What charcoal do restaurants need?

Which charcoal type suits a restaurant grill?

Dense hardwood lump charcoal suits most restaurant grills because it holds heat longer and leaves less ash per hour of service. Marabu is the type professional kitchens ask for by name: indicatively up to about 850 °C and up to about 7 hours of usable embers per load, with low smoke and sparks once the bed is fully lit. Oak (about 820 °C, about 5 hours, fixed carbon 82 % and above) and beech (about 780 °C, about 3 hours, 76 % and above) suit classic grilling where the fire is rebuilt more often. Values are typical for the lots supplied; the range is non-exhaustive and subject to availability.

What piece size and bag size should a kitchen order?

Order piece sizes that fit the grill and bags a cook can lift and dose by hand: in practice 10, 15 or 20 kg bags. Smaller pieces light faster and pack tighter in a shallow kebab grill; larger pieces suit deep steakhouse grills and long ember beds. Grading and piece size are agreed per order, so state the grill type when you ask for a quotation.

A consistent bag weight matters: a cook who knows that one bag is one evening service can plan stock without weighing anything. Bags of 2, 3, 5, 10, 15 and 20 kg carry multilingual labels; restaurants usually settle on one size and keep it.

How much charcoal does a restaurant use, and how should it restock?

Consumption depends on grill size, opening hours and charcoal type, so measure your own kitchen for two weeks before you set a restocking rhythm; a dense charcoal gets through fewer bags because the bed is topped up rather than rebuilt.

Once you know the weekly figure, buy by the pallet. Delivery usually starts from one pallet, and a pallet of 10 to 20 kg bags gives a single restaurant several weeks of stock. Groups with several kitchens order full trucks (13.6 m, about 33 Euro pallets) or agree a cadence with a distributor. Bags per pallet depend on bag size and pallet height and are confirmed in the quotation.

How should a restaurant store charcoal, and is it safe indoors?

Store charcoal dry, off the floor and in a ventilated space away from open flame; damp charcoal lights slowly, smokes more and burns cooler. Charcoal can self-heat in bulk, which is why sea freight classes it as UN 1361, Class 4.2, so a store should never be a sealed cupboard next to a heat source.

Burning charcoal releases carbon monoxide, which is odourless and can be fatal in an enclosed space; low visible smoke does not mean safe air. Use charcoal only in a grill with an extraction hood that meets local regulations, never in a closed kitchen or dining room without extraction, fit a CO alarm, and follow the product label and the grill's instructions.

• Dry, ventilated, off the ground, away from heat
• Oldest stock used first, bags closed until use
• Extraction hood and CO alarm wherever charcoal burns

Where to buy restaurant charcoal in the Balkans and the EU

Virovo Promet is a family-owned charcoal wholesaler in Skopje, North Macedonia, founded in 1990, exporting full-container loads of hardwood charcoal across Europe and beyond. Restaurants and their distributors in Serbia, Croatia, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Germany and the wider EU order by the pallet, the truck or the container, with road freight across the region and groupage for smaller lots.

Single bags are available at the Skopje office (Ulica 1409 no. 9A, Mon to Sat 08:00 to 16:00), and everyone is welcome to visit or request a video call. Send the grill type, weekly consumption and destination for a quotation in English, Macedonian or Serbian.