Glassware is the last thing most kitchen operators think about and the first thing a guest notices. The weight of a wine glass in the hand, the ring when it is set down, the clarity of what is inside it: these are the details that signal whether a table has been considered or simply furnished. When we decided to add a glassware brand to our range, that was the standard we were working to.
We chose Rona.
Rona is a Slovak glassworks with over 130 years of production behind it, exporting to more than 80 countries and ranked amongst the world's leading manufacturers of lead-free crystalline glassware. The quality is consistent, the range is broad, and the brand has a production philosophy transparent enough to stand behind. Those were the criteria. Rona met them.
Photo: Rona via rona.glass
A glassworks with history behind it
Rona was founded in 1892 in Lednické Rovne, a village in the Trenčín region of western Slovakia. The name itself is a rendering of the village's older name, Lednicz Rone. The place and the product have never been separated.
What the glassworks has built over that time is a production capability that spans both handmade and machine-made glass under one roof, a combination that is rarer than it sounds. The handmade programme is exactly what the name suggests: individual pieces crafted by glassmasters whose skills have been passed through generations, working in a tradition continuous since the factory's founding. Decanters, pitchers, and finer stemware come from this part of the operation.
Rona introduced the pulled-stem technique to the glassware industry in 2001, a world first that changed how fine stemware is produced at scale. The same glassworks has since developed machine processes that simulate handmade production, bringing the same clarity and lightness to volume commercial glass.
The material throughout is lead-free crystalline glass: the brilliance and ring of traditional crystal, without the environmental and health concerns associated with lead oxide. The glass is also selectively strengthened at its most vulnerable points, which matters considerably in a commercial setting where breakage is a real and recurring cost.
Photo: Rona via rona.glass
The range we stock
Our current Rona stock covers the categories that matter most to restaurants, hotels, and catering operations in Malta. Stemware across the range includes wine glasses, champagne flutes, and sparkling wine glasses in several collections, from the classic elegance of the Prestige series to more contemporary profiles suited to modern table settings. The pulled-stem construction on the finer pieces gives them a lightness in the hand that guests notice, even if they could not tell you why.
Photo: Rona via rona.glass
Alongside the stemware, we carry decanters and pitchers from Rona's handmade programme. These are substantial pieces: wide-based wine decanters designed for proper aeration, and tall glass pitchers suited equally to iced water service and bar use. They are the kind of pieces that sit on a table and do quiet, confident work.
Photo: Rona via rona.glass
We also stock Rona's whisky and spirits glassware: cut crystal tumblers and matching decanters in faceted designs that have become a standard of bar presentation at the higher end of the hospitality market. The cutting is done at the glassworks in Lednické Rovne using techniques developed over the course of the company's history, including engraving, guilloche, and pantograph etching.
Photo: Rona via rona.glass
The range is broad enough to serve operations at very different points on the scale, from a busy café needing a reliable everyday tumbler to a fine dining room building a table setting from scratch. That breadth was part of why we chose it.
If you would like to know more about the Rona range or discuss which pieces are right for your operation, we would be glad to help. The Spiteri Catering team covers initial consultation and design, professional installation, and technical support across our full equipment offering. Get in touch with the Spiteri Catering team and we will take it from there.
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