Blog posts tagged with 'caterers'

Transporting plates for catering is a huge concern when a caterer or party rental company is delivering for a special event setup. The transportation method that the plates are stored in needs to ensure that the plates are stable, don’t knock up against each other and also are contained from dust and/or bugs. They need to also be able to easily handle and stack. Here are some of the ways that plates are transported for catering or party rental:

Wire Plate Racks

Picture Source: Webstaurant Store

Wire plate racks are generally coated in plastic and designed to safely store and transport dinner plates. The wire racks hold the plates apart similar to a dishwasher’s rack so they can be run through the dishwasher for easy cleanup. Afterwards, caterers or party rental companies can wrap the wire racks with saran wrap to keep them sanitary.

Plastic Milk Crates

Photo Source: Drader Manufacturing

Plastic milk crates are used by catering and party rental companies as a way of transporting plates to and from event sites. Generally they are taken out of the crate, washed in a commercial dishwasher and then placed back in the crate clean. The milk crate is then saran wrapped to keep the plates sanitary and free of dust / bugs.

Plastic Plate Racks

Picture Source: Webstaurant Store

Plastic plate racks are designed to hold plates during a washing cycle. The durable racks have pegs that allow the separating of plates so they can quickly air dry after washing. The plate is made secure in the rack during washing cycles & transportation to reduce chipping and breakage while the rack is stackable to save space.

If you haven’t heard of Foodservice Facts, it is a 25 year old market review and forecast that Restaurants Canada publishes yearly on trends shaping the restaurant industry. The leading restaurant owners across the country use this report to determine potential impacts on their business as well as potential sources of revenue that can be used in the future. Restaurants Canada recently published this report, free to its members, where restaurant operators can use the important economic data found in the report to help stay on top of the latest trends and business conditions and use the information to stay ahead of their competition.

Some of the information to discover includes:

• “Overall, foodservice sales in Canada advanced by $3.0 billion in 2015, representing a 4.1% increase over 2014.” (Page 11, Foodservice Facts 2016)
• “60% of full-service restaurant revenues are generated by independent restaurants.” (Page 19, Foodservice Facts 2016)
• The top reasons diners choose a quick-service restaurant and the top reasons people choose a full service restaurant. (Page 19, Foodservice Facts 2016)
• “Disposable income is one of the economic indicators most closely tied to foodservice spending. Between 2000 and 2015, disposable income in Canada grew at a healthy rate of 4.6% per year…” (Page 26, Foodservice Facts 2016)
• The split of traffic by on and off premise restaurant visits. (Page 38, Foodservice Facts 2016)
• The top 10 foods and drinks. (Page 41, Foodservice Facts 2016)
• The hot trends and up-and-coming trends. (Page 42, Foodservice Facts 2016)

If you’re already a member of Restaurants Canada look for this report in your mail. If you’re not already a member, you can purchase the report online here for $50.00 CDN. It’s worth every penny!

Becoming a preferred or exclusive caterer to a wedding venue is a great way of getting referred business to your location without a need for heavy marketing. More often than not, venues comes with space to hold an event but no in-house catering team to feed the events – making catering / event venue partnerships an important aspect to special events. Here’s how to become a preferred or exclusive caterer for venues.

1. Based on your cuisine, figure out which venues in your area are the best fit.

If you offer casual fare, steer clear of fine dining establishments like expensive upscale wedding venues. Also, if your preference is to cater to the corporate world instead of weddings, choose to target convention centres and other venues that are focused on mostly corporate meetings.

2. Of venues you choose for your list, list all of the preferred or exclusive caterers on their partners list

You have a higher chance of getting on a preferred caterers list and receiving business if the venue has less caterers on their partners list. Choose the ones that you have the best existing relationship with, or the ones with the least amount of caterers on the list.

3. Make the “ask”

Contact the venue directly and ask what their standard process is for becoming a recommended caterer on their list. Some venues don’t have a process and will be happy to recommend you as a preferred caterer to their guests. Other venues have a very standardized process including an application process. Regardless of their process you want to ensure you come across as extremely professional, and put your best foot forwards.

4. Be prepared to offer extras

According to legendary Catersource consultant Bill Hansen, you should be prepared to offer any (or some or all) of the following items:

• Pay the venue a percentage of revenues when you cater at their facility.
• Pay a flat fee per year.
• Provide free or at-cost catering for venue-sponsored events.
• Promote their venue on your website, in your e-newsletters and in your tweets and blogs (you should ask for the same in return).
• Agree to pay for certain improvements to the venue (you should ask for agreement to pay any upgrades your equipment might need as a result of their guest wanting specific items).
• Help the venue’s event manager as needed (and the event manager help you as needed).
• Link your catering site to theirs (and you should expect the same in return).

5. Ensure you don’t stop this process once you become a preferred caterer

Venues will go out of business, venues will change ownership, get bought out and/or preferred vendor responsibilities transferred. New caterers may come in and overtake you. There’s a lot that can happen in the events business. You need to entrust a member of your staff or yourself to be constantly working to maintain these existing relationships as well as hunting for new venues that you can work with. It is the networking and maintaining of these relationships that will get your catering business the revenue and return customers.

Food trucks are the best! They allow restaurants to use them as another (portable) revenue stream to attend festivals and be hired to serve special events like weddings and corporate picnics. They tend to continually push the envelope on menu items – inventing new and innovative flavour combos or ways to serve the food so people can take it to go or eat it standing up. What if you were able to bring some portable furniture along with you so that your customers had a place to rest their meals/drinks, bums or both? This not only helps your customers but also creates a crowd which can equal a bigger buzz and a bigger potential walk by visitors will stop and take a second look. Check out some suggested portable furniture for food trucks:

High Folding Cruiser Table

This is a great table that easily folds down for a smaller storage footprint. When set up it measures 43” high from ground to the top of the table and is the perfect place to rest a drink, meal or both. Placing 2 – 4 of these in front of your food truck is a great way to provide standing places for gathering.

High Folding Pedestal Table

Similar to the high folding cruiser table it has a different silhouette if you’re putting a spandex tablecover overtop of the table or if you want to leave sitting room for legs. It also folds differently than the high folding cruiser table – though still folding down to a smaller storage footprint. When set up it measures 42” high from ground to the tabletop. You could also use these in groups of 2-4 in front of your food truck.

Folding Bar Stools

Folding bar stools can be used in conjunction with the highboy tables above to provide seating for your customers. They fold down for easy storage and are water resistant. They fit up to 4 bar chairs around one of the tables above.

Spandex Table Cover

Available in 11 different colours, if you want a more polished look you can purchase these easy to use spandex cruiser table covers to fit over top of either the folding cruiser table or folding pedestal table. They are wrinkle resistant and as easy as wash and wear. For extra longevity, you can purchase a corresponding spandex topper which is cheaper than the full tablecover – and ensures if a stain can’t be removed – you only have to replace the topper instead of the full tablecover. Plus you can mix and match colours to your brand.

We recently announced that we have plexiglass bars, end tables, cocktail tables and coffee tables available for special order. The contemporary event furniture are a great event rental for corporate events or modern special events that want lounge furniture settings scattered around the venue.

DJ’s also like them as a DJ Booth and bartenders like to use them for a bar by using the 6-ft Chrome Plexiglass bar with shelf as the bar to stand behind and the 6.5 FT Chrome Bar Back Shelving with White Plexiglass behind the bar for stocking liquors, glasses, etc.

We recently had a customer ask how sturdy the shelf was in the 6-ft chrome plexiglass bar with shelf.

They wanted to make sure that a lot could be stacked on the shelf without it breaking. Very good question. I took the liberty of taking a bunch of pictures lying flat on the ground looking up underneath the bar and shelf so customers and prospects could get a better idea what the support system looked like. Here’s what is supporting the shelf and top of the bar underneath:

As you can see it has quite a good support system – with chrome supports every 10.5 inches. The shelf itself measures in at 1/4 inch thick as well – providing a good solid foundation less prone to bending.