How Much Toilet Paper and Paper Towels Does a Commercial Restroom Really Need?

Order too little restroom paper and you get the dreaded mid-week empty dispenser and an angry facilities call. Order too much and you're storing pallets you paid for early. Here's the back-of-napkin math we use to get customers close on the first order.

Start with restroom traffic, not building size

Usage tracks the number of restroom visits, not square footage. A rough industry benchmark: each person uses about 1.5–2 restroom visits per 8-hour day at work, and each visit uses roughly 20–30 sheets of toilet paper and 2 paper towels. So a 50-person office runs through on the order of 2,000–3,000 toilet-paper sheets and ~150–200 paper towels a day.

Convert to rolls and cases

A standard commercial toilet roll holds ~500 sheets; a jumbo roll holds far more, which is why high-traffic restrooms switch to jumbo to cut refills. Our 50-person office example burns roughly 4–6 standard rolls of toilet paper a day, plus paper towels depending on format. Multiply by your working days and you'll land on a monthly case count you can order in one go.

Match the format to the traffic

Low-to-medium traffic (small office, boutique) does fine on standard rolls and multifold towels. High traffic (restaurants, gyms, schools, medical) should move to jumbo toilet rolls and hard-roll towels — fewer refills, less theft, lower cost per use. The dispenser you choose drives which paper you buy, so decide them together.

Order a month at a time

Once you know your daily burn, order about a month of stock at a time — enough to earn bulk pricing and survive a delivery delay, without turning a closet into a warehouse. Tell us your headcount and traffic type and we'll size the order and the right roll format for you.

Related: Paper & Tissue · Dispensers & Accessories · Trash Liners & Bags