Blog posts tagged with 'caterers'

Buying restaurant dishes and other restaurant supplies is just one of the multitudes of tasks restaurant operators and chefs have to deal with. Figuring out if there’s a difference between wholesale restaurant supply stores versus a regular restaurant supply is frankly not high on the list. That’s why we’re writing this post – so you don’t have to figure it out yourselves.

Wholesale Restaurant Supply Stores:

• Buy direct from factory
• Stock warehouses full of inventory to avoid shipping delays (as much as possible)
• Same/next day shipping
• No large corporations behind them to set pricing on their behalf
• Better ability to facilitate custom orders with direct relationships to factories
• In-house brands versus name brands such as Steelite, Dudson, Royal Dalton, Libby, Browne or Oneida
• Open stock allows most products to be purchased in small or very large quantities
• Comparable quality items without the multiple markups (sometimes 3 or more markups)

Restaurant Supply:

• Buy either direct from the Brand manufacturer or through a master distributor for the manufacturer
• Have an extremely large number of items generally with small quantities in stock
• Can have same/next day shipping if in stock. If not in stock could be 2-4 weeks or much longer for less prominent dish lines
• Stock brand names such as Steelite, Dudson, Libby, Oneida, etc and price based on manufacturer’s suggested wholesale price
• Are usually more expensive as a result of major brand name pricing
• Often have minimum quantities you need to buy – i.e. buy restaurant dinnerware in case packs

Hopefully this clears up any confusion on the differences amongst the two. Whomever you buy from, make sure regardless of whether they mark themselves as wholesale restaurant supplies, that they offer value for the quality offered, customer service that makes you happy and stock the inventory you require.

With the weather finally turning a corner in Canada (HELLO 32°C in Toronto!), we’ve got summer reading on our minds. With that in mind, I surveyed some of our amazing restaurant and caterer customers to find out their best recommendations for foodservice summer reads. Here’s what we came up with to keep you entertained at the cottage, at the beach or on a sunny patio during a day off. We’d love to hear what your favourite foodservice books are so tweet us or comment on our Facebook page so we can all pick up a copy to read.

Momofuku (By David Chang & Peter Meehan)

Written by the chef of the award-winning restaurants by the same name, Chef David Chang relays with his rise to superstardom, as well as the perils and pitfalls that marked his rise. This book portrays both the story and the recipes behind the cuisine that has revolutionized cooking with his bold Asian flavours and impeccable ingredients. As stated by Amazon – “this is a must-read for anyone who loves food”.

Read reviews of Momofuku

The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America’s Most Imaginative Chefs (By Karen Page & Andrew Dornenburg)

Surveying dozens of leading chefs’ combined experience in top restaurants across the country, these authors create the go-to guide to coaxing the greatest possible flavour from any ingredient. Ingredient entries in the thousands, organized alphabetically and cross-referenced, provide a spectacular encyclopedia of flavour combinations. Featuring tips, first-hand stories and signature dishes from some of America’s most imaginative chefs, it was named a winner of the 2009 James Beard Book Award for Best Book: Reference and Scholarship.

Read reviews for The Flavor Bible

What to Drink with What You Eat: The Definitive Guide to Pairing Food with Wine, Beer, Spirits, Coffee, Tea - Even Water - Based on Expert Advice from America's Best Sommeliers (By Andrew Dornenburg, Karen Page & Michael Sofronski)

A fantastic read for any “business-focused” foodservice operator that lacks proper sommelier training. What to Drink with What You Eat is the definitive guide to matching food and drink and includes pragmatic advice from the best wine sommeliers and chefs in America. Though the majority of this book is focused on wine, there are matches for a variety of other beverages. Provide a value add to your customers (and a sneaky upsell as well) by utilizing this guide to pair alcohol with your specials and/or entrées.

Read Reviews for What to Drink with What You Eat

Remarkable Service: A Guide to Winning and Keeping Customers for Servers, Managers, and Restaurant Owners (By The Culinary Institute of America)

Restaurants must distinguish themselves in a market oversaturated with competition by offering consistent, high quality service. This book addresses the service needs for a wide range of dining types – fast-casual, fine dining and even catering operations. This is the best guide to service and hospitality on the market and provides foodservice operators, as well as their servers and managers the tips they need to stand out from their competition and win customer loyalty instead of customer satisfaction.

Read Reviews for Remarkable Service

Lessons in Service from Charlie Trotter (By Ed Lawler)

Charlie Trotter’s name has become synonymous with outstanding service in the restaurant industry. Trotter has perfected the subtle relationship between food, wine, ambiance and service and has trained his staff to his exacting standards. In Lessons in Service from Charlie Trotter, the author details the secrets behind Trotter’s success and shows other restaurants and businesses how to improve their levels of service.

Read Reviews for Lessons in Service from Charlie Trotter

We could go on and on with the thought provoking books we found. What other books would you add to the list?

We have been in the special event equipment business since 1992 and have naturally found an easy transition into restaurant supply and catering supply. Since introducing dinnerware and stainless steel flatware back in the middle of the 90’s we have become familiar with the best flatware suppliers in Canada so we’re able to better understand what the market wants in terms of the best flatware. Here are the best flatware suppliers in Canada for party rental companies, restaurants and caterers.

1. Oneida Flatware:

Oneida has long been a leader in the stainless steel flatware industry and as such can charge premium pricing with a solid brand name to back them. Oneida Flatware is manufactured by Oneida and sold through large department and big box stores, through restaurant supply stores such as Hamilton Store Fixtures, and other foodservice distributors.

2. Nella Cutlery:

Nella is a well-known Toronto restaurant supply store who manufactures restaurant equipment and distributes a number of other cutlery manufacturers including Winco, Vollrath, Tableware Solutions as well as our distributing our next supplier, Browne.

3. Browne Foodservice:

Browne & Co has been around for more than 50 years and manufactures stainless steel cutlery along with additional tableware products. They also distribute numerous US and European brands throughout North America.

4. Sysco:

Sysco is a global leader in selling, marketing and distributing food products to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, lodging establishments and other customers who prepare meals away from home. Its family of products also includes equipment and supplies for the foodservice and hospitality industries. Sysco sells 3 different patterns of stainless steel flatware in a 5 pc table setting.

Always make sure that when you’re buying the best flatware, you’re looking at the following:

• The durability of the product
• The value of the product
• The quality of the product
• The availability of the product

Throughout the party rental, restaurant and foodservice industry there is always talk about porcelain dinnerware, china dinnerware, and ceramic dinnerware. But ever wondered what the difference is between the three different terms? This blog post will clear up any confusion related to the term porcelain, china and ceramic.

The formal definition of china dinnerware is a fine white or translucent vitrified ceramic material. The word was originally founded to refer to where “china” was originally made – the country China. Chinese china dinnerware dates back to the 1600 – 1046BC range and it wasn’t until the 16th century, when Chinese porcelains were held in such high esteem in Europe that the word china became a commonly used synonym for the term Porcelain. China dishes are made by heating kaolin clay (among other materials) to temperatures between 1200C – 1400C which bring out the durability, strength and translucence of the material. Note that china dinnerware is not to be confused with fine china or bone china dinnerware which is a separate category comprised of clay and bone ash.

The formal definition of porcelain dinnerware is a white vitrified translucent ceramic; china. The word porcelain came into existence (according to the Oxford Dictionary) in the mid-16th century from the French word porcelaine and Italian word porcellana. One could argue the word came into existence once European companies started producing china / porcelain as a way to distinguish the location where the dinnerware was made.

The formal definition of ceramic dinnerware is “made of clay and permanently hardened by heat”. As both china and porcelain includes this as part of their definitions, one can consider ceramic to be interchangeably used with porcelain and china dinnerware.

Now that tradeshow season is officially nearing its close, we’re ramping up for what we lovingly refer to as Container Season. Just this past Monday, we received our second container of the year and what I suspect will be the first of many during Container Season. As many of you know we sell wholesale plates for catering, party rental, golf courses, banquet halls etc. While a lot of our open stock dinnerware is plain white dinnerware, we also sell a pattern called Snow Drop Porcelain that party rental & catering companies think is quite similar to Wittur & Company’s Julia White pattern.

With this container we just replenished our stock of Snow Drop dishes to ensure catering companies, and party rental companies who think these plates rock can get them in stock. (See how I made that rhyme) For those that don’t have these beauts in their inventory, the pattern is lightweight dinnerware (which helps when you’re transporting them) that is a beautifully versatile pattern to compliment French country themed events, vintage themed events, rustic events and much more.

We replenished stock on the following pieces in the snow drop porcelain line:

• Snow Drop Soup Plate
• Snow Drop 8.5" Luncheon Plate
• Snow Drop 10" Dinner Plate
• Snow Drop 6" Side Plate
• Snow Drop 7.5" Dessert Plate
• Snow Drop Saucer
• Snow Drop Oatmeal Bowl
• Snow Drop Sugar Bowl with Lid
• Snow Drop 'Betty' Cup
• Snow Drop Salt
• Snow Drop Pepper