Our first ever catering cart was a candy floss stall which we were asked to provide to the Coca Cola corporation for 2 events in the Yorkshire area. Within 3 years we had added something like 14 different options to our range of carts and stalls. All through this process we resolutely refused to add one particular item, a chocolate fountain. Everyone agreed they were messy, there is an awful lot of competition out there with fountains and we just plain decided we didn't want them and were not going to have them.

Well now we own a number of full sized and some medium fountains, as well as drinks fountains and a large number of wedding chair covers and various coloured sashes to tie around said chair covers. How did this happen, well we have just acquired the assets, equipment, goodwill and order book of a Norfolk based wedding company. In fairness I hadn't intended acquiring said company, I had travelled to Norfolk to pick up an item of equipment I had agreed to buy. I got on extremely well with the company owner who explained that he was having some personal issues and would like to sell the business as a going concern. After inquiring about the price and doing some sums I decided that it was too good an opportunity to turn down. He had a number of items such as candy floss machines and popcorn machines that we use anyway, the aforementioned fountains which fit in well with our existing wedding operations, and the chair seat covers which we are a little unsure about, but glancing through the order book, seem to be a popular and profitable line. What we will do with the covers is service the existing jobs, see how things go with them and then invest in building them up to compete with the other companies nationwide in that particular market if they look like a good line.

What was the jewel in the crown was the order book and the goodwill with a number of venues that provide a steady stream of work. We intend to run the business as a going concern, separate from our other operations, but obviously with opportunities to cross sell games and rides from our other business providers.

We also acquired a fairly popular website for the company, which we will release details of as soon as we have altered it to contain our contact details etc.Overall, it has boosted the order book for this year by about 25% overnight, and next year by around 250%. I must admit that I like the speed with which a business can be grown by acquisition, so we are now on the look out for a suitable inflatable/rodeo bull provider to acquire and possibly an outside bar company.

Anyway the companies website is Chocolate Experience

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In response to repeated requests from some of our corporate clients, we have added a couple of new lines to our portfolio of catering carts. Starting in November we will have a draught beer bar, dispensing various draught beers and lagers. The bar is based on one of our standard gold and white Victorian carts, to which we add a new continental draught beer system which both chills and dispenses the beer straight from the keg. This does away with the need to use a cool room to keep the kegs cold, or a bulky flash chiller and enables us to offer a bar at any venue. Although this service is primarily intended to be a draught drinks service we will also be offering the option of wines and spirits to create a complete mini bar system, further details at Candy Floss Crazy microBARS. This is designed primarily for smaller events, probably up to about 150 people. Larger events would require a full bar service, of which we will be making an announcement later in the month.

We have also just bought a range of drinks fountains, allowing us to offer a top quality drinks fountain hire service for wedding, parties and private corporate events.

This takes our current catering carts options up to around 17 different carts. More than enough to cater for almost any event.



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