Blog posts from April, 2014

Events of all shapes and sizes including cocktail receptions, corporate events and in particular weddings have the need for crystal stemware. When banquet halls, hotels or party rental companies are looking for crystal stemware, one of the first questions we get asked is: How much is crystal stemware for event rental in Canada? Below we’ve rounded up the average cost one should expect to pay for crystal stemware for events.

Crystal stemware can be classified as any crystal glass that includes a stem – making up crystal champagne flutes, crystal wine glasses, crystal martini glasses, and crystal margarita glasses. If the event planner or bride prefers hand blown crystal, this can set you back more money as hand blown crystal tends to include the higher cost of expert glass blowing artisans who manually make each glass – a time consuming and labour intensive process. Alternatively machine made crystal allows a lower cost due to the amount of supply that can be produced in a shorter amount of time, on a more consistent basis.

The cost for crystal wine glasses ranges in price from $2.65 to $6.93 CDN per glass. The cost for crystal champagne flutes range from $2.85 to $7.33 CDN per glass. The cost of crystal martini glasses range from $2.85 to $8.15 CDN per glass. The cost of crystal margarita glasses range from $3.15 to $4.67 CDN per glass. The range in costs for all these products is because of the difference in labour costs, volume the glass holds, production time involved, and if the manufacturer is a very well-known brand.

Shipping for Crystal Stemware:

Crystal stemware is a notoriously tricky product to both stock and ship. Stocking the product is tricky because it takes up a large amount of space in order to properly store crystal stemware in a way there won’t be breakage. Shipping the product is obviously tricky due to the high amount of breakage that can occur with such a delicate product. The shipping costs associated with crystal stemware is 1.32 to $2.83 CDN per glass. This varies based on volume purchased, weight of product being shipped and the location the product is being shipped to.

Continuing on our blog series answering our customers’ and prospects’ questions, today’s question deals with the question: Can I buy bulk products from National Event Supply?

The short answer: Yes of course!

The long answer: Because we sell to party rental companies that can take 100s of folding tables, thousands of plastic folding chairs in bulk, and hundreds of dozens of bulk dishes or bulk cutlery, we have three warehouses in Canada to ensure we’re able to meet all bulk purchases. While we can’t foresee all large quantity orders, we do our best to ensure we have stock of our products when our customers require them.

Not only that, but because of this and how we like to encourage bulk purchases we offer on certain products the ability to receive volume discounts. On items such as folding tables, plastic folding chairs, bistro chairs, Chiavari chairs, and our white resin folding chairs we offer volume discounts that allows prices per product to decrease as the quantity increases.

Restaurant dishes are the main staple of the tabletop to best showcase an executive chef's creations. Finding restaurant dinnerware in Canada that accents your plating while at the same time affordable is a huge plus. Most restaurants we cater to tend to want to spend more money on the wine and food that will be presented at their location and who can blame them. If restaurants stick to buying restaurant dishes that are white dinnerware, these will be the easiest to replace, will allow your chef to experiment to his/her heart's content with food plating and will perfectly accent any style of interior décor the front of the house has. Because restaurant dishes tend to exist in an environment where accidents happen such as servers dropping plates, or dishwashers stacking plates too high, making sure you’re choosing restaurant dishes that are matching the demands of the restaurant or easily replaced at an affordable price will ensure the most success.

We’ve rounded up a list of companies who excel in restaurant supply that we would consider competitors of ours. All of these restaurant supply stores feature affordable restaurant dishes that any restaurant could use to form the basis of their menu offerings. Here are the 4 restaurant supply stores:

1. Webstaurant.com:

Based in Lancaster, PA, they are a leading restaurant supply store providing restaurant supplies and equipment to the foodservice industry and individual customers worldwide. The WEBstaurant store sells restaurant equipment, smallwares, storage & transport, tabletop, disposables, restaurant furniture including folding restaurant tables, washing & laundry, restaurant dinnerware, consumables as well as janitorial supplies. They are an ecommerce company that regularly ship to Canada however do not include duties and taxes in the shipping fees – which are billed from their shipping courier to your restaurant.

2. Pacific Restaurant Supply:

Located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Pacific Restaurant Supply delivers custom designed stainless solutions, restaurant design & build and foodservice equipment and restaurant supply inventory. They are a brick and mortar company with a showroom in Vancouver and the ability to contact them via their website but no way to view their multitudes of products.

3. Canadian Restaurant Supply Ltd.:

Located in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canadian Restaurant Supply is a full service supplier of tableware, smallwares, glassware, cutlery, restaurant dishes, restaurant furniture and equipment. They also offer planning & design help for restaurants starting fresh or in need of a change. They offer an online ecommerce website for easy viewing of their products and buying.

4. Hamilton Store Fixtures Ltd.:

Located in Hamilton, Ontario, they have been distributing for over 70 years glassware, china, cutlery, candles, kitchen utensils, janitorial supplies, serving accessories and commercial cooking equipment. They have a traditional website with no ecommerce functionalities and a separate online ecommerce retail store.

So there are 4 companies to consider if you’re getting quotes or pricing for your restaurant. While our primary target market has traditionally been selling wholesale event equipment such as dinnerware, flatware, folding tables & folding chairs to the party rental industry, more and more restaurants are seeing the value in extending their budgets with accessory porcelain pieces such as serverware from us.

Chiavari Chairs are quite common in today’s event industry. Weddings, corporate functions and other events rely on the Chiavari chair for its elegance. With so many different kinds of resin Chiavari chairs on the market, I thought it best to examine our Chiavari chair and showcase what’s inside the chair.

Resin Chiavari chairs can be sold with or without Chiavari chair covers and Chiavari chair cushions. We include both in the price of our Chiavari chair. Party rental companies should always specify with their event supplier what is and isn’t included in the base cost to ensure they’re comparing apples to apples. Resin Chiavari chairs also don’t necessarily come with a steel frame structure. Because we’re focused on providing a high quality, durable Chiavari chair, our resin Chiavari chair includes a steel frame in the core of the chair to ensure its strength and product longevity.

Below is what the resin Chiavari chair looks like when cut in half:

The steel frame is 1mm thickness with 4mm of resin surrounding it. Because it is not made of solid resin, but has a structural steel frame, it ensures the Chiavari chair can easily hold 1000lbs and will not easily break should a guest decide to lean back on the chair.

Folding tables are the key investment for event venues or party rental companies who stock event inventory for customers. One of the most common questions brought up when searching to buy folding tables is "How much do folding tables cost in Canada?" Because we want to make sure we’re answering any potential prospect’s questions, we’ve answered that question in the post below.

Not an uncommon commodity, you can find folding tables at just about any big box store these days. Note that in this blog post when we talk about folding tables, we aren’t referring to residential-use tables that you would buy at a big box store such as Canadian Tire or Walmart. The folding tables we’re referring to a highly durable wood folding table or plastic folding tables that have been used throughout the high turnover party rental industry and tested to withstand high load capacities. Compared against the residential-use folding tables, they will seem more expensive however, they are higher cost because they are higher quality and designed to withstand wear and tear year over year.

Types of Folding Tables

There are two different types of folding tables that make up the majority of the market: plastic folding tables and wood folding tables. Because these are the most common tables asked for, they will be our topic for this blog post.

Plastic Folding Table:

Plastic folding tables come in a variety of shapes including square, round, rectangular and serpentine. The cost of a plastic folding table varies dramatically in the Canadian market and ranges in price from $44.95 CDN – $185.00 CDN. The price tends to vary based on the size and shape of the plastic folding table and the load capacity of the table.

Wood Folding Table:

Wood folding tables come in a variety of shapes similar to plastic folding tables. The cost of a wood folding table varies dramatically in the Canadian market and ranges in price from $65.95 CDN – $199.00 CDN. The price tends to vary based on the kind of wood the plywood is made from, whether it’s solid plywood or plywood veneer over MDF, the size of the plywood banquet table (a 4ft folding table is generally less expensive than a 8ft folding table), the load capacity of the table and the finishing of table edges (metal/aluminum edges tend to cost more than vinyl edges).

Shipping costs on Folding Tables:

The shipping costs of these tables usually run $21.00 – $54.00 per table depending on the size / weight of the order (shipping costs tend to decrease dramatically per piece based on larger volume), where it is shipping from and where it is shipping to. The shipping costs vary solely on volume, weight and shipping location. Wood folding tables will have slightly more expensive shipping rates than plastic folding tables due to their weight. Nationally based suppliers to the hospitality industry will have multiple warehouses across the country to provide better shipping rates coast to coast. Also keep in mind that suppliers in the United States often may not have factored in the duties and customs fees associated with trans-border linen shipments – which tend to add an additional cost to each piece (above and beyond the exchange associated with the Canadian / United States Dollar).