Month: June 2019

Company outings are a great way to reward employees for their hard work and build camaraderie among team members. Whether you are looking for an overnight trip at the beach or enjoying a unique experience like a guided adventure camp, there is no denying that participating in activities together as a team rejuvenates both body and mind.

When most people organize a company outing, much of the attention is given to finding a venue–and for good reason. However, one aspect that should definitely given more attention to is the idea of hiring out-of-town catering services. Having professional catering during your event yields more than a few advantages for organizers and participants alike, including:

Opens Up More Options for Venues

Not all company outing venues offer in-house dining or catering. Limiting yourself to venues with in-house catering may severely restrict your venue options. Opting to hire catering for a company outing allows you to expand your shortlist of possible venues. The best part is that you can actually save a nice amount of money if you only opt for venue rental. If you decide to go with a third-party caterer, just make sure that the venue you book doesn’t charge outside catering corkage fees.

Guarantee That The Food is Excellent

Even if a venue offer in-house food service, there isn’t always a guarantee that you and your team will fully enjoy the food. This is especially true if no one has been to the venue you’ve chosen. In such cases, organizing a food tasting can be difficult in terms of schedule and travel. Hiring a corporate catering service based in Manila that you’ve worked with before assures you that the food you choose fits everyone’s tastes. Similarly, it’s much easier to customize the menu for your outing to fit any special dietary needs (e.g. keto, vegetarian, etc.).

More Time to Focus on Activities

It isn’t uncommon for certain team members to be assigned to cook for the rest of the team during outings. However, this set-up only really works if your team is relatively small. If your company outing involves hundreds of employees or if family members of employees are invited to join the outing, anyone assigned to cook will spend most of their time in the kitchen instead of team-building activities–and where’s the fun in that? Leaving the food up to catering services easily frees up time and allows everyone to participate in the activities you’ve planned.

Corporate training is vital to the success of any business. These training sessions can be as simple as introducing a new series of systems to your employees or as complicated as change management programs. In most cases, companies choose to hold these training seminars in-house when possible. However, a better option is often overlooked: renting an event space.

There are a wide range of benefits your company and your participants can enjoy when holding training off-site. Many of these benefits are definitely well worth including venue rental into your training budget. Some of these benefits include:

People are able to focus better

One of the issues of conducting corporate training in your own office is that most of your participants may be distracted by work emails and calls. Similarly, it’s fairly simple for people to disrupt the training and pull out one of the participants. Both scenarios can easily be avoided by booking an event space in Manila for your corporate training. On top of this, 63% of people who have undergone corporate training claim that conducting training out-of-office helps improve their concentration and productivity.

Participants can enjoy more amenities and services

Venues for off-site training seminars often boast luxe amenities and inclusions. These amenities go a long way in setting a positive mood among your employees. Many corporate training venues, such as The Atrium at Enderun Colleges, also come with in-house catering services. Serving a light snack in between sessions and offering free-flowing coffee may help your participants focus. Lastly, these amenities can leave a lasting positive impression among newer employees, which may lead to better company loyalty.

Talking about sensitive topics in the office is easier

In some cases, training seminars will talk about sensitive information or topics pertaining to the company. This may include things like policy changes or reshuffling departments. Being too close to the office may make it difficult for people to have a proper and impartial discussion. Choosing a third-party venue allows everyone to speak easier since there is no worry over whether someone may overhear the topic of discussion.

Employees are encouraged to socialize with each other

If you’ll be conducting whole-day training sessions in an events space, your package will tend to come with lunch. This is a great time for employees who don’t often interact with each other to meet and socialize. This is especially true if you’ll randomly group participants together. When employees are removed from their repetitive office routines, this interaction becomes more meaningful. Naturally, having everyone in your company get along with each other can work wonders on productivity and teamwork.

Whenever there’s a special corporate event coming up in the Philippines, you can always be sure that good food will be served. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always mean that the food options are particularly healthy. With more and more people becoming conscious of what they eat, it is important for event organizers to choose catering services that can provide healthy food options for guests.

Of course, healthy doesn’t necessarily mean “boring”. There are a number of mouthwatering healthy dishes that can serve as alternatives to classic party food. If you were originally planning to serve any of the following, you may want to consider ou healthier suggestion:

Potato Chips

Potato chips are a staple snack provided during pre-event cocktails. However, potato chips are loaded with a significant amount of fat and sodium due to the way these tasty crisps are prepared. Instead of having guests munch down on handfuls of chips, you may want to consider serving Tomato and Mozzarella Bruschetta. This light finger food packs a lot of nutritional value thanks to the tomatoes and olive oil. The tomatoes are the main attraction here as they contain lycopene, an antioxidant renowned for reducing the risk of heart disease.

Barbecue Chicken

Barbecue chicken is a true classic for any event. If you have more than a few health-conscious guests though, you may want to hold off on adding it to the menu. It may seem relatively healthy at first, but barbecue sauce contains a surprisingly large amount of sugar. For a lighter option, try choosing Grilled Herb Chicken. The grilling process brings out the full flavor of both the chicken and the spices without adding extra fat and sodium. Depending on the herbs used, the dish will also pack more than a few health benefits, including improved digestion and enhanced vitamin absorption.

Fish Fingers

Fish fingers is another common buffet item you will find in corporate events. Although fish is one of the healthiest sources of protein, most of its nutritional value is lost when it is fried. Slathering a generous serving of tartar sauce to go with your fish fingers, and you’ve just added an extra helping of sodium and sugar to your meal. A healthier alternative to this would be to enjoy a serving of Baked Fillet of Lapu-Lapu. Baking is one of the healthiest ways to prepare fish since it keeps the fish tender and moist while retaining most of its nutritional value. Lapu-Lapu is also rich in vitamin D and iron.

These are only some of the healthier alternatives that many corporate catering companies may offer. If you are keen on providing healthier options during your event, do not hesitate to consult your catering company and ask for recommendations.

Christmas is definitely the biggest holiday celebration in the Philippines. Everyone from family and friends to homeowners associations and private companies plan fun-filled Christmas parties to celebrate the end to a wonderful year. In fact, many companies start planning their annual Christmas parties early in the year to give them the time necessary to organize an unforgettable event.

If you know you’ll be on this year’s organizing committee, you are undoubtedly already trying to come up with several ideas to make this year’s party the best one ever. Here are a few tips to help you do just that:

Determine the Right Date for the Party

Naturally, Christmas parties are best held on December–but which date should you schedule it? Ideally, you’ll want to book your corporate party on a Friday. This saves a lot of travel time to the party for employees since they are already in the Metro and saves everyone the trouble of having to wake up early the next day for work. You’ll also want to consult your HR department and see if there’s a particular week in December when the workload is less so everyone can focus on enjoying themselves at the party instead of worrying about deadlines.

Book a Venue with In-house Catering Early!

Popular venues fill up quickly well before the -ber months roll around. Given this, it’s best to book a popular events space in Manila, like the Atrium at Enderun Colleges, as soon as possible. Make sure you set aside the time to conduct an ocular. It’s also advisable to book a venue that offers in-house catering services around the same time. After all, it’s no secret that the star of any Filipino Christmas party is the food! Booking a venue with in-house catering saves you a lot of time and, more often than not, a sizable portion of your budget.

Choose an Exciting Theme for the Party

It’s easy to eschew a theme for your company’s Christmas party. A party is a party, right? Although people will enjoy a good party regardless of the theme, choosing an interesting theme definitely makes a difference (and makes decorating Christmas party venues easier). If you want to organize a party that people will be talking about for years to come, try going all-out with these fun themes. Having a tough time choosing a theme? Keep everyone involved and put three themes you and the rest of the organizing committee love up for a company-wide vote.

Consider Hiring Professional Entertainment

It’s fairly common for companies to have employees perform during the party. However, hiring professional entertainers can easily elevate the fun factor of your company christmas party. Consider hiring a professional host/comedian to keep everyone engaged throughout the program and/or a popular band for a concert after the program. Another option is to match the entertainment with your theme, e.g. magicians and contortionists for a circus-themed party. You may also choose to still have employees perform on a volunteer basis and alternate them with professional performers.

Give People Enough Time to Let Loose

If your corporate catering package comes with alcoholic beverages, make sure you set aside enough time for everyone to enjoy a few drinks. Allotting only a short amount of time for drinks, especially if you won’t be serving alcohol during the program, may encourage some people to drink as much as they can within that time frame. One good way to ensure everyone has a great time, you may want to offer pre-party cocktails and snacks prior to the start of the party and resume serving alcohol after the program. This way, people are in a relaxed mood and not too hungry, allowing them to focus on speakers and performers.