Oak Street Manufacturing and MTS Seating are both American manufacturers of commercial seating, but they serve different parts of the hospitality furniture market: Oak Street focuses specifically on restaurant furniture sold through a dealer network, while MTS Seating specializes in metal-framed seating for hotels, banquet halls, and convention centers sold to major hospitality brands like Marriott and Hilton.
What does each company make?
Oak Street Manufacturing produces a full range of restaurant furniture: dining chairs, barstools, booths and benches, table tops, table bases, outdoor furniture, and casework like host stands and waste receptacles — everything a restaurant needs to furnish a dining room from one supplier.
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MTS Seating, founded in 1955 and based in Temperance, Michigan, specializes primarily in metal-framed stackable seating: banquet chairs, convention chairs, and guest room seating, with a smaller restaurant dining line.
Who do they sell to?
Oak Street sells exclusively through its service dealer network to restaurant, educational, commercial, and hospitality customers, with quick-ship inventory and made-to-order manufacturing from its Iowa and North Carolina facilities. MTS Seating ships to more than 20 countries and counts major hotel brands among its clients, reflecting its focus on high-volume, large-scale hospitality contracts rather than single, multi-location or chain level restaurant furnishing.
Company size and history
MTS Seating has been family-owned for more than 60 years, founded in 1955, and has 201 to 500 employees. Oak Street Manufacturing, founded in 1995, is employee-owned with a smaller team of 40 to 50 people split between its Monticello, Iowa headquarters and manufacturing facility and its Statesville, North Carolina warehouse.
Which one should a restaurant owner choose?
For any size restaurant renovations or new builds that need chairs, booths, tables, and table bases from a single source with fast quick-ship options, Oak Street Manufacturing’s restaurant-specific product range and dealer network are built for that use case. For large hospitality groups needing bulk banquet and convention seating at hotel scale, MTS Seating’s metal-framed stackable chairs and relationships with major hotel brands are a better fit.