Most obviously the biggest problem that exists for rental companies & catering companies when stocking inventory of porcelain plates is the issue of transporting them safely to your customers. While storage systems do exist to contain plates in easy to transport boxes such as plastic milk crates how do you ensure you’re minimizing the amount of scratching that can happen when the firing ring of the plate is continually rubbing against the porcelain plate below it?

I found this tip from Lifehacker.com – an awesome website for tips and articles on just about everything. While originally this article was written for consumers who were moving, this tip applies to companies who have to move porcelain dishes as well!

How Rental Companies Can Protect Porcelain Plates with Coffee Filters

Step 1:

Buy Commercial Sized Coffee Filters from your neighbourhood drug store, big box store or grocery store.

EverythingKitchens.com

Step 2:

When placing porcelain plates into plastic milk crates or boxes for transport, alternate placing a porcelain plate then the coffee filter until you’ve reached the top of the box.

Photo credit: RealSimple.com

And there you have it! An inexpensive way to ensure your precious (and breakable) inventory scratch-free. If you’re worried about customers returning dishes without coffee filters, add it as a mandatory requirement in order to accept the return and charge a maintenance fee if this doesn’t happen.

Do you have any hacks or tips that you use to help your business? Let us know in the comments!

One of the biggest struggles when attending a cocktail reception is the awkwardness of juggling a wine glass and plate of appetizers. It pretty much means foregoing either the wine or the appetizers or the entire attendee pool clusters around the food stations and cruiser tables so they have places to set their plates or glasses. What if you could offer your customers a solution to this problem?

Enter the Cocktail Plate.

This nifty plate allows for guests to hold their crystal wine glass and appetizer plate in one hand enabling them to freely use the other hand to shake hands of newly acquainted guests or use gestures to properly illustrate their story.

One of the questions we get asked most is "How do you use a cocktail plate?"

The answer lies ahead.

Imagine you’ve just arrived at a party and after some preliminary circling have headed for the bar to imbibe in a fabulous Chardonnay.

Step 1: Pick up fabulous Chardonnay

In order to make sure you behave professionally and alcohol doesn’t cloud your judgement, you’re going to want to have something to eat. So you head to the food stations to pick up some food.

Step 2: Pick up appetizers

By now you have two hands full and none available to network with. Here’s where the cocktail plate really shines.

Step 3: Place stem of wine glass in ‘c’ indent of cocktail plate and let wine glass rest on plate

Voila! One hand free to shake hands with everyone in the room!

A note of caution: This cocktail plate really shines when you’re mixing and mingling standing up – just be careful that you remove your wine glass BEFORE placing your plate down on a table. If you forget this, you’ll have a glass of wine all over yourself, the table or both.

Your customers will love being able to rent a plate like this that helps solve a common networking problem.

There are tons of different types of crystal wine glasses out there. Some are stemless, some are stemmed. Some have rounded bowls and others have the classic tulip shaped bowl. But with the number of crystal wine glasses out there, it can be overwhelming to choose which crystal wine glass goes with which wine – unless the product has it in its title. We’ve decided to put together an easy reference post utilizing our own crystal wine glasses to help you easily determine the best wine to serve with each glass.

In our Serenity Crystal Wine Glasses Line:

Serenity 12oz Crystal Wine Glass

Best for white wine, it is the smallest wine glass available in our crystal stemware collection. A white wine glass should have a prominent U-shaped appearance to maintain the cooler temperatures. If you’re looking for a red wine glass that would pair nicely next to the 12oz Crystal Wine Glass, I would recommend the 16oz wine glass as it has the best scale in relation to the size of glass.

Serenity 16oz Crystal Wine Glass

This glass is a versatile glass in that it can be a red wine glass when paired with a 12oz glass for white wine or can be a white wine glass when paired with either the 19oz red wine glass or 22oz red wine glass. Because of its size the 16oz crystal wine glass would pair nicely with any of the other wine glasses in our Serenity line. Its scale works well with any of the glasses.

Serenity 19oz Crystal Wine Glass

This glass is best as a red wine glass due to the size of the bowl. It has a fuller, rounder bowl which allows the red wine to properly breathe. The complex aromas and flavour bouquet that exists in red wine requires a glass with a larger bowl to ensure the red wine contacts more air during the pour or swirl.

Serenity 22oz Crystal Wine Glass

This glass is again best as a red wine glass due to the size of the bowl which allows the wine to breathe.

In the Victoria Crystal Wine Glasses Line

Victoria 23oz Crystal Wine Glass

If used along with the Victoria 28oz wine glass, the 23oz makes sense to use as a white wine glass but works best with red wine in all honesty. If used entirely by itself I would recommend it as a red wine glass as it has that great bulb shaped bowl synonymous with luxury. It has the slight inward curve at the top of the glass to focus aromas and still a decent amount of room to swirl the wine.

Victoria 28oz Crystal Wine Glass

This wine glass is the ultimate shaped bowl for red wine. Bulbous and round, it allows substantial breathing for the wine. It has the slight inward curve at the top of the glass to focus the aromas and provides substantial room for swirling and swishing of the wine.

Hopefully this blog post gives you a useful reference point to look for when choosing the best crystal wine glasses for your event or establishment.

Drinking places such as bars and pubs as well as restaurants and caterers that offer bar service often require bar supplies to ensure the bar portion of the establishment is running smoothly and generating revenue. Where to buy bar supplies is one more question that a foodservice operator doesn’t need in his/her life. To make it easier on you (because we know you’re strapped for time!) we’ve answered the question “Where to Buy Bar Supplies in Toronto” below:

1. Barsupplies.com:

Though online and based out of the United States, Barsupplies.com has a wide variety of bar supplies including corkscrews, cocktail shakers, bartender tools, and glassware. They ship to Canada and a multitude of other countries with products charged in US dollars. Depending on the level of shipping indicated, your order will vary in delivery between 5-12 business days.

2. BartenderOne Barstore:

BartenderOne Barstore is based in Toronto with locations right downtown, in Yorkville and in Mississauga. They offer a wide variety of bar supplies, similar to Barsupplies.com, but also have additional products such as videos/dvds & books to add value and enhance a bartender’s education. If you order online through their ecommerce site, it appears as though they partner with Barsupplies.com as depending on the level of shipping indicated, your order will vary in delivery by 5-12 business days. If you need it pronto, it definitely makes more sense to pop by one of their store locations.

3. KAF Supplies:

Located in Mississauga, KAF Supplies is a bar supply and restaurant supply store. They supply sodagun systems, spill-stop bartender tools, tableware, bar equipment such as industrial dishwashers & glasswashers, as well as a Coca-Cola distributor.

4. Nella Cutlery:

We’re written about Nella before, but they have their heads in most of the restaurant supply and bar supply spaces. Along with stocking their own brand of foodservice equipment and smallwares, Nella Cutlery also distributes brands such as Winco, Browne, and Johnson Rose. Because of this, they’re able to offer a variety of different bar supplies including cocktail shakers, glassware, free pourers & sure shot pourers, bottle openers, serving trays, bar strainers etc. While they do not have an online ecommerce site, they do have a 55,000 square foot showroom in North York as well as a smaller scale store downtown Toronto.

5. Hamilton Store Fixtures:

Yet another restaurant supply store that also ventures into bar supply, Hamilton Store Fixtures is located in Southwestern Ontario and along with serving your general tabletop supplies, also stocks measured and speed pours, bus bins, common bar glassware, bar tools, bar blenders and other special order items. Their normal website does not include ecommerce capabilities however they’ve got a separate site linked off their website devoted to online orders.

Hopefully this helps you on your search for local bar supplies to quickly and easily update your current or future stock.

Special Event supply is our bread and butter. Special event rentals is yours. We hope our products in your inventory are generating lots of revenue for you all this Canada Day.

We will be back tomorrow with more great content! Have a safe and enjoyable holiday!