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Special Events Magazine released an insightful article last week that is a must-read piece of party rental and event rental predictions for the upcoming year. As part of their annual Special Events "30 Top Rental Companies" list, the top Party Rental companies across North America commented on the state of the industry and how they believe 2014 bodes for the industry as a whole. With the economy improving on a daily basis it seems the industry has seen year-over-year growth in 2013 with a positive yet conservative outlook for 2014 based on the lack of discounting death spirals occurring in the industry.

You can view the article in its entirety by clicking here. (Note – you will have to have a free membership in order to view the entire article)

What’s flying off the shelves?

A1 Party and Event Rental based in Covina, California noted in the article that “the trend is to provide many more options. People are demanding a much larger selection in all categories of inventory.” With the modern culture one of convenience and consumerism, this doesn’t come as a surprise but I often wonder if a Party and Event Rental company can truly survive by being one of many that offer the one-stop shop for party rental items. Wouldn’t it be better to take what you’re good at and target your customer market based on that? Perhaps you excel in tent, table and chair sales – why not become the best tent, table and chair rental company in your local area, state/province or country?

What Do You Believe?

At National Event Supply for example we’ve seen an uptick in the amount of folding tables and Chiavari chair sales. Our stemware has been gaining additional ground but that could just be because we’ve never stocked glass stemware and crystal stemware before. We’re also seeing larger than normal porcelain dinnerware orders leading us to believe the business forecast as predicted by the big rental companies is correct in its assumptions. If we’re selling more, that means our customers are turning around / renting out their inventory more.

The National Event Supply team have their bags packed and are heading to Victoria for NGCOA’s Golf Business Canada Conference & Tradeshow. Be sure to stop by our booth #10 to say “hi” and check out what we have to offer your golf course for all your event and restaurant needs.

With warehouses in Vancouver, British Columbia & Mississauga, Ontario, we can quickly and cost-effectively ship our hundreds of products across Canada. Because of this, we’re able to showcase the following items at the show:

 
• Porcelain Platters
• Porcelain Bowls
• Porcelain Dinnerware
• Stainless Steel Flatware
• Crystal Stemware
• Plastic and Wood Folding Tables
• White Resin Folding Chairs (also known as White Resin Wedding Chairs)
• And much more!

We’re also offering an exclusive show special only available to golf operators that stop by our booth.

SAVE 10% off plastic folding tables, wood folding tables, and folding chairs*.

Want to commit to an order but not accept your shipment until spring? We can help with that. Commit to an order at the show and we’ll ship the products to you in early April – just in time for the season to start!

If you’re interested in learning more about our products, download our Tables & Chairs Catalogue for details such as sizing, weight and pricing.

We look forward to seeing you November 22nd at the show!

With the age of information upon us, it seems as if not a day goes by without a new smartphone app being released to the market. We're all guilty of going on our smartphones when we're out about town and checking what's around us – be it for a clothing store, a grocery store or a restaurant. Restaurant apps in particular are extremely popular with the masses and a great tool to find the cuisine you want around the area you want. As a restaurant, including your establishment on the top 35 restaurant apps that consumers are using right now – ensures that you’re putting your best foot forward and getting found where consumers are looking for you. We found an infographic on Visual.ly by Pizzamarketplace.com, fastcasual.com and QSRweb.com that summarizes the top 35 restaurant apps consumers are using right now. Check it out below!

by NowSourcing.
Explore more infographics like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually.

Next to the kitchen equipment required to produce the restaurant's menu items, it can be argued that dinnerware is the most important purchase a restaurant will make for its business success. Commercial dinnerware lends itself to the ambiance of the restaurant itself and can be utilized to enhance the presentation of the menu with creative use of intricately shaped dishes. Because dishes are such a pinnacle item for a restaurant there are a number of variables you should keep in mind when stocking your restaurant:

Budget

Buying dishes from restaurant suppliers can be notoriously expensive. Commercial dishes tend to be higher in cost than personal dishware as you’re looking for a higher durability dish. If you're looking for alternatives, try finding wholesalers who specialize in commercial-grade dinnerware. Factory-direct wholesalers who target the party rental and hospitality industry tend to have dishes that will be as suitable for a restaurant's needs as restaurant supply stores. They can also offer cheaper pricing than restaurant suppliers, especially for restaurants with multiple locations and high volumes.

Durability

Because the turnover in your establishment is pivotal to the success of your restaurant, it is vital that the dinnerware you buy be durable, commercial quality that lasts through many breakfast/lunch/dinner sittings. Take into account whether the dishes are commercial dishwasher safe, can withstand oven temperatures of up to 400 degrees, and can be turned over time and again while still looking like new. A lot of the leading brand names offer chip warranties but chip warranties do not cover breakage and are often quite restrictive in how you can make any kind of warranty claim. Make sure if the supplier offers a chip warranty, that you know all restrictions and conditions attached.

Aesthetics

Dinnerware should lend itself to the theme of your restaurant. Most restaurants tend to stick with traditional white dinnerware to allow the chefs free reign to dress the plate however they see fit. Traditional white dinnerware is also the most prevalent and readily available of the styles as many of the more ornate or coloured dishes tend to be for personal consumption.

Variety of place settings:

Look for a dishware supplier that has many different place settings, platters, bowls and other serve ware available such as risotto bowls, trio bowls, slanted bowls, etc. This allows you to have a cohesive line of dinnerware to focus your guests’ attention on your pièce de résistance, your food.

If you’re interested in viewing the tabletop items National Event Supply has to offer, including all our porcelain dinnerware, platters & bowls, download the National Event Supply Tabletop Catalogue.

Well you caught us – we’ve been negligent and completely missed September’s round up of interesting and relevant articles around the blogosphere. We’re sorry – do you forgive us? To make up for it, we have October’s round up for you full of the very best content for the very best readers (you silly ;)).

When meeting with a potential client for the first time, caterers need to get their prospects to talk so that caterers can read between the lines and determine how their prospects feel, learn about their needs and how to best serve them. Maybe they’re more interested in food presentation or in having a certain dish that has importance to them. This article dishes up a number of questions so you can learn what’s important to your prospects and how best to meet their needs. Check out the article over at Catersource Magazine.

The staff you hire can make or break your business when the key to success in the foodservice industry includes outstanding service and top notch food produced. In this article, CRFN asked four industry experts for their views on hiring the best people for your operation. Read the article to learn the secrets that have made their businesses so successful.

With the business climate becoming better every passing day, no longer are event rental companies in a discount death spiral of discounting far or fast enough. Now, many companies are using discounting as a strategic business tool instead of a way to survive. Check out this article from Special Events Magazine to see how other event rental companies are utilizing discounts.

With Fall officially here, it’s time to begin planning your holiday party inventory needs. With holiday parties on the decline over the past few years, BizBash along with Seamless surveyed 1500 event professionals to forecast the state of the corporate holiday party for 2013. Check out this infographic to see the results.

Source: BizBash

Rounding out the month of October was Halloween. To celebrate the season, we took a chainsaw to our wood folding tables to solidify our claim they were solid wood instead of medium density fiberboard with plywood laminated to it. Check out the video in this post to see more.

We hope you have enjoyed this month’s round up of posts. If you ever come across content you think is awesome, we’d love to hear from you - just shoot us an email at info (at) nationaleventsupply.com!