely professional and very efficient. The equipment and sundries we hired were lovely.
google
Great Communication and Service. Products perfect. Will definitely use again. A+
google
We hired 80 champagne flutes for a party at our house. I found the whole experience with Plato to be seamless and easy. I thought they were great value too. The drop off and collection- without needing to wash up- was particularly good. Will definitely use again.
google
Really easy to order glasses, plates, tables,and cutlery. Efficient delivery and collection, and a great experience overall.
google
We have used Plato for our wedding; great service and great communication.
google
Excellent service and the equipment supplied was like new
google
Plato were absolutely fantastic from start to finish. We used them for our wedding and they went out of their way to help us, letting us visit their warehouse to view the items, being extremely efficient with all communications and providing a great service during our event. No issues at all, thank you Plato!
google
The service we received from Plato was excellent.
We were holding a Street Party and everything arrived on time, was in good condition and again was collected on time.
Thank you

Newsletter

Everyone has a newsletter. So do we. Ours is incredibly boring—so boring, you might actually be curious enough to check it out.

Sign up and see just how dull it can be. You won’t be disappointed—at least, not until you realise how much fun you’re missing out on!