Shared space catching on for holiday parties

PBN Staff

11/21/2009

The banquet coordinator was talking with a local businessperson on the phone during my meeting with the owner of the restaurant and function facility, one of the larger such venues in Rhode Island. The person on the phone wanted to book a date in December for a holiday party for her company.
The restaurateur and I gave each other a thumbs up. This was good news. And although I was at the venue on another matter, that phone call became the topic of discussion. What is the outlook for holiday parties at restaurants and banquet facilities around the state this year? This will be a milestone year, as it will actually be the second holiday season under the economic cloud we all have been laboring under.
Only 62 percent of respondents in an annual survey by executive outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas are planning holiday parties, down from 77 percent in 2008 and 90 percent in 2007. 64 percent of companies are maintaining last year’s party budget, the survey showed. More than a quarter of companies surveyed are spending less on their parties, either by throwing a party at the end of a workday, closing the event to employees’ loved ones or foregoing a caterer and making the affair potluck.
Still, even from this survey and its somewhat gloomy spin, it can be readily seen that most companies still want to have some kind of celebration with their employees. According to some leading area restaurant and banquet operators, creativity is becoming the watchword this year.
At the White Horse Tavern in Newport, manager Gary Swanson is cautiously optimistic. Many of his choice dates for holiday gatherings are booked. He believes he sees a trend of earlier and smaller holiday celebrations. For example, he is receiving more reservations for Thanksgiving dinner this year at the nation’s oldest continually operating tavern.
As longtime banquet operator Steve Lombardi related during a visit to his office at the scenic Hillside Country Club by Lombardies in Rehoboth, it was practically a given not that long ago during the company holiday bash, one CEO or another would seek Lombardi out, lavishly praise him and his staff for their hospitality, food and service, and book next year’s party on the spot. Those days are gone and they are not likely to be back, at least not this year. Lombardi remembers them fondly as do his customers and friends who miss his legendary facility, The 1025 Club in Johnston. There was a lot of ziti and roast chicken served there through the years. Now, that classic menu is one of the bright spots of this year’s holiday season.
Lombardi is hearing from numerous small businesses in Rhode Island who are searching for a way to show appreciation to employees for hanging in there through tough times. He and his brother, David, have come up with a holiday party that borrows from the concept of a timeshare. Instead of one company taking the ballroom for an evening in December, several smaller groups can share the space. The ballroom at the Hillside can seat 250, an intimate gathering by 1025 Club standards but more than enough room for a mixed group.
The group holiday party has caught on at Quidnessett Country Club in North Kingstown as well.
There is a desire as visceral as the human spirit to want to gather and toast one another, to wish each other well at the Christmas holidays and in the coming new year. These entrepreneurs such as the Lombardi brothers and the Correia family at West Valley Inn – the site of the meeting that inspired this column – who are giving businesses the opportunity to have an appropriate celebration to honor that spirit, should themselves be toasted this holiday season. •

Bruce Newbury’s “Dining Out” radio show is heard Saturdays at noon on stations throughout New England. He can be reached at bruce@brucenewbury.com.

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