Summer Hospitality Caters Outdoors and In

Summer is a blast for many young people and so for the hospitality industry that often relies quite heavily on younger staff to get through busy summer seasons, it can be tough to find good reliable staff - the lure of fun and sun wading into the mix at times. But with a young group, combined with some experience, you can mold yourselves a pretty formidable restaurant or catering team.

In the case of off-premise catering for events like graduations, Jack and Jills, Weddings and the like you really need to know your scheduled staff is going to show up, and then be able to follow direction when its crunch time. Sometimes you find yourself with a new person who has never even held more than two plates before that night but that's when its up to the experienced ones to show them how, and some other quick tips, before they are thrown to the lions!

Whenever possible you of course want to avoid that scenario, but when it occurs a cooler head or heads can help walk them through it until they get on track. Shadowing helps or just having them run out holding trays for another more experienced person for table placement works too, so long as it's coordinated back stage, and the food line production keeps delivering plates, or clearing them, when called to do so.

Anything can and does go on back there just like any restaurant or business to make it happen. But you don't broadcast it to the guests. A caterer may have to provide any thing from the food to the linens to all the staff to the wedding cake, or maybe just one or two of the above but always each new location can provide a challenge. Do they have ovens? Glassware? Pots? Serving trays? An ice machine? The list can be endless but an experienced caterer can make sure you don't forget something by making suggestions should it not be raised by the client.

One recent event in a new off-premise location for Deli House Catering, with which I've had a long standing business and personal friendship / relationship with, was a coral / ranch type spot near Wasaga Beach that featured a covered indoor/outdoor dome-like hall with a mini-bar made of barn wood as well. But being a new place for DH, arrival had been tight to get the open bar up and running on schedule and almost literally upon arrival we had to swing open the bar to keep our end - father of the bride looming nearby. He is someone you want to keep happy at any wedding.

As the bar began to get set up I directed some staff to stock certain essentials immediately - ice, white wine for tables on ice, open reds to breathe, beer in tubs, main liquors with pour spouts in, cups, pops, tonics, sodas, opener, straws!..Ok lets go! Get the bar help cutting fruit and locating juices etc and opening containers and creating a garbage.

In doing so as we did, they were able to open on time delay, albeit with some chicken with heads cut off backstage running around going on, something the guests need to know. Far too often in past experience I hear of staff relaying how they are almost out of this or are out of that. It only takes hearing that a couple times before a negative vibe can take over your event and if it's a wedding, you have an angry bride on your hands. Would you tell your audience of a play your prop was missing? No and such is the back of the house in a restaurant or catered event. 

It can be hard to predict what to bring to a catered food event  with an open bar as some cocktails seem to fly some nights. One recent event saw Caesars flying off the open bar however I'm not so sure you'd see that as much from the same group if it was pay bar but you can control that a little by creating a delicious evening drink special or two that is quick and easy to make.

One event I created a "Short island iced tea", which was quick and easy to make with the lemon lime mix on the pop-gun as well as the top-off, coke. Fill the glass with ice and it's made in seconds after the liquor is in. People were ordering them by name by the end of the evening. Same as a long island but no tequila essentially. Hey, there was none! But they sold.

Recently at a Wedding I was asked to overshadow, we ran out of Blue Curacao halfway through the evening as it had been a staple ingredient in two of the brides requested bar special drinks. This on the same night we'd so far already not provided a special hard root beer she also had asked for, which we could not find in Newmarket. However the ace up the Deli sleeve was there was a guy out trying to find it still - even after the bride had said not to worry about it and given up hope we'd find any.

But guess who's the most important one to please at a wedding? The bride. So I told her we were still doing our best to get it for her and offered up that I could make a similar drink to hers but would replace the blue juice with an orange liquor and it would be nice. It was, and she seemed happy, but not as happy as when I was able to hold up a can of the hard root beer from her table- found after unsung back-stage hero Kevin was able to locate some out of town - after making eye contact with her as she danced. Her smile said it all and you knew it was smooth sailing from there on in with the food all having been served by this time as well.

Great job by the Deli House Catering and Stellar Hall teams as well, never giving up, and giving their all to make that wedding as special as it could have been within their abilities - going the extra mile. Many guests remarked how nice the staff were and how the dinner was delicious and on, and I made sure to relay that to the team. It's all the little things staff does that help them along that way to reach that deduction as well. It's all in what they perceive.


The end of the evening saw the bride and groom request the remaining late night buffet to be taken that night instead of having someone return the next day and that person made sure it got packaged up and personally delivered to their vehicle. Now that is hospitality, and going the extra mile, and that is the kind of stuff brides remember.

Nothing will ever be perfect and you will most certainly never please everyone, but 90% of any job is just showing up and if you work to keep some key people happy, you will find you've covered your bases..and you'll leave feeling pretty good!

What all the Fuzz was about!

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

I leave you with this. Your catering of a wedding is going well as your stand alone chicoutery of blue cheese, cheddar, and marble cubes, crackers, antipasto and cold deli meats are fairly plentiful and plated table service has begun. You've just served salads for 142 of 150 people but realize you have feta cheese for only 4 left. What would you do? You have seconds not minutes to decide.

Here's what I'd do. All 8 would be expecting cheese mixed in the salad and those vegan would have opted out of cheese, so we can assume they all could eat cheese. Feta is a crumbly cheese . Gulp..What to do? Seconds ticking away.. impatient server looking at you, panic creeping into the eyes....Quick! Grab some blue cheese and use it on all 8 of the plates at that last table so they all have the same...Explain about it only if they ask...And I bet it tasted yummy too!

TP Out!

Watch for TOM's TOP 10 Summer events upcoming.

Newmarket's Famous Main St - Shopping, Services and Diverse Dining

Newmarket's Main St - Shopping, Services and Movie Star Good looks!

Main St Newmarket - Yours To Enjoy!

Admittedly I've neglected Main St Newmarket somewhat of late until nearing the Jazz + Festival when I returned again to the prodigal son, or daughter as it were. As I scoped out Main for good photo shot locations, I began to notice a few empty units from where Scotia Bank stood for many a year.

Main St's Good Vibes exclusive "Life is good" clothing

I'd already captured a number of beautiful shots - at least I like them - and was about to wrap things up and maybe head across the street to Cafe Hesed for a fast coffee before checking out the Fest, when I was stopped on the street by a gentleman seemingly unloading a wack of stuff into a store.

"Hey you're Tom right?", he said to me.

Ken Sparks'd seen me from my various video, F.B. & blog  postings and wanted to introduce himself. Turns out he and his wife own the Good Vibes franchise store there and had been commissioned to sell T-shirts for the Festival,

Good Vibes also has Jazz Festival shirts!

as well as have a booth at the 4 day event! Sweet! Good to see that kind of cooperative business going on between Main St. businesses and events, and both seem like good down to earth - Main St type people!

I recall having popped into the location when they first opened but wasn't clear on what they offered, which is an exclusive line of kids / teens/family clothes sold by "Good Vibes", featuring the "Life Is Good" line of shirts and clothing wear with their cool distinctive message logoing. I still want to have a closer look see to see why it is people travel from all hells acres to buy this line as the areas only consumer distributor for miles. The Boston based Good Vibes parent company also donates 10% to children's and youth causes which is an interesting business model. I'll be back!

Speaking of T-shirts, across the street, CanadaT.com has just expanded their printed T- Shirt selection by eliminating the sales of retro records from the store which they'd added for a spell, but which proved hard to manage - however the new array of wacky message shirts got me chuckling and thinking as well about some ideas of my own for T-shirt designs. As a visually creative and word guy, it fits me to a "T". Ha.

Glenn Wilson, spousal co-owner of CanadaT's, along with Olga, informed me that they had done some business on the Saturday during the Jazz + Festival, and, most notably, when pressed, he agreed that indeed he'd had a busier Saturday than usual and those days in general during it, so that is good. I'm sure he would still would liked to have the T-shirt printing contract for the event but I'm confident he'll be in the mix for next year now that they are a little more exited now about it's potential growth and it's longevity as an event.

Design a T Shirt for Canadat.com

T-Shirt Design Contest

Recently I watched a documentary on the origins of the printed message T-shirt. It was a fascinating history and one that inspired an idea to create a contest for designing T-shirts, and perhaps putting them for sale for the winners in a store and online as well. The good people at Custom T.com liked the idea too having thought about it before and as we talked I got excited. Hey, it doesn't take much these days! Lol. And judging by some of the outrageously talented artists in the area as witnessed at the Jazz+ Fest, there should be no shortage of entries. Stay Tuned for future Announcements and links here on this!


Other newish stores on Main, in addition to the new Comic store location, Goulash House, Hops Brew Pub and yogurt house already,  include a green scooter distributor and one place that seems to have everything including a kitchen sink!  Lol. A new Tea House featuring specialty unique teas adorns the n.w. corner of Main & Eagle beside a now available former bank location, meantime  further north on Main S a new Fish & Chips restaurant is being added to the growing mix of fantastic downtown diners!

Relocated Econo Pizza has Backdoor Patio behind Main

Main St. Newmarket now offers shopping diversity wrapped in a charm that any town would envy. And, with the addition of some more new and interesting businesses to fill up the few vacant spots with the right tenants, have all the elements for a working, productive Main St to continue attracting business from tourists and area residents to movie productions & events while also providing meaningful services and products to her patrons! I look forward to returning and spending time in some of the unique shops and maybe let you know some more. Cheers!

TP out..enjoy the pics and info!

It is not a Bar! Lol.

Arrr Billy!Ever seen a Fish?!

Your new business name here

Where's ma' Blooming Wellies!

Main St even has the kitchen sink

The real Main St scoop

Iconic Town Clock for sale

No Play for a Day or 4...Special Event Rules

Sign Me!

It's not a D.J. School!

Jazz Fest Artists like Quincy Morrison may want to design a T-Shirt

Comic Book Artist too

I must check it out!

Good Vibes at nearby Riverwalk Commons event

View from Main St. across Eagle St.

Myers Costumes need hold another Art Mural event to help rid these

CanadaT.com located on Main St

The Bank is now gone..Time for Tea?

Main St looking north

T-SHIRT Caption: I Saw Regression Made on Main St Newmarket 2014

Newmarket Music Promoter Maurice Weeks Live Entertainment Nights

The life of a promoter or show event coordinator or record label evolves constantly, and a real promoter is always looking to do something bigger, and so when a good promoter is filling their venues to capacity with patrons, the natural progression is to find something bigger to put them into. That's the predicament event and music promoters / record label Arthur Jr Music, led by Arthur Weeks aka talented Hip Hop singer Maurice Weeks, along with partner / compatriot Dan Barker of 90 Nickel Entertainment, is experiencing right now. But these are growing pains of the excellent kind.

Let's face it, the ultimate for someone inclined to put live rock & roll, hip hop and other cool genre laiden shows together is to do bigger and better each time. Just look at the progression of rock concerts over the years. I actually had the honour recently of interviewing Johnny Brower, one of the guys who organized and promoted the first ever multi day concerts who happens also to be the same fellow who organized The Toronto Rock & Roll Revival concert of 1969 - the first ever concert John Lennon performed apart from the Beatles, and widely believed by those in the know as being the catalyst that broke them up. Hey, what can I say, that's who I hang with when they are producing the Pop69 movie about him. Ha. The irony of having driven around with the legendary icon a few months back and now being out with an eager group of young up and comer wannabe legends didn't escape me.

I tried to mention it to the three who'd accompanied me on the little road trip, including another indy records and entertainment Producer Carly Myers of ILLBROKEN (IB) Entertainment, while showing a potential site for an indoor / outdoor gig that holds up to 1000 people, but I think it was maybe too much at the time to take in as they were way loving the venue and already wondering aloud about the how to's and what if's.

Anyway, the 1st idea was to bring some kind of headliner in to cap off a day of bands including showcasing local bands who have stood out in band wars and Talent Search competitions. So it would showcase not only a top notch headlining act, but some very cool other bands as well.

TPE could perhaps hook in some great food from a couple of local businesses and a beer tent to seal the deal, and the event would have all the fixings of a fun time. TPE's been looking for someone that fits this bill for these types of venues to work on the entertainment side and believe these guys fit that bill way well. They also combine to have a tremendous following and combine that with the fact they have also brought some great new talent to the stage in Newmarket, Richmond Hill, Aurora and Markham too and are always looking to develop talent and introduce the coolest in music trends through their events, which I'm digging, and you get a recipe for a great time. 

Maurice tells me they just signed an exciting rapper artist to the label  also known to do little genre blending which is cool and maybe what the music festival will be come about.. a festival of merging rock, rap and hip hop styles..thrown in amongst some traditional styles - A celebration of Rock Music history if you will!...So stay tuned for sum of dat shit y'mean!? It's all rock & roll to me.Ha.

These guys are at the ground level forefront of the music scene today - just like Johnny Brower was in his and am excited to see this show to completion and what kind of talent line up these guys put together should so stay tuned!


....With a hip, hop, a hippity hippity hop, and a hip, hop, hippityhophop! 

TP Out

The Newmarket Plaza Old Fashioned Shop Davis Drive with New Fashioned Stores

Shop Newmarket is a moniker and .com that seems to have forgotten to include, except for listing Newmarket Barber Shop, one of Newmarket's longest running business centres - that being The Newmarket Plaza located at 130 Davis Drive.
 "Is that the plaza with Giant 
Tiger in it?"(and the place where u can Win $100 Gift Card )
 I can already hear some ask and yes, it is!

 "Shop Davis Drive " same deal, in fact a Google search for those terms returned nothing for the longtime plaza before this blog. After blogging, #2 in "Shop Newmarket" searches, behind only shopnewmarket.com.  

That's what we do. But there are actually over 50 services, shops and dining establishments in The Newmarket Plaza, with some also located at the back, east side entrance, including a cool, newly located sports equipment store called All Pro Source For Sports which seem to be exactly that, all you'll need for sport and hockey - including the best skate sharpening around - and the summer sports too.

Merry Xmas! More Courses Start Dec 30

I have some history with this Newmarket shopping centre as well beyond having played pool at "The Compass' many years ago when it was about the only place in town with live entertainment, and where Glass Tiger or Onyx ( became Glass Tiger) played at before forgetting us when they were gone. Years later I'd attend the same location but as a karate school, where I attended meetings once a month for 5 years as we established Operation Sparrow - offering free access to activities for youths.

In 1994, while Entertainment Editor of CoverStory Newspaper Y.R., we sponsored the sound system for the 1st ever 3on3 youth basketball Jamfest, held in the parking lot of the Newmarket Plaza to raise funds for the Newmarket Youth Centre which did not yet have a centre, and for which I was on the founding committee. Some may also remember the famous Oscar & Felix Cookies store that was located on the far east wing which my mom ran along with my brothers-in law for a time. Me-e-mories...from the corners of my bra-ain! (Think Barbara Streisand)

A little closer in time one of the first sponsors the the F. N. Youth Road Hockey Challenge was Newmarket Young Drivers of Canada as then owner / co-manager Pam Macdonald was also hosting a Rogers 10 TV show where she heard about the event while guesting myself and offered up right away to sponsor. It helped pave the way that year to our youth award! And is typical of the type of small town personailzed service with big city attention you get from merchants of The Newmarket Plaza.

All Pro Source For Sports located at the back of the plaza

The Newmarket Plaza has an ambiance that you can only experience when strolling at an old style outdoor shop plaza. The soothing piped out music, just loud enough to entertain but not too loud to annoy and the convenient layout, allows for options to park close for a quick in and out or to take your time and enjoy. Close your eyes and you can almost drift back in time - the opening and closing of doors, greetings between friends, music and smells of restaurants. Ah yes, enjoy this outdoor shopping hub..they are a rare breed these days. Use it or lose it! Ha.

I stopped in and had a slice of pizza - well they give you two! - at long time tenant Piccola Ristorante  - still there with friendly service just like his dad used to give and what can I say - it's the best slice in town - fresh toppings bedded on sumptuous pizza sauce and slathered with cheese. A firm yet crisp crust that snapped to attention and held firm  instead of wilting like a dead flower when you held it in your hand..inching it ever so much closer to your mouth.. mmm..and easy to eat too, snapping off cleanly with every bite.
No wrestling matches here just to get a taste..and plenty! Mangia!

So while you may have been avoiding shopping Davis Dr whilst construction has taken a foothold, don't forget to continue supporting the Newmarket Plaza, a real long time Newmarket success story, supplier of services and employer to many in town.

There are still so many cool stores there too like the very cool Big Al's Aquarium Supercentre with shark feeding Tuesdays 7pm  as well as thrift stores, Jewelers, Druggist, Electronics, Restaurants, Health & Beauty Care and on which we will feature various select businesses from now until the Friendly Neighbourhood Youth Road Hockey Challenge  10th Anniversary, moving to 130 Davis Dr!  


Opening Face-Off Party Fri March 14 & Tourney and Activity Events Sat March 15.
So stay tuned to +TPE for info on the event and the plaza deals!

Hey! It's not too late do do some last minute shopping!
TP Out!