Blog posts tagged with 'nes news'

Registration has opened for The 2013 Rental Show, and there's still time to take advantage of the special $119.00 rate for American Rental Association Members. If you're looking for a reason to go to the show, we've got 5!

1. Meet With Your Suppliers

One of the best parts about attending The Rental Show is that you have the opportunity to meet with most, if not all, of your suppliers in one place. While many rental operators may deal with some local or regional suppliers who have local showrooms, most rental operators don’t have the time to go visit them. Sure you might pick up product from their warehouse once every few months but rarely do you actually go check out their showroom. As a result The Rental Show gives you time to focus on your suppliers, many of whom may have introduced new products since you last saw them. It also allows you to talk to them about your future requirements and new items you are looking for (who knows, one of them may already stock of the item you are looking for!). Spending time with your suppliers also creates a win-win situation for both of you. They get a better understanding of what your requirements are (both now and in the future), and you in return will get products you need with more customized service to meet your needs.

2. Meet With Potential New Suppliers

The Rental Show is one of the only places in the world where you can meet all the top suppliers to the rental industry in one convenient location. Whether you are a rental company looking for a new tent supplier, a wood chipper, or a new dinnerware line, you will be able to find a wide selection of potential suppliers at The Rental Show. To help make your choice easier, you will also find customers of the suppliers you are considering. Many are happy to tell you about their experiences with the supplier and their products (the good, the bad and the ugly!).

3. See New Leading Edge Products

While the new products you find at The Rental Show may not apply to your business immediately, it is a great place to spot the latest trends in the industry. By being aware of trends across the industry it puts your business in a better position to capitalize on those trends when they do reach your customers. Even more important however is that you can also find new products that will immediately have an impact on your business. Even if it is something simple like a new porcelain wing bowl this year, the incremental leadership position that you put your business in can improve your business.

4. Attend a Wide Range of Business Seminars

Each year The Rental Show puts on seminars that you are able to attend with the purchase of the Full Registration Package. This gives you access to all of the trade show exhibits, keynote speakers, as well as the wide array of seminars that are offered. The seminars are led by industry leaders and focus on a broad spectrum of topics ranging from tents to event design. These seminars give you the opportunity to learn more about industry best practices and trends that will help improve your rental business. Don’t forget to take notes!

5. Meet Others in the Industry

The rental industry is unlike any other in that it gives you the opportunity to openly share and exchange ideas with other rental operators whose business is very similar to yours but not directly competitive with you. Many in the industry share ideas with others in their own city because they find it benefits both of them instead of hurting both of them. As a result The Rental Show is a great place to network with others in your region and others from across the United States and Canada. A great place to start with this is at one of the Regional Receptions. For Canadians it would be great to see you out at the Region 10 Reception (sponsored in part by National Event Supply). You can also meet many of your peers in the seminars, on the show floor, and countless other events put on at The Rental Show by the American Rental Association.

Bonus Reason – It’s in Las Vegas!

What better place to combine a business trip with some fun filled pleasure!

One of the questions that we get asked every daily is "How much do your plastic folding tables cost?" On the one hand this is a very simple question to answer; on the other it is actually quite difficult.

It is simple because we, of course, sell plastic folding tables; as a result we have set pricing for our wide selection of NES Reliable Plastic Folding Tables. So then why is it also difficult? The difficulty comes when you choose to dig deeper into the specifics of the plastic folding table that you are looking to buy. Plastic Folding Tables range in price from about $30.00 all the way up to $330.00+, depending on a variety of factors including size, quality, brand, and which supplier you buy from. To take size out of the equation we will focus on the always popular 6-ft Rectangle Plastic Folding Tables. While many 6-ft Rectangle Plastic Folding Tables initially appear to be the same, there are three main differences that come into play to effect price which are quality, distribution, and brand.

Quality vs Price

The Quality of plastic tables sold currently varies dramatically. Some offer 6-ft Rectangle Plastic Folding Tables that are only capable of holding 250lbs evenly distributed across the top of the table, while others are capable of holding 1000lbs or more (including our 6-ft NES Reliable Rectangular Plastic Folding Tables). In terms of quality, the tables being sold by the vast majority of big box retailers (consumer-focused) simply do not compare to those being offered by companies that focus on Business to Business sales. The big box stores mainly focus on giving you the least expensive product possible, resulting in the lower weight rating. Many of these products will work very well for consumers looking for an inexpensive table that they will use once or twice a year for household parties and events. If you are planning to use the table more often however, you might want to consider the value being offered by a product at a similar or slightly higher price point. You also want to be cautious that you are really comparing two equal tables, especially if the price difference between them is low.

So what of the $180.00 6-ft Rectangular Plastic Tables?

The 6-ft Rectangles that cost $180.00 are normally so expensive because they are sold through distribution. Yes, some will have higher weight ratings, and some will have special features to help improve their value proposition but some have neither. A great example of a large business built on distribution is National Public Seating. If you choose to purchase a National Public Seating product, you don’t buy directly from them. Instead you will buy from one of their retail partners. This has pros and cons. The pro is that you can generally find someone in your immediate area that carries their product. As a result you may be able to pick up the product the very same day, or the next day. This can make purchasing their table very convenient, especially if you are in a jam and need the product quickly. The con is that their price is likely higher because of the double mark-up. The double mark-up occurs because National Public Seating needs to make money on the product sale and the retailer needs to make money on the product sale.

Branding: Marketing Dollars at Work

The final cost factor is Brand. It is fair to say that most well-known brands command a premium over their unbranded or lesser known brand counter parts (had a Coke/Pepsi lately?). Both Coke and Pepsi are able to command higher prices because they are a known commodity compared to many of their competitors. As a result when they sell at a higher price point many people are happy to pay it because they have known quality behind the brand. When you buy a Coca-Cola or Pepsi, you know exactly what you are getting but the same is generally not true for small brands or store branded products since you likely have not dealt with them before.

So the next time you are looking to purchase a plastic folding table consider what goes into the cost. While some costs may be justified to you, others may not be. Some may prefer distribution over brand, while others will prefer quality over distribution. If you are looking for pricing on plastic folding tables that offer excellent value please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Since I started working at National Event Supply in 2010, we've shipped products across Canada and the United States. We've shipped tables and chairs to Nunavut in the North, and Aruba in the South. We've shipped dinnerware and cutlery to Vancouver, BC and St. John's Newfoundland. Most of the time, there are no problems. The products arrive on time, with no damage. On other occasions, products are lost or are damaged in transit.

When we find out that products are damaged in transit, we typically file a claim with the shipping company. As part of the claims process, the shipping company will refer to the bill of lading. If the customer has signed the bill of lading and has not indicated that there was any damage, the shipping company will typically deny the claim, as there was no damage indicated. This is why skids that ship from our warehouse in Toronto now have stickers on them that read "Inspect for Damage Before Accepting". But what should you be looking for?

4 Things to Look for Before Signing for your Order

Is the plastic skid wrap still intact?

National Event Supply wraps all skids in plastic wrap. For orders coming out of our Mississauga warehouse, we use a black wrap. Indianapolis and Vancouver both use clear wrap. The wrap should be tightly pulled around the products, and there should not be any tears or rips.

Is the pallet damaged?

If the pallet is falling apart or has noticeable damage, take a closer look at the whole skid. It could be that the skid was damaged while it was being loaded or unloaded at the shippers' depots.

Are there any dents or indentations on any of the boxes?

Take a look at the boxes on the skid. If there are holes or a corner is bashed in, then the skid may have been damaged in transit.

Is the skid leaning to one side, or does it look like it could topple over?

If the contents have shifted during shipping, there is a chance that the products within may be damaged.

Click to enlarge pictures.

What to Do if Your Order Arrives Damaged

If you discover that your order is potentially damaged in the course of your inspection, here is what you should do:

Take pictures of the damage while the driver is there. If you can take pictures of the skid on the truck that's even better.

This allows us to show the carrier that the product was damaged while they were responsible for it. It is important that the pictures of the skid are taken before the skid is broken down.

Write down on the Bill of Lading the exact damage that you have discovered and that you will be filing a claim

Be as specific as possible. If the corner is bashed in on the box that is third from the bottom, write that down. The more detail that we can give the shipping company claims department the better. Write down all the damage that you document with pictures.

Don't use the damaged product. Leave it in its box.

If the product is damaged, then you cannot use it. Let us know so that we can get replacement product out to you. Also, make sure that you keep the damaged product in its box at your facility so that if the claims adjuster wants to inspect it he can. If you return the product to us, the claims adjuster can dismiss the claim

Let us know and we will start the claims procedure.

The sooner you email or call us and let us know about the damage, the sooner we can get the ball rolling on the claims process. We'll need the photos that you have taken so we can give them to the shipping company and we'll need to know what happened when the shipping company arrived with your product.

As I wrote earlier, most of the time nothing goes wrong, the products arrive on time and in pristine condition. For those times that they don't however, it is important that you know what you're signing for. It's important to "Inspect for Damage Before Accepting".

Early September typically means the end of summer and cooler weather, but we had a gorgeous day at the CRA Ontario Golf Tournament at the Hawkridge Golf Club in Orillia. This was the first year that the Hawkridge Golf Club held the event, and they did an incredible job hosting the CRA. As with previous year's tournaments, it was a shotgun 'bestball' tournament with members and suppliers teeing off from every hole on the course at 11:00am.

Bill Winslade and I represented National Event Supply at this year’s event as Dennis was in Alberta visiting customers after exhibiting in the Alberta Foodservice Expo. This year the National Event Supply team played with Brian from Texada Software, another rental industry supplier. Texada Software provides rental companies with a full software solution that can be hosted internally or licensed as Software as a Service. Since we played as a threesome we had the luxury of having an “extra” shot to share between the three of us. However, Brian is such a good golfer that we found we only used the extra shot about 50% of the time. Unlike last year (and thanks in most part to Brian) our score was a very competitive 8 under par. Among the many highlights during the day was Bill almost sinking a 50ft putt, and Brian getting lucky by having his ball pop out of the sand trap and onto the green.

We would like to thank the CRA Ontario Members that worked hard to organize this great event. We hope to see you all out on the course for next year’s event!

The Alberta Foodservice Expo kicked off at 11am on Sunday and there was a steady flow of visitors to our booth along with the many cooking activities on the main culinary stage.

Shortly after the show opening, Richard Toll, the Owner/Executive Chef of ASNA Cooks, stopped by to introduce himself. Richard is actively involved in the Edmonton and Alberta Culinary scene, and on Sunday was one of the judges for the culinary competitions taking place centre stage, right in front of our booth. Richard was also the winner of the Edmonton Iron Chef Competition back in April 2012. We gave him a quick preview of our porcelain products including our very popular Quadrato Dinnerware, our heavy-duty Hotelier Dinnerware, and our extensive range of porcelain platters and bowls. He was also quite interested in some of our 18/10 stainless steel cutlery lines. Richard was excited to discover the possibilities National Event Supply provides to dramatically reduce his porcelain and cutlery purchasing costs. We saw Richard later on when he modelled some new chef uniforms in the fashion show that was sponsored by Canadian Linen & Uniform Service.

Not long after Richard left our booth, we had DJ Parkin, the General Manager of Fandango’s Live Entertainment Saloon, stop by to check out our newest porcelain products along with our best sellers. They’ve been working hard doing renovations at 12912 – 50th Street NW in Edmonton for a little more than 5 months as you can see from their Facebook page, and it looks like they are really close to opening up their new live entertainment saloon. They did have enough time to come and checkout the 2012 Alberta Foodservice Expo though. Congratulations to DJ & Leigh, you guys are so close to your opening after many months of hard work I am sure you can almost taste the beer beginning to flow!

The Apprentice Level Competition took place from 11:15am to 12:15pm on Sunday, while the Team Competition took place later in the afternoon from 2:45pm to 4:45pm. We were honoured to be able to help sponsor the event by providing our most popular selling line of flatware, our Maria line of 18/10 stainless steel cutlery. This line was used by the judges to perform their sample tastings of each of the competitors dishes. In the picture are Judges (from left to right) Chef Doreen Prei (Zinc Restaurant), Chef Richard Toll (ASNA Cooks) and Chef Allana (CCFCC Edmonton).

As we moved into the afternoon, it became apparent to the event organizers they would be needing additional chairs to seat some extra judges that were needed for the Team Competition, so we were pleased to be able to provide Donna Dooher, the Chair of the CRFA, and Adam Saunders, Alberta Membership Sales, with a Silver and a Black Resin Chiavari Chair to help pull off the ‘Event nature’ of the competition. We also provided some of our new wine glasses from our Eclisse line of Stemware to help with the presentation of some very fancy desserts the competitors were making.

Donna Dooher is not only the current Chair of the CRFA but is also a very accomplished Chef and business owner. Here’s a write up and a picture that does Donna much more justice than my quick snapshot prior to the culinary competition at the Alberta Foodservice show. She is also one of the featured Chefs in the ‘I am Restaurant’ video on the front page of the CRFA website.

At the conclusion of the show, attendees, competing chefs and exhibitors were invited to a cocktail and awards presentation party hosted by Chuck Nervick, Senior VP of MediaEdge Communications and Garth Whyte, President & CEO of the CRFA. Prior to the awards presentation, Garth Whyte gave a brief presentation on the significance of the Restaurant sector in Canada. Some of the interesting facts he talked about were: 1.1 million Canadians work in restaurants across Canada with another 260,000 in spinoff jobs, 1 in 4 Canadian will work in the Hospitality Foodservice sector at some point in their life, restaurants contribute 4% to the Canadian GDP and probably the most significant, 18 million Canadians go to a restaurant every day.

All in all it was a very good first day for National Event Supply at the 2012 Alberta Foodservice show.