Table linen is one of the few areas where quality is more important than price and it is therefore a prime opportunity for laundries to differentiate themselves from the cheaper competition.
The number of restaurants that use full table settings is rapidly declining and it is mainly the high class restaurants and upmarket hotels that keep the tradition of a full table setting with a good quality table cloth and textile napkins.
Such well-dressed restaurants want a high quality image with glasses and cutlery gleaming and perfectly laundered, unstained and undamaged linen. The shadow of a stain, a grey napkin on a white cloth or a tiny hole will ruin the impact.
The truly professional launderer can present the hotel or restaurant, with a stunning pile of clean, crisp, neatly folded table linen. All it takes is a little knowledge, time, patience and good staff training.
Choice of material
A good result starts with a process that suits the fabric used for the table cloth. There are three main types of table cloth fabric: 100% cotton, a 50/50 polycotton blend and 100% texturised polyester.
For a high quality result that will satisfy the most discerning customer, always process 100% cotton separately from polyester and polycotton blends to avoid pills of cotton clinging to the polyester.
Even when these types are classified and washed separately, work may look as if it has bits of lint on it even if the work is 100% cotton. This is invariably because the cloths have not been opened up properly and shaken to remove the paper napkins and other debris that gets caught up as the cloths are bundled to send to the laundry.
So any paper in the load will get shredded and the fine particles will stick to the linen.The problem can be even worse if the laundry is trying to save water or chemicals.
If one or two coloured paper napkins are washed with a load of white table cloths, they can bleed onto the white linen, again producing an unacceptable result.
Loose cutlery and crockery can also be caught up in table cloths and if they go into the wash can damage the washer and cut other items in the load.
When linen is washed in a tunnel washer line loose cutlery can also damage the expensive membranes used in the extractor-press.
Wash process
The best launderers set a quality standard that they believe will satisfy their customers. They then seek to achieve this as economically as possible, with the help of the detergent supplier.
This is far better than setting a cost target and trying to achieve the best quality within this limit. Working to a standard rather than to a cost will produce a service that is visibly different from that of the competition.
It is not possible to take short cuts when processing table linen. Much of it will be soiled with food and wine and the staining will already have been on the cloth for at least 24 hours by the time the linen arrives at the laundry.
Red wine will have dyed the cotton and the blood in gravy will be setting into the cloth structure. The laundry must remove this staining with minimum fabric damage at the lowest economically viable cost.
The first essential step is a break-wash in clear cold water (up to 35C) with a medium-high dip level to remove both water-soluble soiling such as salt and sugar and particulate soiling. This break-wash will soften food and other debris that has dried onto the fabric. Adding a little neutral detergent at this point will also help to soften the dried-on food.
The next stage should be a stepped wash. Table linen will have little body-fat staining and although there can be small local patches of heavy food or beverage soiling, most of the cloth is often fairly clean.
The process should start with a low to medium dip level with sufficient fully-built detergent to achieve a generous lather. This should be at 60C for 5 – 7 minutes. Then, without draining, increase the wash temperature to 71– 80C and, if practical, add 4 – 5g/kg of sodium percarbonate and run the machine for 7 – 8 minutes before draining and starting the rinse stages.
If using sodium percarbonate in the main wash is not practical, then use sodium hypochlorite in the first rinse dosed at 1g of available chlorine per kg dry weight.
Launderers should always know the strength of hypochlorite added to ensure there is sufficient chlorine to meet the recommended dose. They must also ensure that the first rinse is below 60C when it is added to avoid the risk of excess fabric damage.
This process can be used on all types of table linen but it might not work as well on spun polyester as it does on cotton. Polyester is oleophilic (oil-loving) and complete removal of oil stains, from fish chicken and even olive oil, requires something to break the oil to fibre bond. The solution is to increase the level of non-ionic detergency in the soap formulation.
Polyester and polycotton fabrics are also susceptible to shock creasing caused by rapid cooling when cold rinse water is run onto fabric that is hot from the wash stage.
Thermal shock of this type is avoided by a cool-down at the end of the wash stage – I recommend a cooling rate of 4C per minute until the fabric is below 52C.
Polyester and polycottons have a greater volume than an equal weight of cotton and because polyester is at risk of pressure creasing when hot, the machine should always be underloaded.
The degree of loading should be reduced by at least 15% and preferably by 20% to minimise these risks. Raising the dip levels slightly and using an open-pocket washer-extractor with a small diameter will help to reduce the risk of creasing polyester and polycottons.
Starching
A small amount of starch will improve the look and feel of all linen when it is on the table. Starching has an additional benefit for the launderer as it provides a protective layer to prevent food and other debris penetrating the fabric deeply, so soil removal is slightly easier.
Starching 100% white cotton is simple. Reduce the level of the final rinse, adding 5 –10g/kg of a well balanced maize or potato starch and run the machine for 5minutes before final extract. However, this method will not work with coloured cottons or with polyester or polycottons.
For coloured 100% cotton table linen, use a “boiled starch” solution. Dissolve the starch in a container of water and then heat the solution until it boils. The starch pods will pop to release the gluten, creating a gelatinous translucent liquid. This can be diluted so that it is easier to pour into the washer when cooled.
This method can be used on polyester and polycotton blends but some launderers prefer specially formulated PVA fabric dressings designed for polyester fabrics.
Many of these special dressings will not be removed during the wash and can build-up on the fabric. This can lead to the fabric sticking to the calender bed and also to excessive creasing that is not easily removed. This problem does not occur with a high quality natural starch.
It is advisable to avoid tumbling washed and starched table linen as this can remove the starch. If tumbling is essential, then minimise the time and temperature. Never try to partially dry the linen by tumbling, because it is cheaper to iron out moisture.
When transferring the linen to the ironing line by trolley, make sure that the linen is covered with a plastic/polythene sheet to minimise moisture evaporation. This applies to all types but especially to polyester blends. Make sure that trolleys of work are ironed in sequence and that the queue of trolleys is kept to the essential minimum. This is especially important for polyester blends to avoid unnecessary creasing as well as to avoid damaging the polyester.
Polyester must be evenly damp when ironed, otherwise the drier areas will glaze and produce patches with a greasy-oily look where the polyester has melted when the bed temperature has been over 140C.
Ironing
The highest quality of table linen is produced using a “shallow bed” ironer (where only about one third of the roller circumference is in contact with the heated bed). This reduces flexing of the starched cloth as it passes over the ironer bed, so minimising mechanical breakup of the starch and producing the crispest finish.
The ironer speed should be set to ensure that the table cloths leave the ironer when just dry. An ironer running too slowly when processing polyester blends will cause irreversible distortion and glazing. An ironer running too fast will produce damp work.
Hand feeding will generally produce the highest quality table linen. However recent advances in the design of table linen feeders have narrowed the gap between manual and automated feeding, and many top-quality producers now use these high-tech feeders.
Note that feeding by hand will only work with experienced, well trained operators.
The operator should first run a thumb along the hem to ensure it is flat and then feed the table cloths edge first. As the cloth is fed they should apply gentle lateral tension to pull out any possible creases in the direction of the weft and the trailing ends must also have gentle lateral tension. Vertical tension must be avoided to prevent “dog ears” on the cloth.
Table linen should only be folded to the extent needed for the laundry’s packing methods. Many hotels and restaurants will have their own specific way of folding napkins and have different sized tables to dress. Minimal folding makes it easier for the customer to prepare and dress the tables.
