Steps To Order Our Wood Table Tops
- We start with an initial information-gathering email or phone call.
- We provide samples and a quote.
- You will sign a contract and provide a down payment to place your order on our production schedule.
- We will work on your order in Production, producing high-quality restaurant tabletops.
- We will coordinate shipping with you so you can receive the shipment when it arrives.
- You install your quality wood tabletops.
- We ask that you submit photos and feedback from your completed project.
- Get ready to open your second (or third, fourth, etc) restaurant.
Let’s look at each of these steps in more detail.
1. Initial Query
When a customer initially reaches out to TimeWorn, please have the following information ready:
- The restaurant name, address, and zip code for an accurate shipping quote.
- A couple of restaurant table top selections that you’d like samples of.
- A list of table top sizes and quantities.
- A good idea of when you need the tables installed.
This information will help us process your initial query fast, ensuring you can decide on the table tops you’d like to order quickly.
2. Quote and Samples
We provide some of the most detailed quotes in the industry. It is critical that our customers read through all the specifications and double-check the quantities and sizes of the table tops they are ordering. It is easier to change a quote than to remake a table that’s already been built and shipped. One table may only cost $200-$300, but shipping a single table top can cost as much as an entire order of 20 tables. It is much less expensive to double and triple-check the sizes and quantities of your order.
The samples we provide are a full 12” x 12” and the full thickness of a finished table. We do our best to make each sample an accurate representation of the final product, but when working with wood, there will be natural variation—from table to table and even from board to board.
We also ask that you test the samples; if you are serving wine, pour a glass on the table and let it sit overnight. Clean it with the aggressive cleaner you’ll be using. If you’re serving 200-degree plates, put a plate on the table to see why our high-quality wood table tops are a step above the rest.
3. Contract & Down Payment
Once you are ready to place your restaurant tabletop order, we request a signed copy of the contract and a down payment. With both, we can place the order on the production schedule. We cannot add your table tops to our schedule until these are received. Please note: if we quoted you a 6-week lead time, that time starts once we receive your contract and down payment.
4. Production
Until this step, it’s relatively easy for us to change directions by switching to another product or changing a quantity or size. But, once production of your table tops starts, there isn’t a way to undo a product selection.
Our Table Top Production Process
- Bring in the raw material if we don’t already have it
- Dry the lumber suitable for installation in all 50 states
- Cut the lumber to length
- Rip the material to width
- Glue the tables
- Cut the tables to size
- Plane, router, and sand the tables
- Spray the tables with four coats of Acrylic Polyurethane on top and two on the bottom
The time for each of these steps will vary between the 50 different products that we offer. For instance, if you are ordering butcher block new oak table tops, there is no additional drying of the lumber, but if you are ordering reclaimed mixed plank oak table tops, it will take a full two weeks to dry the lumber. Because of these differences, our lead time can vary from a quick three weeks to 12 weeks. If you are trying to decide between two table top products, we will include the lead time for each product on the quote.
Once this step is completed, you will be notified by email and in the form of a final invoice. The order must be paid in full before we move forward with scheduling your restaurant table tops for shipment.
5. Shipping
For most customers, this is the most crucial step! Customers should be reading every email they receive from our office, but the emails you receive about shipping are of the utmost importance.
You must know the answers to these questions before we can schedule your table tops for shipping:
- What day will work best for me to receive my restaurant tables?
- Do I have a loading dock?
- Will I have a forklift to unload the crate(s)?
- Will my tables fit on a lift gate?
- Will I have people available to help unload the tables and bring them into my restaurant?
- How many people will I need to move the tables?
If you’re unsure of the answer to some of these questions, we advise you to wait for us to schedule a shipment. Freight carriers will charge as much as $100 per DAY if you are not ready to receive the tables when they arrive. It’s also imperative that if a driver offers to move your tables for you, you ask what that charge will be. They WILL charge you 100% of the time if they are required to do ANY work outside their trailer.
It’s also critical that you thoroughly inspect both the crates and the tables when they arrive. If the driver refuses to wait while you uncrate your delivered tables, you MUST state this on the BOL, “driver would not wait for an inspection of the product.” Should something be damaged and you do not write that on the BOL, you have absolutely no recourse to have them pay for damages that may have occurred in transit.
It’s also worth noting that if your restaurant tables are shipped around the holidays or inclement weather is expected, there could be delays. We do our very best to avoid these issues as we know they can and will likely make receiving your product more difficult, but these things are out of our control.
6. Install
While we don’t offer table top installation, we can provide you with some suggestions:
- If you are paying to install the tables, allow us to pre-drill them. It can cost as much as $25 a table to drill the holes to receive the bases, while we only charge a minimal fee of $5 per table.
- Ensure you have plenty of pads to lay the table tops upside down while performing the assembly.
- Give yourself ample time to complete the installation. It will take 10 minutes on a simple table to an entire hour on a complicated table to attach the table top to its base(s).
Remember, we always have your back. If your installer isn’t quite sure of something, have them call us; we’d be happy to help.
7. Photos & Feedback
Taking pictures of your completed project probably isn’t at the forefront of your mind, but it’s a HUGE accomplishment that should be documented and shared with your customers and vendors. For us as a vendor, admiring your projects and the hard work that went into them is one of our favorite parts of the job. (You’ll also score massive brownie points—we never forget our customers who attach project photos to their name.)
You’ve probably had multiple communications with our office. You know what you like and love about our wood table tops and services. We want to hear specifics; let us have it—the good, the great, and yes, even the ugly. We are by all measures a small business, and not just meeting but exceeding our customer’s expectations allows us to continue to grow, individually and as a company.
8. Do It All Over Again
If I had $1 for every time a new customer asked us to discount their wood tables purchase based on the opening of 100 restaurants in the future, I’d easily have $1,000 extra in my pocket. Yes, a few have pulled it off and made a franchise out of their fantastic restaurant—we just want all our customers to know that we’re here for you. We’ve seen firsthand some of the mistakes owners have made in turning their concept into a franchise. We’re willing to answer any questions you might have, and with the experience of our team, we can take a look at your floor plan and your design ideas and potentially give you some priceless information that only comes from working on well over 1,000 projects over the last 15+ years. And when you’re ready to open your second restaurant and then your third and fourth one, we’ll be here for you—probably with that initially wished for discount in hand.
