Blog posts tagged with 'restaurants'

Adjustable Height Folding Tables are a great addition to any event – to create bars, standing registration desks or more. Having the height capacity anywhere from 30" (standard table height) all the way to 43" makes them a valuable table to have in inventory as they can do two jobs for the price of one. One of the questions we get asked often is "How much does an adjustable height folding table cost?"

This blog post will help to answer that question.

Price of Adjustable Height Folding Table

The price of an adjustable height folding table varies based on length of table (industry standard is 4ft or 6ft lengths), material of the table, brand of the table and table leg specifications. For the purpose of this post we will be looking at a 6ft x 30" adjustable height table in plastic. In Canada, 6ft x 30" adjustable height folding tables range from $74.00 – $129.00 excluding taxes and shipping. This range is based on whether it’s a wholesale or retail price of table being purchased.

Shipping costs of Adjustable Height Tables

With the busyness that comes with the event industry, there are times when you either don't have the time or physically can't pick up the tables from a warehouse or store – foregoing the free shipping option. If a store pick up isn’t an option, shipping costs would range based on the number of tables you are ordering. Because tables are most often shipped on skids instead of in individual packages (to prevent damages mid-transit) shipping costs are charged on the weight of the total shipment. For example, 10 adjustable height folding tables shipping from our warehouse in Mississauga, ON to Moncton, NB you’d be looking at $10.06 or less per table in shipping charges.

Hopefully this blog post gives you a range required to start planning what budget you can allocate to adjustable height folding tables.

Back in September/October of 2013, The NPD Group released a report on the coffee market. Included in that report was a graph showcasing the amount of coffee consumed in Japan, Australia, UK, US, China, Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Canada. Out of all countries, Canada ranked second indicating the high amount of coffee Canadians drink.

"73% of Canadians drink coffee, consuming an average of 12.4 cups per week or nearly two cups per day." - The NPD Group’s What’s Brewing in the Coffee Market: A Consumer Perspective

Quick Service Restaurants in Canada have already jumped on this market opportunity, revamping their coffee menu offerings or offering coffee for the first time, offering loyalty card rewards and even partnering with major financial institutions to offer an innovative way to purchase their coffees while earning rewards. But while the Quick Service industry seems to be making a lot of press on its new and innovative coffee programs, it seems as if the Full Service restaurant industry is lagging behind.

Barbara Smyth of The NPD Group wrote an article on the What’s Brewing in the Coffee Market report for the Canadian Restaurant & Foodservice News Magazine and suggested that expanding a full service restaurant’s menu should bode well for business. In fact, Technomic, another foodservice analyst firm wrote a blog post about Coffee Café's stating these particular chains have experienced a 5.6% increase in sales. If you think about it, if Canada ranks second for the amount of coffee consumed, it’s a no brainer to include a coffee program as part of an expanded menu.

What are some options that fullservice restaurant operators can use to include a coffee program and leverage the market opportunity?

I found an article from 2011 (I know a little dated but the article holds true today) from the Coffee Buyer Report on how innovative flavour programs in coffee are an opportunity waiting to happen. The report goes on to mention that "an elevated perception of flavoured coffee as a 'specialty beverage experience' is driving sales increases in other flavours" besides the traditional Vanilla and Hazelnut flavour variations.

A Full Service Restaurant Operator could use this to their advantage – finding and developing a flavored coffee program to create an innovative beverage experience based on this country's most treasured beverage. Operators could also challenge their front-of-house and back-of-house staff with a friendly inter-restaurant competition to devise new coffee beverages to offer on the menu – for either credit on the menu (for the fame hungry) or a monetary fee such as a gift card or a day off. Alternatively, perhaps you offer a coffee tasting similar to a beer flight as a dessert or beverage option as a romanticized experience rather than just a beverage.

Whatever you choose to do, it makes sense to try to capitalize on the sheer size of coffee drinkers in this country. It could be good for your business too.

You will notice before purchasing our NES Wood Cruiser Tables that this product does require some assembly. What does some assembly mean in this case? To find out, this blog post will walk you through the assembly of an NES Wood Cruiser Table (Hint: There is very little assembly required!). These steps can be replicated on any size pole height and any size table top we own.

What you should receive:

• (1x) Wood Table Top (24", 30" or 36")
• (1x) Pole (30" tall or 42" tall)
• (1x) Table Base (includes 4 screw in adjustable cruiser table feet)
• (1x) Connector
• (6x) Screws

Tools Required (not included):

• Phillips Screwdriver
• Tape measure
• Pencil

Step 1:

First, using your measuring tape, measure across the bottom of the table tabletop (the bottom is not clear coated). With the pencil make a mark in the center of the table.

Step 2:

Turn the tape measure 90 degrees and mark the half-way point again. These points are not likely to line up perfectly but this will give you the approximate center of your table.

Step 3:

Take your connector and place it so the center of the connector is over the two center marks that you made in step 1 and step 2.

Step 4:

Screw the connector onto the bottom of the table, hold the connector firmly in place to prevent any movement. We also recommend that you start all of the screws before tightening them down.

Step 5:

Place the pole on the table base, note that the side with two slots cut into the pole should be pointing up.

Step 6:

Place the table top and connector onto the pole; rotate the top until the connector slides into the slots on the pole.

Step 7:

Use and enjoy your fully assembled cocktail table! You will also note that it can be easily broken down into three pieces for easy transportation (Pole, Base, Top with connector attached).

Last week I opened the August issue of Canadian Restaurant & Foodservice News and was quite frankly appalled by one of the articles I saw. The article was titled “Women of Influence” with the subtitle “Women leaders are good for business”…Women. Leaders. Are. Good. For. Business.

Is this not 2014? Women leaders are good for business just as much as men leaders are good for business. Both genders have been scientifically proven to have different ways of looking at issues and opportunities that can heavily benefit an organization that embraces a gender-balanced leadership team. This is actually not an attack on the magazine or the article author. I am a huge fan of this magazine and frankly I applaud them for writing a piece about the lack of women in the foodservice industry who have career aspirations to the senior leadership. I’m just so astounded and taken aback by the fact that in this day and age, when Amazon is testing drone delivery of packages that women are still dealing with biases (whether unconscious or otherwise) and a lack of leadership positions across the country.

Perhaps it was because I was raised in a household that focused more on who I was, what I thought and how I acted than my gender. I was raised to believe I could do anything that my younger brother could do. Did I want to do everything my younger brother could do? Hell no, but having the option there without it being taken away from me gave me the freedom to choose whatever I wanted to pursue in life. I’m just so disappointed that this article needs to exist to coach women to take responsibility for their own careers. Where is your passion, ladies of the foodservice industry? This is an industry that takes no prisoners. You invest blood, sweat and tears into this industry. You owe it to yourselves to step up to the plate and make an investment in yourself.

The article in Canadian Restaurant & Foodservice News does a fantastic job at profiling women of influence in the corporate foodservice world. But that’s not the only way for women to succeed. Just look at what happens when women make the investment in themselves. Lynn Crawford, owner of Ruby Watchco, trained at George Brown College in Toronto, worked her way up the ranks to become the executive chef at the Four Seasons in Toronto and New York before competing on the Food network’s Iron Chef America and subsequently debuting her own Food Network Canada show. Rose Reisman is an intelligent and innovative entrepreneur who began her career by self-publishing a cookbook in 1988. Since then she has extended her brand into a multitude of businesses including a catering company, a daily food delivery service as well as a personal website devoted to preventing diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and other diseases controlled by lifestyle and nutrition. Note that their paths were not through the corporate foodservice world but through employing passion, innovation and entrepreneurship to succeed as women of influence. These are just a small number of women who have pursued a path to career success. Looking to them as an example should hopefully show women of the foodservice industry that are struggling with unconscious or conscious gender biases that there’s more than one avenue to career fulfillment and success.

Blogging is an awesome way to learn new information about your industry. It generally provides short, relevant and (sometimes) entertaining articles that can be easily consumed when you have the time. We’ve learned so much from other blogs in terms of the statistics and other research about the foodservice industry simply by following blogs of interest.

Because we’ve learned so much, we wanted to pass on the favour by compiling some of the best blogs to follow on the restaurant industry.

So without further ado here's our list of our favourite food and foodservice bloggers! (Note these aren’t in any particular order)

Technomic’s Blog:

CHD Experts – A Blog Powered by Foodservice Data:

Foodservice.com's Blog:

Order Up, The Official Blog of Restaurants Canada:

Eater National: The National Restaurant, Bar, Nightlife and Food Blog:

Foodbeast.com Food News: