Use M-fold at the washbasin for hand-drying, L-fold (cube) napkins on high-traffic restaurant tables to cut napkin use, and Z-fold/face tissue in guest rooms, salons and offices. One fold per zone — matching the dispenser to the job is the whole decision. SGS stocks all three plus face-tissue boxes, refills and dispensers. (C-fold has largely dropped out of use — the cube-dispenser L-fold replaced it on tables.) Here's which fold goes where, and how to place the dispensers so the fold actually works.
Which fold for which zone
| Fold | Where it goes | Why that fold | Dispenser it needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| M-fold (multifold) | Public washroom, at the wash basin | One sheet pulls the next — hand-hygiene, no double-touch | Wall M-fold dispenser, mounted beside the basin |
| L-fold (cube napkin) | High-traffic restaurant tables & counters | Interfold single-pull from a cube — diners take one, not a fistful, so total napkins used drop | Cube napkin dispenser (tabletop / counter) |
| Z-fold / face tissue | Guest rooms, salons, hotel offices, tabletops | Interleaved single-pull, sits flat in a boxed or counter dispenser | Boxed tissue or refillable tabletop dispenser |
Rates we run: M-fold 150 sheets/pkt, 32 GSM, ~₹45/pkt (also 100 and 125-sheet packs) — the same M-fold in the hand dryer vs paper towel math. L-fold (cube napkin): 100-pull ~₹17–19/pkt — watch cheap variants that pack only 80 or 60 pulls for a lower sticker. Z-fold face tissue: ~₹20 per refill pack, or a face-tissue box (100 pulls) ~₹35 (boxes are made in-house).
Why the fold matters more than the brand
The fold is an interlock, not a fancy feature. M-fold, L-fold and Z-fold are all built so pulling one sheet presents the corner of the next — the guest touches only their own sheet, the rest stay clean in the dispenser. Loose stacked tissue defeats that: everyone paws the whole pile. So the point of buying a coded fold is the dispenser it feeds. Buy the fold your dispenser is built for, or you lose the one-sheet-at-a-time hygiene you paid for.
L-fold (the cube napkin) is where the volume saving lives. Put loose napkins on a table and diners grab a fistful; put the same napkins in a cube dispenser and they take one at a time. Same paper, far fewer pulls — which is why a busy restaurant moves its tables and counters to the cube. (C-fold used to fill this role but has largely fallen out of use; the cube L-fold took its place.)
What a 30-room property actually needs
Don't stock all three folds in every corner. Most mid-tier properties need two: M-fold in the public washrooms, Z-fold/face tissue in the guest rooms and front office. L-fold (cube) napkins earn their place on restaurant tables and counters where loose-napkin grabbing bleeds money — the cube's one-at-a-time pull cuts consumption. For a quiet in-house dining room, laid dining napkins are cheaper and read better on the table.
And be honest about hand-drying: run M-fold even if you've fitted hand dryers. A dryer blows the water off the hands onto the floor and the wall below; the M-fold soaks the rest, so the floor stays dry and the queue moves. The dryer cuts your paper volume — often two sheets down to one — it doesn't replace it. Full cost math is in the hand dryer vs paper towel guide; the short version is: both, not either.
Placement — where the dispenser goes
Getting the fold right and then mounting the dispenser wrong wastes both.
- M-fold dispenser: beside the wash basin, not by the door. The guest dries where they wash. Put the dispenser within arm's reach of the tap so water goes into paper, not onto the floor on the walk over.
- Hand dryer: near the exit. After the M-fold has taken most of the water, the dryer finishes hands on the way out — and any droplets it throws land near the door, not across the wet zone.
- Three basins → at least two M-fold dispensers, mounted between the basins. One dispenser at the end of a three-basin run means the guest at the far tap walks dripping across two basins to reach it. Space two dispensers between the three so every basin has paper within reach.
- Z-fold / face tissue: one boxed or tabletop dispenser per guest room (vanity + bedside), one per salon station, one per office desk cluster.
A real example
A Jim Corbett resort we supply runs its lobby washroom with three basins. Originally: one M-fold dispenser at the far end and a hand dryer by the mirror. Staff kept mopping the middle of the floor all day — guests at the two nearer basins had nothing to dry on, so they walked wet to the dispenser or to the dryer. We moved to two M-fold dispensers mounted between the basins and shifted the dryer near the exit. The floor stayed dry, the mopping stopped, and paper use didn't jump — because the fold means one sheet at a time, not a fistful.
What to do next
- See the M-fold, L-fold (cube) and Z-fold ranges, dispensers and face-tissue refills on the paper products page.
- Read the hand dryer vs paper towel cost math before you decide dryer-only for any public washroom.
- Tell us your washroom basin count, restaurant footfall and room count, and we'll spec the fold + dispenser mix per zone — including where one fold is enough.