The Restaurant Industry Essential That Could Finally Declutter Your Kitchen

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The restaurant bus tub — if you've ever been to a restaurant during the lunch rush, then you've likely seen those plastic brown bins being carried from table to table as the eatery's bussers clean up after each table's guests leave. But here's the thing about the bus tub: It isn't just great for restaurant bussers or for keeping the eatery's tables tidy. It can do the same for your kitchen, keeping your kitchen counters clutter-free between dish washings. All you need to do is put the tub to the side of the sink and deposit your extra dirty dishes within the tub's tummy until you're ready to wash them. 

This is mostly how they're used in restaurants, too — as a catch-all for dishes on their way to the dishwashing station in the back of the restaurant and as tools to manage dish overflow until the eatery's hired dishwasher can clean the dirty plates. Savvy home organizers should take a hint from this practice. Basically, bus tubs function as a second sink, helping you to organize pots, pans, and other dishes until you can wash them, thus freeing up sink space.

From a construction standpoint, bus bins are fairly straight forward. Often brown, white, or blue, these plastic tubs are rectangular with rounded corners on both the top and the bottom. Some also have handles on each end to make picking them up easier. Bus bins are deep enough to hold several stacks of dishes, cups, and other items. Their actual parameters vary a bit, but generally, you'll find them in sizes of about 20 inches by 15 inches by 7 inches, give or take.

In restaurant and cafeteria settings, bus bins make hauling dishes to and from the kitchen — and ultimately, the sink — easier because they cut down on the number of trips you need to make back and forth. You can use them the same way at home, particularly if you like to throw parties or have backyard barbecues. For example, restaurant servers will often put a couple of bus tubs on a cart so that they can clean more tables at once.

Or they'll put three bins on a cart and assign each tub a specific function. For example, one could be specifically for silverware, another for cups and glasses, and a third for plates and napkins. The silverware bin could even have a small foil baking tin inside the tub that's filled with water to allow forks, spoons, and knives to soak before they get to the dishwashing area. 

Once the bus bins are full, the cart gets rolled back to the kitchen for the dishes to get cleaned. Imagine how much simpler getting your dishes from the backyard or the dining room to the kitchen sink would be if you adopted such a system at home. To get started uncluttering your kitchen sink area with this handy hack, pick up a set of four Teyyvn plastic bus tubs from Amazon.