Blog posts tagged with 'products in action'

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!

Often blocks in creativity can be likened to writers block. When I experience a block to creativity or writer’s block, I often find that reviewing inspirational content helps to stimulate my creativity. I find this generally works (at least for me) because it allows me to take a step back from my day-to-day life and examine the current problem from a different angle.

With the competitiveness of the restaurant and catering industry, introducing new and exciting products onto the market can be the catalyst needed to differentiate from the competition and thrive. Finding sparks of genius can sometimes be daunting – so without further ado, I’d like to share with you the 2 TED talk videos I think are fascinating, awe inspiring (in some cases) and cause you to take a step back and evaluate your menu from a different angle.

First, David Kelley suggests that creativity is not the domain of only a chosen few but something everyone can do – to turn fear into familiarity and build confidence to create

And my personal favourite, Homaro Cantu + Ben Roche, of Chicago’s Moto restaurant, play with new ways to cook and eat food that is beyond fun and flavour-tripping.

I hope these video offer some inspiration. Make sure to send myself and the NES team some samples of your new inventions.

Being officially in the last quarter of the year, I thought now would be a good time to reflect on the trends we've been seeing in the 2013 season and present some of my thoughts towards what we at National Event Supply see for the 2014 bar season

2013: The year of the variety, glassware & bottled cocktails

This year has brought about some exciting trends. We’ve seen a greater variety of beer being sampled with pale ales and lagers no longer being the staple beverage of choice – making way for wheat beers, fruit ales and much more. Along with the greater variety being sampled, we’ve seen a greater reliance on glassware. Beer glasses have seen a huge comeback-no longer can a beer be sampled in a singular glass but more and more bars/restaurants are taking a hint from European establishments and serving beer in properly branded and stylized beer glass.

On the cocktail front there’s been a trend towards making the traditional cocktails such as cosmopolitans, margaritas and mojitos, available in bottles for personal consumption instead of having to hit a bar to get a delectable drink in a 7oz martini glass.

2014: The year of sparkling bubbly, innovative cocktails and the continuance of craft beer

Over the course of 2013, there`s been a large amount of sparkling wines that have popped onto the beverage scene – perfect for our Serenity Crystal Champagne Flute. Locally produced sparkling wines seem to be popular as well and are taking the place of normal table wines, or its counterpart Champagne as a toasting beverage.

Innovative cocktails continue with dessert cocktails making their way to the scene. Without having to imbibe in their higher calorie counterparts, tasters can whet their sweet tooth with dessert cocktails such as Lemon Cream Pie Martini’s, Tiramisu cocktails or Strawberry shortcake.

Craft beers should continue to pick up steam with the “shop local” trend continuing to be a main food trend. With thousands of breweries across the country, and new brew master’s opening doors every day, this spells a plethora of different styles to sample. In Ontario, the LCBO does a great job of highlighting the different craft beers available for Ontarian’s – often showcasing different breweries across Canada both in-store, in advertising and in their fabulous Food & Drink magazine.

Got a trend you think will be big through the start or all of 2014? Let us know in the comments!

If you’re interested in receiving samples of our glassware, or want a quote on some of our glassware, contact us for more information.

Although we sell a lot of wedding and special event products, we don't usually have anything to do with wedding planning or special events planning here at National Event Supply. That doesn't mean that it isn't interesting to see what gifted planners can cook up. We also had an interesting article about a small batch distiller show up in our twitter feed that begged to be shared. Finally, from small batch booze to clean water, learn about the great work that charity: water is doing.

Hooray for Bollywood!

Photography courtesy of Rosetta Li Weddings

Bright colours! Gorgeous settings! Bollywood Theme! Elephants made of Flowers? This wedding featured on the weddingbells.ca website has it all. From bridesmaids dressed in bold coloured saris to a venue decorated with fabrics in the brightest of colours, this wedding was a multi-hued wonderland. Who says bridesmaids need to be dressed in pastels, or that table cloths need to be white? And elephants? They're always cool.

Vineyards, Craft Beer, and Small Batch Booze

The Niagara Peninsula is known for its great Canadian wines. There are also several incredible craft brewers in the area. Now I find out from BlogTO that they also have a small batch distiller that's putting together world class spirits. Dillon's Small Batch Distillers in Beamsville, ON have been producing Gin, White Rye, and Vodka since December of 2012 with a focus on utilizing the local bounty. If you're interested in learning more about the distillery, why not check out "Dillon's making world class booze just beyond the GTA" at BlogTO.

charity: water

I recently had the opportunity to hear the head of charity: water speak, and I was blown away. They're gearing up for their big September Campaign, and this year they're hoping to raise $2 Million dollars to bring clean drinking water to 100 Villages in Orissa, India. Scott showed how bringing clean water and sanitation can help break the cycle of poverty and promote social equality. A previous campaign purchased a deep well drill which is currently drilling and tweeting its way across Ethiopia. To learn more about the great work that they're doing, check out the charity: water website!

charity: water is a non-profit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing countries. We use 100% of public donations to directly fund sustainable water solutions in areas of greatest need.

Right now, 800 million people on the planet don’t have access to clean and safe drinking water. That’s one in nine of us.

Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of diseases and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Children are especially vulnerable, as their bodies aren’t strong enough to fight diarrhea, dysentery and other illnesses.

Just $20 can give one person access to clean water

Hope everyone's July went well - we're back with our monthly round up of the best articles and blogs in the event planning, party rental and catering industry. There were so many good reads this month it was hard to choose just a handful! Here at NES, we've been testing the durability of our wood folding tables and plastic folding tables to see how they hold up against the elements. If you're interested in seeing the results, check out the current winner of the folding table durability test.

Many dream of having events outdoors during the warmer weather - but sometimes the anxiety associated with lack of control of the weather can deter those from actually making a go of it. While you can take the route of a more controlled indoor event, adding control to outdoor events is possible. Check out this article in Special Events Magazine on tips to ensure you select a caterer experienced with the outdoors.

The Food Channel has released its 2013 Trends Forecast. With tea, agave, "smokin' hot" meats and traditionally seasonal foods being stretched year round, 2013 is a cornucopia of variety sure to not disappoint the adventurous of caterers, chefs and clients. Here's a look at what Canadian Special Events sees happening in the world of food for 2013.

Struggling to find the perfect venue to satisfy your client's every dream? Event Solutions posted an amazing article on a unique type of venue that can hold an intimate or expansive event and is sure to impress even the most cynical of guest. Head over to Event Solutions to hit your next event "Out of the Park".

Over at Restaurant Central, the NPD Group, who sources consumer data to identify trends in the Canadian foodservice industry wrote an article to help better understand the foodservice industry marketplace. Are Canadians eating out more or less often? If they are, where are they eating out, and when during the day are they eating out more, or less, often? "Read this article" to gain a fuller perspective on what's happening in the Canadian marketplace.