Plate Mate

Plate Mates

In 1990, Michel Nales’ father established his own business, Horena Trading Holland. Before then, Michel was the owner of a well-known restaurant in the region and had trouble with the logistics around peak moments in the restaurant. There was too little storage capacity in the kitchens and fridges for prepared plates. There was hardly any room to stock everything in an orderly, accessible and hygienic way, especially during peak periods in service. At the restaurant bar at the end of a hectic business day, little was said about the lack of space. Nales senior, an engineer, immediately got to work on the problem. The next day, the first prototype was installed in the kitchen and after a couple of additional improvements, the first Plate Mate was ready for business.

Today, the Plate Mate is a worldwide patented product allowing a large number of plates to be placed simply and quickly on a very small surface. Prepared or partially prepared dishes can now easily be stored in the refrigerator or hot box. Moreover, Plate Mate also offers handy protective covers to prevent drying out and odours. The mobile Plate Mates can store any type of plate or dish up to five centimetres high. Whether the dishware is round, square, rectangular or oval, every plate fits. Adjustments can be made easily and quickly through four adjustment knobs that control the supports.

Worldwide export

The Plate Mate parts are produced according to Plate Mate specifications, mainly by metal and plastic product manufacturers in the region. Everything is Made in Holland! The Plate Mate assembly has taken place since its establishment in the Sociale Werkplaats, a sheltered workshop in Emmeloord. From there, each year, some 8,000 Plate Mates are mainly exported (96%) to countries abroad. Plate Mate works with exclusive distributors in 35 countries, who supply the products to the hotel and catering wholesale business, hotel chains, hospitals, and shipping industry.

Michel: ‘We usually don’t come into contact with most of our end users until they order spare parts with us. Our Plate Mates are a modular design, which makes replacing parts very simple. Still, part replacement is seldomly required. The supplied Plate Mates are very sturdy and have a very long lifespan. We actually make them too well!’

With this focus on quality, Plate Mate has gained an excellent reputation in the sector. Many customers make the conscious choice for Plate Mate and the Made in Holland label. The future is therefore looking bright and stable.