Switching a sampling station from plastic to wood is one of the smallest changes a shop can make and one of the most visible. The customer holds it. That is the entire difference, and it is why the decision deserves more than a shrug.
The case for wood
Wooden tasting spoons are a compostable alternative to plastic for sample portions. If you are already running kraft cups and compostable containers, a plastic spoon is the one thing on the counter contradicting the rest of it, and customers who care about that tend to notice the inconsistency before they notice the consistency.
There is a second, quieter argument. A wooden spoon signals something about the shop without a sign explaining it. Nobody reads a sign about packaging. Everybody registers what is in their hand.
The case for plastic
Plastic tasting spoons come in colors, and color does work that wood cannot. A colored spoon can mark a flavor during a tasting flight, act as a house color, or contrast deliberately against a pale dessert so the serving photographs well. Wood is wood.
Plastic also covers ground wood does not. The color changing spoons only exist as plastic, and for shops where children are a meaningful share of the trade, that effect is worth more than the material story. We went through where those land in how color changing spoons work.
They are not competing for the same job
This is the part most shops miss. Wood and plastic are not two answers to one question. They are answers to different questions, and plenty of counters run both without any contradiction.
The common split is wood at the sampling station and color changing plastic for children's servings. The sampling spoon is the one handled by adults deciding whether to spend money, and that is where the material signal is worth most. The serving spoon for a child is where the color effect is worth most. Neither cancels the other out.
What changes operationally
Very little, which is the honest answer. Both come a thousand to a case at the same price, so there is no cost argument in either direction and no reason to agonize over it.
The difference you will notice is at the bin rather than at the counter. If you run a compost stream, wooden spoons go into it with the cups. If you do not, they go in general waste like everything else, and the environmental argument for making the switch weakens considerably. It is worth being honest with yourself about which of those you are actually doing before you change the order.
If you want the wood without losing the shape
Gelato service has a specific requirement that a standard tasting spoon does not meet. The flat shallow bowl is what lets a customer take a thin layer off the top of a scoop rather than digging into it, and that shape exists in wood as well, at 2.75 inches.
So a gelato counter running compostable packaging does not have to compromise on the spoon shape to get the material. Both the wooden and the plastic options sit together in the spoons and straws range, and the fastest way to decide is to order one case of each and see which one your staff reach for without thinking.