Cool Branded Merchandise for Travel

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Whether it’s a company giveaway, a thank you gift or a useful item for your staff, there are a huge range of brand-able items these days which can help re-enforce your company image or ethos.

With the recent announcement that all passengers flying into or out of the UK are advised to ensure electronic devices are sufficiently charged to be switched on, what better giveaway or branded gift than a portable charger!

Whatever your company colours or brand style we can find the perfect branded merchandise for you!

Here are a couple of our most popular chargers:

Stone Powerbank – 2200mAh with minimum order of 25 pieces these start around £15 each (printed one colour, one position)

Organic shape, stone look and feel with leather tag. Original and robust powerbank. High-end quality gadget to charge most smartphones. Nice branding options.

PEBBLE™ Smartstick – 2200mAh also with a minimum order of 25 pieces these start around £18 each (printed one colour), the bigger order the better the price though – scaling up to an order of 50 pieces already sees it drop to around £14 a piece.

Available in 4 super sleek and stylish colours (Black, Silver, Pink, Purple)

PEBBLE™ Smartstick emergency portable battery pack charger for most mobile devices. Charge your portable device on the move without the need for mains power. Small and light enough to carry around in your bag, the PEBBLE™ Smartstick portable emergency charger will provide your mobile device with up to one additional charge, charging most popular devices including; Apple 30pin, Blackberry, Sony Ericsson and devices that use mini or micro USB.

The USB port on the PEBBLE™ Smartstick also allows you to charge your mobile device with the supplied manufacture’s cable. *Compatible with iPhone 5 when used with the Apple supplied lightning charging cable*

Contact us today for more branded merchandise ideas to suit your company and your event!

Awards Dinner at Spencer House

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We were delighted to be working with William Grant & Sons on their annual Stand Fast Awards Dinner again – the event offers recognition for the outstanding achievements of those employees who really help bring the company’s values to life.

The nominees travel from far and wide (this year we had guests from Mexico and Sydney as well as many from the company’s Scotland HQ) so the night is a real highlight in their diaries and as such must be a night they will never forget…

Being held in London there was a long list of suitable spaces, using our venue knowledge and the client’s specific brief we suggested Spencer House; built for the first Earl Spencer (an ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales) it is the city’s only great eighteenth-century private palace still intact.

The venue allowed us to build bespoke bars representing William Grant & Son’s core brands, staffed by our mixologist team they served Hendrick’s Gin Cucumber Collins, Hendrick’s Gin Summer Punch, Reyka Vodka Cold Snap Cosmo (in solid ice tumblers!) Sailor Jerry rum Sailor’s Kiss, Monkey Shoulder whisky Jam Sour, Tullamore Dew’s The Montserrat and a twist on a classic: Glenfiddich ‘Oak’ Fashioned.

Icelandic vodka Reyka wanted to showcase a little of their homeland so we made ice tumblers specially for the event – and supplied guests with cool Icelandic gloves to avoid frostbite whilst enjoying the cocktails!

After arriving on classic red London routemaster buses the guests enjoyed drinks on the terrace, before moving through for the awards ceremony and an exquisite 3 course dinner. Dinner was followed by the traditional Spencer House ‘bombe’ – similar to a baked alaska this house speciality was offered to each guest in the stunning Great room.

Jubilant award winners and their colleagues continued the celebrations with further drinks on the terrace, enjoying the beautiful surroundings (and the glorious June sunshine we were blessed with!)

For more photos of the event, have a look at our facebook album.

To find out more about the drinks we served, check out each brand’s website: Reyka, Sailor Jerry, Hendrick’s Gin, Tullamore Dew, Monkey Shoulder and Glenfiddich.

London Private Dining – where to be seen this summer

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Whether you’re looking for some advice on a one-off dinner to wow a small group or stuck for restaurant options that can cater up to 60 without sacrificing quality, talk to us and we can find the perfect solution.

Some of our favourite spots this summer are:

Daphne’s – Fifty years after its launch, Daphne’s produly re-opens its doors this summer to reveal a glamorous new look. The conservatory can accommodate up to 40 guests for a private lunch or dinner.

Bam-Bou has a range of Private Dining Rooms catering from 9 up to 30 across the four floors of a quirky Fitzrovia townhouse.

The French-Vietnamese colonial style decor along with the high standard of service are what makes Bam-Bou so popular, and yet it still manages to retain a peaceful and relaxing atmosphere.
The Rooms at Bam-Bou:
The Chef’s Room | lunch & dinner for up to 9
The Private Dining Room | lunch & dinner for up to 12
The Ante Room | lunch & dinner for up to 12
The Ivory Room | lunch & dinner for up to 20
The First Floor | lunch & dinner for up to 30

Balthazar is an iconic Covent Garden brasserie with a great central location just minutes from the Royal Opera House.

The private dining room has it’s own bar and lounge area, accommodating up to 60 guests seated, or 80 for a standing cocktail reception

Scott’s  prestigious private dining room has no minimum spend requirement for Summer lunch parties in July or August – a rare treat at this titan of the London restaurant scene.

Decorated with work by leading British artists, the art-deco style space can seat up to 40 guests. It is also equipped with two plasma screens (hidden when not required), WiFi and audio playback options.

The Ivy (pictured) has a versatile space which boasts a new contemporary art collection amongst other light touches following it’s recent ‘facelift’.

Classic harlequin stained glass fills the windows (reminiscent of The Ivy building) throwing beautiful light into the room. Capacity for up to 60 on round tables of 32 on one long oval shape.

If you’re looking for the perfect place to host a private lunch or dinner (in or out of London) get in touch with our team today and see what we can offer!

 

Summer Product Launch in London

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This July we were thrilled to be working with William Grant & Sons UK again on their annual Market Report* launch.

It was a particularly special night for the client as they proudly announced the new company name of William Grant & Sons UK (previously First Drinks Brands – FDB). This presented some challenges for our branding, as guests would arrive to the presentation expecting to see FDB signage before the announcement was made …

We created double sided welcome boards for our flexible display stands, meaning we could flip all the signs whilst the invitees were enjoying the presentation – thus they exit into the new William Grant & Sons UK event. A great surprise and success!

As William Grant & Sons UK represent a vast range of prestigious spirit brands we created a ‘kitchen table’ style bar with a huge range of ingredients on display. Whilst giving our mixologists space to showcase the brand serves from Sailor Jerry rum, Hendrick’s Gin, Reyka vodka and Girvan whisky, it also meant guests could request and create their own drinks on the night.

We were also delighted to be joined by the expert bar team from the Rivoli Bar at the Ritz London hotel, who showcased their Tallulah cocktail made with Piper Heidsieck champagne, which features on their new summer menu.

Star of the show was quite probably Three Barrels Honey which had it’s UK product launch that night! We used quirky vintage accessories to re-create Lord Basildon’s style (see the Three Barrels Honey link below) out on the terrace which really captured the ‘Embrace the Unexpected’ moto of the brand.

Have a look at more photos on our facebook page

*The Market Report itself is a valuable tool for the UK drinks media providing insight into future trends for both on and off trade, while looking at the evolution of the UK drinks industry as a whole.

Take a look at last year’s event at the Violin Factory here

To find out more about the new Three Barrels Honey flavour click here

Event Catering – How does colour affect taste?

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Our team can cater to a huge range of tastes, whether it’s a classic 3-course dinner or an out-of-this-world cocktail menu. A recent Diffords Guide article got us talking about the colour of food and beverages at events though:

We know presentation is an important factor in event catering, it can tell the story or theme of the night or simply be designed to tempt and tantalize. Scent, sound and even touch can enhance a dining or drinking experience but colour is probably the most obvious feature.

As Jane Ryan reflects, our brains may often have a preconception of a certain colour as a particular flavour – notably you may expect an orange coloured cocktail to have a citrus taste, equally a green vegetable may appear to taste fresher than a less bright counterpart with exactly the same flavour.

She also notes that blue glassware can assist bartenders with fooling guests or experimenting with flavours; a trick which our creative mixology team have definitely used before!

If you’re looking for something with a touch of the weird and wonderful or just want to add a subtle twist to catering for your event, contact us today to discuss how we can innovate your next menu with colour and taste!