Blog posts from September, 2015

Pantone is a pretty important organization and helps set the colour trends for the fashion, home décor and event industries. For those unaware of Pantone, they are the authority of colour and have created a standardized colour reproduction system to make sure colours match in the design and production process. Wedding and event décor is often dictated by the colour trends so Event Rental companies and Event Venues wait to see what colours will be on-trend next.

Every year Pantone releases both colour forecasts as well as sets a colour of the year. For those unfamiliar to the world of fashion, September 10 – 17 marked New York Fashion Week where fashion designers unleash their spring 2016 haute couture to the world. Here are 5 of the Pantone colours picked for Spring 2016 collections.

Rose Quartz

Photo Sources Top: Emily Annandale Weddings | Bottom Left: Chapters Indigo | Bottom Right: Tosia

Peach Echo

Photo Sources Top: Etsy Seller ShopSimplyNesting | Bottom Left: Christian Siriano | Bottom Right: Asos

Snorkel Blue

Photo Sources Top: Style Me Pretty | Bottom Left: Tadashi Shoji | Bottom Right: Bed Bath & Beyond

Buttercup

Photo Sources Top: Style Me Pretty | Bottom Left: Charles & Ron | Bottom Right: Bed Bath & Beyond

Iced Coffee

Photo Sources Top: Chapters | Bottom Left: Noon by Noor | Bottom Right: Asos

To view the rest of the 10 colours chosen along with full Pantone Fashion Color Report for Spring 2016 click here.

Plastic folding chairs are an ideal staple for any event venue, hotel or party rental company. Finding the number of plastic folding chairs in Vancouver, for the number of attendees required can be a challenge though. Not all stores carry hundreds of plastic folding chairs in the same colour. To help you with your search, here are 3 stores that carry plastic folding chairs in Vancouver.

1. Source Office Furnishings

Based at Nootka St. at Broadway in Vancouver, BC, Source Office Furnishings is a Canadian owned office furniture dealer. Source sells all different kinds of office furniture including plastic folding chairs, metal folding chairs and padded seat folding chairs. Their plastic folding chairs come in two colours (blue with grey frame & grey with grey frame) and they have five locations around the greater Vancouver area for easy pick up.

2. Buy Rite Business Furnishings

Based on East Hastings Street in Vancouver, BC, Buy Rite Business Furnishings offers quality business interior products & services. They take pride in top-notch customer service and offer heavy duty folding chairs similar to the Cosco brand as well as steel folding chairs with padded seats.

3. Impact Office Furnishings

Based on Powell Street in Vancouver, BC, Impact Office Furnishings website boasts that they have one of the largest office furniture showrooms in Vancouver. They offer plastic air grid folding chairs in black and steel folding chairs with padded seats in beige.

With the holiday season (Thanksgiving and Christmas) barrelling towards us at full speed, restaurants should consider promoting a catering special to help customer’s out. I’ve noticed within the past few years that more and more restaurants and grocery stores are jumping on the catering wagon. It makes perfect sense for consumers to look towards a restaurant or grocery store for their thanksgiving meal preparations as they’re less likely to seek out a formal caterer for a crowd of 4-8 people. In fact we’ve been using a local grocery store for a couple years to cater our Thanksgiving. It takes the stress out of the holiday – all we have to do is pick it up. And we completely understand the need to pay ahead of picking it up. For consumers, trusting their favourite restaurant or favourite grocery store with their meal preparation is a logical step and one that restaurants can take advantage of to generate more revenue without having to turn out more tables.

Part of catering is ensuring you have a proper process. Processes are a great thing to implement as they help ensure minor details are done properly and efficiently. As an avid checklist maker I am a pretty big nerd about lists so this post is a pretty thrilling topic to write about. Here’s a checklist to use to plan and execute a catering order for the holidays.

1. Plan the menu and write down what day and time prep should begin.

2. Assign tasks for each station and make a sample of each dish on the menu.

3. Take pictures of the samples to use to promote the menu and catering offer.

4. Price out menu per person ensuring you build in any extra labour and time required to pull off catering orders.

5. Draft order form that should include customer pick up times, credit card fields for upfront payment (and state that payment is non-refundable), number of people, preferred pick up date/time, whether utensils and any condiments are required and order by date (so you’re not taking last minute orders).

6. Promote catering offer through social media, on tables either as a promotion in your menu or on table tents, in your cheque presenters, via your email list, on your website, and on your window to gain attention of passersby.

7. Order necessary food-safe take out containers to ensure food can be safely picked up and transported by customer.

8. Order any extra disposable utensils or condiments required.

9. Order any extra business cards or promotional flyers to staple to catering orders promoting the restaurant.

10. Call any food banks or homeless shelters around the area to ask about food donations on the chance that orders are not picked up (or give to your employees).

11. Cook, assemble and pack all catering orders – ensuring someone double checks each order to make sure nothing is left out.

12. Run all credit cards, staple order form, customer receipt and credit card receipt along with business card or promotional flyer to each catering order.

13. If pick up times are during your regular service, bring in an extra hostess/host in to facilitate pickups. Several if your pick up schedule is close together.

14. Donate orders not picked up to someone who could use it.

Patio season is a huge money maker for restaurants. While we’re quickly approaching the end of the season, we still have a few good days left ahead of us. And owning patio heaters definitely helps extend the season. Keeping both your patio and patio furniture in tip top shape helps ensure you can take advantage of the crowds. In preparation for the end of the season, we’ve put together a list of steps you should be taking to ensure your patio is well preserved and protected from the elements during the harsh winter months. Check out the things to make sure get done before winter is upon us.

1. Turn off any outdoor taps and clear the lines of water to avoid pipes bursting.

2. Examine the patio foundation and have cracks sealed up to avoid water getting into the cracks and expanding them even more.

3. Clean your patio furniture.

4. Store your hostess stands, patio chairs and tables either away from the elements in an indoor storage space or underneath storage covers that protect them from the elements.

5. Store patio heaters close to your restaurant under the eaves with the protective covers on or away from the elements entirely in an indoor storage space.

6. Take stock of what needs replacing (patio chairs, tables, extra tabletop supplies, etc.) and save that list until the spring so you can order prior to patio season starting again.

7. If you have rolling garage doors, consider temporary insulation around the frame of the door (like this) to avoid any costly drafts and unhappy customers.

8. Clean up any leaves or debris so you don’t have discolouration occurring on your patio material over the winter months.

Last week, we talked about whether you should stack Chiavari chairs with or without cushions and as a follow on to that post, today’s post will showcase how to store Chiavari chair cushions. Storage of Chiavari chair cushions is critical to ensure that they don’t get stained from dust or dirt in the warehouse. Here are some of the solutions we’ve heard event rental companies use to store Chiavari chair cushions.

Chiavari Cushion Bags

Coming in two sizes and holding between 25 – 50 Chiavari chair cushions, Chiavari cushion bags are a great option to both keep the same colour cushions together as well as protect them from stains. Chiavari Cushion Storage Bags are made of canvas with a durable zipper and feature straps or handles to make it easy to transport larger numbers of cushions to and from events.

Cardboard Boxes

Depending on the size of the box, cardboard boxes can hold anywhere between 10 – 69 cushions. At National Event Supply we reuse the boxing our resin Chiavari chairs come in (measuring 16.5” x 24.75” x 101.5” tall) to store the cushions. We cut these tall boxes in half and fit between 40 – 69 cushions in each box.

Large Plastic Bags

Large plastic bags can help ensure that like-colours of cushions are kept together and are airtight from potential dust and dirt landing on your cushions. This could be another temporary storage solution.