Oak Street Manufacturing and BFM Seating are both commercial furniture companies serving restaurants, bars, and hotels, founded a year apart in the mid-1990s, but each company sources their furniture differently: Oak Street manufactures and imports different product categories targeted to specific end user needs, while BFM Seating outsources its entire catalog from various manufacturers across North America, Asia, and Europe and distributes products from its Philadelphia, Pennsylvania warehouse.
How is each company’s furniture made?
Oak Street Manufacturing builds 100% of its booths and benches and the majority of its table tops in-house at its 70,000 square foot facility in Monticello, Iowa. Casework is split evenly between in-house manufacturing and importing. Table bases, seating (chairs and barstools), and outdoor furniture are primarily imported to Oak Street’s commercial specifications, with a portion manufactured domestically. BFM Seating sources its full indoor and outdoor seating, tables, bases, and sectionals line from factories throughout North America, Asia, and Europe, then ships from its 110,000 square foot Pennsylvania facility to locations across North America and the Caribbean.
Product range
Oak Street’s catalog covers a restaurant’s full dining room and front-of-house needs: chairs, barstools, booths, table tops, table bases, outdoor furniture, casework, and sanitation stations. BFM Seating’s range is centered on indoor and outdoor seating, tables, bases, sectionals, and accessories, with a catalog aimed at bars, lounges, and hospitality spaces.
Company history and scale
Oak Street Manufacturing was founded in 1995 and is employee-owned, with 40 to 50 employees across its Monticello, Iowa headquarters and Statesville, North Carolina warehouse. BFM Seating was founded in 1996 and has grown into a larger operation shipping throughout North America and the Caribbean from its single Pennsylvania facility.
Which one fits a restaurant project?
A restaurant that wants its booths, benches, and table tops built domestically to order — with custom laminates, wood stains, and vinyl and upholstery options — plus casework and sanitation pieces beyond seating and tables, will find Oak Street Manufacturing’s multi-category model built for that. A bar, lounge, or hospitality space prioritizing a broad, design-forward seating catalog sourced globally will find BFM Seating’s product range an acceptable fit.