In the competitive world of professional catering, you have to get it right when it comes to choosing the best catering equipment hire supplier in your area.
The lead up to catering events is usually hectic and stressful, and the last thing you need to be worrying about is whether the catering equipment hire products you have ordered are going to turn up in the right quantities, in the right condition at the right place and at the right time – indeed, whether they are going to show up at all!
A large part of what the team at Event Hire London do, for instance, is centred around catering equipment hire, working with some of the biggest professional caterers in the city. And what a great sector this is to be involved in. Yes, it’s stressful and puts demands on the team out of hours, but London is full of historic and iconic venues that lend themselves perfectly to parties and corporate events, and it’s a pleasure to be involved in many of these catering occasions. We want to be your catering equipment hire supplier!
Do we consider ourselves to be the best catering equipment hire supplier in London? Well, it’s a bold statement, but we would certainly say so, as would many of our high profile catering clients who return to us time and time again throughout the year.
And that’s because, in our opinion, we satisfy all the elements below that you should most definitely look for when choosing a catering equipment hire supplier near you. Let’s have a look…
First and foremost, what the catering equipment hire supplier can provide in terms of range is all important. What do YOU understand by the phrase ‘catering equipment hire’? Do you think of commercial kitchen cooking equipment rental, refrigeration such as fridges, freezers, cold rooms and refrigerated trailers? Maybe double sink units? Or would you also class tableware such as crockery, chinaware, cutlery and glassware as ‘catering equipment’.
The reality is that it’s probably all of the above – in other words, everything you could possibly need to cater for a large dining event, and whatever that involves, whether it’s in your temporary kitchen behind the scenes, or the tableware for the guests. Range, therefore, is everything.
When it comes to kitchen cooking equipment from your catering equipment hire supplier, this could be everything from electric ovens, gas burners and microwaves through to water boilers, tabletop griddles and portable handwashing stations. Likewise, for your food and drink service, think serving platters, mini pails, cheese boards and other equipment to serve food in a modern and unique way such as stainless steel serving platters which are available in a wide range of options here at Event Hire UK. You can choose from our 12in divided vegetable dish, 12in single vegetable dish, 14in oval platter, 18in oval platter, 20in divided vegetable dish, 20in single vegetable dish, 24in oval platter, and even a 30in stainless steel oval fish platter. And for the tableware, consider table knives, dinner forks and dessert spoons, all the way down to tea and coffee spoons and serving spoons for the tables.
It’s this range of service that is all-important. For ease, you will want to be hiring all your catering equipment from the same company – one delivery, one collection, one invoice, one point of contact!
Of course, it’s all well and good your catering equipment hire supplier having the range of catering equipment hire products available, but these also need to be available in large quantities. After all, the best hire companies won’t be just working on YOUR event, but on multiple events at the same time.
It’s important, therefore, that your catering equipment hire supplier of choice has large quantities of equipment, whether this is bento boxes, stainless steel flats, water tumblers, cutlery or double sinks – whatever you need, you want to be confident of being able to source it in the quantities you need, which are often big quantities for large dining events.
Here at Event Hire UK, we are involved each year in some of the most prestigious live events in the calendar, many of which need tableware, for instance, in their thousands. The message to you, therefore, is always to place your order well in advance to avoid disappointment.
Almost any catering equipment hire supplier can upsize themselves with some investment to ensure that they have the range and quantities that we’ve already spoken about, but does that make them the BEST choice for you? Well, they would certainly be worth consideration, but we would suggest that knowledge and expertise go a long way. Remember at the start of this article that we spoke about London boasting many historic, iconic venues?
Maybe what you don’t see behind the scenes is that some of these venues have very strict access restrictions or parking restrictions at certain times of day. By working at these venues on a regular basis, we are able to foresee potential issues before they arise. The last thing you want to hit your event budget is parking tickets that your catering equipment hire company has cross-charged you because you or they were unaware of these restrictions. By regularly working alongside your preferred catering equipment hire company, you’ll get to know each other, and be able to help each other in the lead up to your busy catering event or occasion.
Along the same lines, we would also say that efficiency of service is key when it comes to you choosing a preferred catering equipment hire company. We’ve already mentioned that you want to be in the service, from start to finish – in other words, you want to place your order for catering equipment rental, and then move on to other elements that you need to organise, safe in the knowledge that your catering hire requirements are in safe hands.
And last, but by no means least, is the element of locality. If you are a London caterer, then our advice would be to definitely choose a London based catering equipment supplier. Why? Because we all know that plans and requirements always change in the lead up to a busy catering event, and there will be last minute amendments that you need to make to your order, some of which will be able to be included on the same delivery, but others that might need additional transport.
A local catering equipment hire supplier is far more likely to be able to accommodate these last minute changes than a company who is miles away. And this is, of course, not even mentioning the financial reason – the closer your catering equipment hire company to your event venue, the cheaper the transport charges are likely to be. So, the message is, hire locally if at all possible! The great thing about Event Hire UK is that via our regional sales and distribution centres, we are able to offer you all the benefits of working with a national hire company, but on a local level. A win-win for all!
So, hopefully this information will help you when you come to choosing your preferred catering equipment hire supplier and, of course, we’d like to think that you’d consider Event Hire UK as part of your due diligence process. Simply Google ‘catering equipment hire supplier near me’, and the chances are that we’ll show up as an option.
Don’t hesitate to browse our online catering equipment rentals range online today and place your secure order 24/7, safe in the knowledge that you are putting your faith in the hands of the experts!
