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As one of Canada’s leading Party Rental suppliers, we try to make sure that we have sales representation from coast to coast across Canada. To help us with sales representation we signed a strategic sales agreement with AE Sales Group 2 years ago which gives us sales coverage in western Canada (BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Northwest Ontario) and with their partner Certified Sales we also get coverage for the Maritime provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and PEI. Every few months I get the chance to travel with one of the AE Sales team members to do some joint customer calls in various locations across Canada.

This past week I was once again in Vancouver, this time so that we could exhibit at the BC Foodservice Expo at the Vancouver Convention Centre. Since I was already in town I thought this was also a great opportunity to meet a few of our customers in the surrounding Lower Vancouver mainland area. Tony Shelling, one of the partners at AE Sales and I travelled throughout the Vancouver lower mainland area on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday so we could meet with a few of our customers and in couple of cases to deliver a free NES Reliable Tall Folding Cocktail Table. Two weeks earlier we exhibited at the CRA BC Regional Show and for those customers that met with us at our booth with a post card that we sent our prior to the show, we were giving them a NES Reliable Tall Folding Cocktail Table for FREE. We had such a great response that we ran out of tables at the show and had to deliver a few this week.

The first customer we met with on Tuesday was with Peggy and Angie from The Rental Network in Squamish, BC. As Tony and I were meeting with Peggy and Angie, they were squeezing in a quick lunch and answering customer phone calls the whole time we were visiting which was almost 2 hours. They were pleased to hear that we are bringing in a new size of NES Wood Folding Table that is 8ft x 42 inches wide and we will be stocking it in Vancouver (as well as Toronto). The Rental Network have a bunch of tables that they have custom made that are 8ft x 40 inches wide that they call Harvest Tables. Tony and I saw their Harvest Tables and they are absolutely gorgeous.

On Wednesday we met with Shane and Kwin at Salmon Rentals who were interested in talking to us about our NES Reliable Resin Chiavari Chairs. Since we had just shown these chairs at the BC Foodservice Expo, Tony and I stopped by our Vancouver area warehouse (which is on Annacis Island) to pick up the sample NES Reliable Resin Chiavari Chairs to show Salmon’s Rentals. Everyone was impressed with how durable our NES Reliable Resin Chiavari Chairs are while still maintaining their traditional elegant look. Later in the day we then went to see the new showroom and warehouse location for Pedersen's Event Rentals. Pedersen’s were just in the process of completing their move from their old Burnaby location back into Vancouver where they had been 14 years earlier. The new location fronts right on the Fraser River and gives the Pedersen’s lots of room for more growth.

On Thursday, we were visiting a bunch of our Customers in the Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge, Langley and White Rock. While we were in Maple Ridge, we stopped in to see Denise and Dave at Bob’s A to Z Rentals. Denise was ecstatic with how quick we were able to ship their order of NES Wood Folding Tables and NES Reliable Plastic Folding Chairs from our Vancouver warehouse in the fall of 2012. While thanking them for their business, Denise mentioned she was interested in seeing some of our Hotelier Dishes and our Eclisse Glass Stemware. In Langley, we stopped in to see the team at Turkey’s Party Makers to show them a range of our highly durable dinnerware lines with them being most interested in our Ovali Line as well as our newest Polar White Dinnerware line.

This was our 4th year of exhibiting at the BC Foodservice Expo and each year we see a few more of our Customers throughout the Vancouver region. Outside of Southern Ontario, BC has been our largest base of customers. Now that we have a physical warehouse presence in the Vancouver region, our customers are excited that they will be able to purchase a wide selection of our NES Plywood Folding Tables, NES Reliable Plastic Folding Tables, NES Reliable Plastic Folding Chairs, and NES Resin Folding Chairs. With their close proximity to our Annacis Island warehouse, many of them will be able to pick up directly from the warehouse while others will benefit from much lower shipping rates.

"Vancouver Skyline And Stanley Park" courtesy of Rosemary Ratcliff / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Last fall I gave you 5 reasons you NEED to go to The 2013 Rental Show in Las Vegas. With the show a week away I thought now would be the perfect time to list some booths that you should visit while you are at the show. Each of my selections focuses on a different aspect of the Party/Special Event rental sector. The first focuses on table top items, the second on tables and chairs, and the third on tents (aka making sure everyone stays dry).

The first booth to see is 10 Strawberry Street in Booth 3269. 10 Strawberry Street has established themselves as one of the leaders in table top with their catalog filled with a wide variety of items including flatware, dinnerware, platters, bowls, chargers, and glassware. They take pride in offering a diverse selection of product lines, from a variety of manufacturers, many of which have Special Events in mind. Many of their porcelain designs are unique in the market place which helps to separate your rental company from your competitors. Need another reason to stop by their booth? Last year Ten Strawberry Street had a pretty impressive booth, but for 2013 they went even bigger, 30 feet x 50 feet Big! That’s bigger than most houses, who wouldn’t want to see that!?

The second booth that you should check out is McCourt Manufacturing in Booth 3061. McCourt Manufacturing has been exhibiting at the Rental Show for more than a quarter of a century which definitely shows they have some great products. McCourt Manufacturing offers a variety of tables and chairs that are designed to withstand the rigors of the rental industry. Better still they are one of the last manufacturers that still make many of their products in the USA and do so while still maintaining affordable prices. The combination of high quality, affordable products with a great variety to serve your needs makes McCourt Manufacturing one of the booths to see at The Rental Show 2013.

The final booth that you should go take a look at is Warner Shelter Systems Limited in Booth 2865. Warner Shelter Systems Limited is a leading tent design and manufacturing company that makes both portable and semi-permanent tent structures. Their products range from the Peak Marquee Tents (pop up tents) to the GIGA-SPAN Series (clearspan structures). Founded in 1970, Warner Shelter Systems Limited has the expertise to help you with your tent needs.

Once you visit these three booths you may want to add some others to your list, don’t hesitate to stop by to see National Event Supply in booth 4072. If you can't make it to the show, why not request our catalogues? Simply fill out this form, and we'd be happy to mail you a copy of our latest catalogues.

Every month, National Event Supply stumbles across articles and blog posts that we think are fabulous and could add additional value to your business so we thought we'd share them with you on a regular basis!

With only a week and a half to go until the Rental Show, you don't want to miss out on what is sure to be one of the most valuable shows of the season. To get everyone pumped and ready to attend, back in October we wrote an article which compiled 5 Reasons to Attend The Rental Show. If you're still looking for a reason to go to the show (checking out National Event Supply’s booth #4072 notwithstanding!), check out the article.

Inc Magazine is one of my go-to resources for strategic and tactical tips on business and entrepreneurship. It's modern, relevant and innovative with articles that offer great knowledge for the new and seasoned entrepreneur. Check out this article on growth strategies written by a Benchmark Capital founding partner. "To Get Big, You've Got to Start Small" helps remind us all that the secret to attracting a broad market is to appeal to a tiny, passionate one first.

Pantone is the notorious colour expert and the fashion/home décor/events industries wait with bated breath to hear the newly declared colour of the year. Special Events Magazine gave us a sneak peak at Pantone Colour Experts forecast for Summer 2013. Read this article to get an inside look into the colour's that will be popping up during this summer's events!

For our Golf Course customers out there, just because it’s the off season, doesn't mean you can't be doing the tradeshow circuit generating business for the upcoming year. The NGCOA's Winter Magazine Golf Business Canada had a great article to remind us all of the key tactics to ensure a successful trade show. This article "How to Successfully Exhibit at Consumer Golf Shows" has tips that transcend all industries in how to ensure you’re best utilizing your show time, and generating a return on investment.

To end this months round up I thought an apropos article about a meal's best and final course—dessert! Restaurant Central talked with some of Canada’s finest pastry and dessert chefs on the evolution of the dessert and what's in store for this year. Check out the article "Deconstructing the Biggest Dessert Trends" to learn more about some of the finest desserts to wow the crowd.

Check back in a month for the next favourite finds! Until then, have a great weekend!

Spring is a time of rebirth and this spring, we hope to introduce a bunch new products. From new products to new product categories, we'll be rolling new items out as we finalize deals with our factories. We hope to be announcing some of these products later in February after The Rental Show in Las Vegas. If you're at the show, we hope you'll stop by booth 4072 and talk to Dennis and the rest of the NES Trade Show Team about all of our products. If you can't make it to the show, why not request one of our catalogues?

Stormy image courtesy of Maggie Smith / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The National Event Supply Trade Show Team were out in Vancouver again this weeked for the BC Foodservice Expo. We spent Saturday morning setting up the booth and then spent the afternoon exploring the city of Vancouver. We decided to go to Granville Island to check out the sights and experience more of Vancouver than their gorgeous convention centre. Granville Island in the middle of the city and there are tons of great restaurants to go to, a public market, a number of art galleries, the Emily Carr University of Art & Design as well as a number of other artisan studios. You can also visit an active micro brewery, The Granville Island Brewery. Granville Island has incredible views of the surrounding cityscape and there are yachts of every shape and size at water’s edge all around the island. It was quite busy for a cool, cloudy, winter day and I could only imagine how busy it would be in the summertime.

After strolling around for a while, we decided to go to Bridges Restaurant for lunch and enjoyed the Dine Out promotion. This two week program offers special lunch and dinner menus at a reduced price. For $20 I enjoyed a mixed garden salad, salmon on a bed of fettuccini and for dessert a Oreo Cookie Gelato. Jonathan had the same salad and dessert as I had, but had a Pulled Pork sandwich. Since we had such a busy morning setting our booth up for the BC Foodservice Expo we also decided to enjoy a pitcher of Granville Island Lager. You can tell by the smile on Jonathan’s face it was going down very well! We would both give the restaurant a 5 out for 5 for the lunches we were served. Service was great as well.

The BC Foodservice expo opened on Sunday at 11:00am with great fanfare and lots of activity around the BC Chefs Hot Competition. Our booth was in a great position with big Hospitality foodservice distributor Sysco across the aisle from us and Dudson China just around the corner at the end of the next aisle. We had great traffic for most of the day with Nahar from Discount Party Rentals coming from Abbotsford to take a look at our Quadrato Dinnerware, our Maria 18/10 Cutlery, and our wood folding tables. He was particularly pleased to hear we are now stocking a wide range of our wood and plastic folding tables and our plastic folding chairs and white resin folding chairs in Vancouver.

Later in the day we met with Charlie Huang of Peaceful Restaurant. Charlie was excited to discover how cost effective it is to buy square dinnerware like our Quadrato dinnerware from National Event Supply and discussed the possibility of working with NES to develop custom branded plates for his restaurant. While speaking with Charlie we found our that he was the only Chinese restaurant to appear on Diners, Drive-in & Dives with host Guy Fieri. Here’s the link to the show episode of Charlie appearing on Diners, Drive-ins & Dives.

All in all, we had a great time at the BC Foodservice Expo, and can hardly wait to get back to Vancouver again next year. If you couldn't make it to the show and you're interested in one of our catalogues, please fill out this form and we'd be happy to send you out a copy!