Why would any corporate HR manager or event planner hire a catering company to cater an espresso bar for an event when they already have coffee in their break room or they can get a Joe to Go in a gallon jug from lots of places?

Great question. Here’s the answer.

A catered espresso bar (like what you can order from us here at Maui Wowi) means your staff will spend some actual time together at our bar. One day we should video the interactions of people who work for the same company when they get their lattes from us. Do they make a bee line right back to their desks? They do not. They socialize. We’ve seen some laugh, smile, joke, engage, collaborate—really! And we’ve never seen them argue, fight, be sarcastic or rude while sipping a cappuccino. It just doesn’t happen.

A catered espresso bar for your event—whether a corporate meeting, employee appreciation event, trade show promotion, client appreciation event or other reason — results in more human behavior. It’s amazing how much more people like each other they stop with the damn email, texting (often from distances of less than three feet) and….just…slow….down. You don’t chug an espresso or latte. You take your time and that gives you time to relate to another human being. (Don’t be frightened. Yes, your co-workers are human but they rarely bite.)

We get that catered espresso bar engagement going a bit more by personalizing choices. You want a mocha latte, she’s having a caramel macchiato, and those two are having Americanos. Someone else has a cold brew coffee and another person a steamed almond milk with hazelnut syrup. We don’t judge! It’s all about individuality. We can commune and combine while we maintain our individuality.

So yes, you could have that lukewarm coffee container you lugged from Dunkin’. You could even have one of those soulless automaton espresso robot vending machines installed in your office. Or God forbid a K-cup machine to further clog the landfill with those horrid unrecyclable plastic pods. Wow, I can barely stand the excitement of your so-called “employee benefit!”

Skip all that frou-frou. For your everyday coffee, go simple with the good old-fashioned drip brewer. When you want something special, call Maui Wowi for our mobile espresso and coffee service, as well as our all-natural fruit smoothies, and we’ll make your folks feel special. Isn’t that the point?

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Health Care Partners, the largest physician-owned and led independent physicians association in the Northeast, serving the five boroughs and Long Island, knows how to do a perfect employee appreciation event.

After hiring Maui Wowi (that’s us) to provide smoothies and hot cocoa (because it’s March in New York, and you never know whether it will be frigid or like spring) the human resources team decided to do a Hawaiian theme employee appreciation event.

HCP promoted the event to employees and encouraged them to get into the mood and go Friday-extra-casual with Hawaiian shirts, which the staff complemented with leis. Our staff blended smoothies (kiwi lemon lime, tropical fruit and strawberry banana) for their 200 staff, and made Ghirardelli hot cocoas as well.

As you can see from the photos, the HCP team took the Hawaiian part seriously. (Especially the lady in red with the sunglasses!)

So what are the essentials for a successful employee appreciation event? Here are a few to get you started:

1. Promote, promote, promote: Signage in the hallways, break room, and other conspicuous places at least a week before the event. Email blast a few days before and then the day-of.
2. A theme is a plus: Coupling the employee appreciation event with a theme (like Hawaiian) adds to the fun of the event.
3. Decorate and accessorize: In the case of this event, a little bit of extra signage (“The tiki bar is open”) and leis given out by the HR staff as people arrive is a nice touch.

While March 1 was the official National Employee Appreciation Day, don’t restrict yourself to the date. Maui Wowi does employee appreciation events year round – espresso and hot cocoa drinks in winter, smoothies in the other seasons, and often both.

There are countless types of social events for which party-givers hiring catering services: weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs, graduation parties, Sweet 16s, family reunions, summer backyard parties, and the list goes on. Maui Wowi Coffee & Smoothie Catering (that’s us, folks) has catered exactly 4,862 events since 2002 (we keep count). So we have seen it all. And there are a few things we’ve learned that we can pass on to you so that you’ll benefit when you decide to have a smoothie or espresso bar for your catered event.

Bar Mitzvah Madness

We once brought our mobile smoothie station to a lovely place along New York’s East River for a bar mitzvah. The parents of the young guest of honor made a dubious decision—to have all the kids at the party dropped off by parents and un-chaperoned. What could possibly go wrong?

We were hired to make our delicious smoothies for about 100 young teens (mostly boys). Our smoothies are made with our all-natural fruit and yogurt blends (we also have non-dairy) to which we add banana. These children were unusually rambunctious. And they very much liked bananas. In fact, many asked for a banana in addition to or instead of their smoothie. We were stationed outside the party room so we did not have a view to what was happening inside.

We probably made 200 smoothies and handed out 100 bananas – hey, we thought, these kids are really health-conscious! Later on when the parents came to pick up the kids and we were breaking down our bar, we saw where the bananas went. The kids made quite a game of stomping the bananas into the carpeting of this elegant restaurant, and having a grand old time slipping and sliding on banana peels.

I saw the event manager assessing the damage and he seemed unperturbed. I asked him how he was remaining so calm. He replied, “I just charged their parents’ credit card $20,000 for the cleaning service to come in after the party.”

We’ve also been to many bar/bar mitzvahs where the kids and the adults celebrate on different floors. That’s almost as bad an idea.

Moral of the story: Don’t ever have a bar mitzvah party that’s “just for the kids.” And hire a party company that specializes in kids’ parties. These folks know how to corral the youngsters into activities to keep them from making up their own games.

Weddings

Maui Wowi provides smoothies and espresso drinks for many weddings, and fortunately we’ve never had an incident like the Bar Mitzvah story above at any wedding we’ve catered. As long as 13-year-olds don’t get married, we should be fine.

Most people planning a wedding would not ordinarily think of a smoothie bar as something guests might like, but they’re missing out. While we’ve often set up our tiki bar on a beach or under a tent for a themed wedding, we’ve also done plenty of more formal (and black tie) weddings. Obviously, we don’t set up a tiki bar for those events. We use a more classic bar provided by the catering establishment or rental company. Same smoothies – with or without alcohol. (Our pina coladas with Malibu rum are something special.) Smoothies and frozen cocktails are especially nice for a late spring through early fall wedding when the weather is still warm, and when guests can be outside. We are able to serve several hundred smoothies per hour with two servers, so there are no lines and waiting.

Speaking of lines, we’ve been to some weddings as guests where smoothies or frozen cocktails were served. Caterers are great at a lot of things, but making smoothies is not one of them. We’ve seen amateurs forget to put the blender cap on before blending, and the result on a bride’s dress is something that once you’ve seen it you can never un-see. Also, people who don’t blend smoothies every day are sssslllllooooowwwww. And guests hate having to wait.

Another downside of just having your caterer blend the smoothies? They may use a truly terrible sugary smoothie mix rather than an all-natural blend with no artificial ingredients. We shop where caterers shop and the frozen smoothie blends that these wholesale restaurant warehouses stock are truly horrific. Your tastebuds and your guests will never forgive you. Maui Wowi smoothie blends are made in small batches by a privately-owned provider who’s been working with us for 30 years—not by the Industrial Food Complex. We’ve also seen those machines that churn frozen goop into smoothies, like in 7/Eleven. Would you really serve that to your guests? ‘Nuff said. Give them the good stuff.

What about espresso drinks?

Here again, caterers don’t do this and don’t want to be asked. But ask. They know us and we do a great job. Or call us directly. We can set up two high-production espresso machines with four servers and make 100+ lattes an hour—more than enough for most weddings. And our espresso beans are grown in Hawaii and custom roasted for us.

We’re often asked what kinds of corporate events we have provided our mobile coffee and smoothie catering services for. It would be a shorter list if we catalogued the types of events we haven’t catered. But here goes.

The most popular event type for our mobile smoothie and espresso bars in the New York, New Jersey, Connecticut area and beyond (including greater Philadelphia and New England) are employee appreciation events. Human resource managers (nowadays also called People managers – is HR still a PC term?) hire us the most frequently. With unemployment being historically low and competition for talent being at an all-time high, companies are doing whatever they can to keep their people happy. The best way to do it is to show appreciation – which many studies show is more remembered and valued that paid time off or a little extra money.

Corporate employees definitely remember Maui Wowi when we roll in with our tiki bar to make our smoothies, or with an elegant linen-covered table for our espresso service.

After employee appreciation days, the most popular event types for our mobile espresso bar and smoothie bar is client appreciation events. We are often hired by financial wholesalers who are calling on advisory firms. These salespeople drop by the offices of Morgan Stanley or Merrill Lynch to chat with the advisors and remind them about their products. It helps – a lot – to have something special to pry these advisors off the phone and into the break room or conference room for a few minutes of friendly soft-selling over a latte or a strawberry banana smoothie.

Next up is health and wellness events. Corporate HR managers and event planners in New York City and elsewhere love to have our smoothies to draw attendance to their health fairs. An important part of corporate wellness programs is actually getting people to walk through and talk to the participating vendors – everything from gyms and nutrition experts to yoga and acupuncture. Taking advantage of these services is another key aspect of employee retention. When Maui Wowi comes in with a smoothie bar, we work with the corporate event planner to promote our presence in advance. We’ll design signage and email flyers that will let people know we’re coming so they can get their free smoothie. And we serve 7-oz cups, so attendees can come back and try all our different flavors (we usually serve three at a time).

Planning something special for your employees to show them some love during the week of Valentine’s Day? It’ll be here before you know it – mark your calendars for the week of February 11, 2019 (the actual day is Feb. 14). Maui Wowi smoothie catering can make your employee appreciation event delicious and properly themed.

Valentine’s Day is great for employee appreciation events for lots of reasons – the most important of which is saying thank you to your staff. But it’s also super-easy to decorate for. Pink ribbons and cups, red leis – the possibilities are as endless as they are inexpensive.

As for our smoothie drinks, that’s the best part of tying in the fun holiday theme with employee appreciation. We have quite a number of plays on pink smoothie drinks: Strawberry Banana, of course. But when we combine strawberry banana with pina colada for a Strawberry Colada, we get a delicious smoothie that’s a lovely light pink. We also can blend Hawaiian Breeze – a combination of strawberry and mango/orange, which has an orange-red color.

Now what about a red cocktail umbrella and red paper straw to top it all off? That makes for a smoothie that definitely says “we love our people.”

To round it all out, our servers who will be blending your amazing smoothies will be clad in red Aloha shirts, and we can also decorate our bar with any other gifts, giveaways, decorations or signage you’d like to provide. If you plan your event in advance it would be easy to procure napkins, cups and other items with your company logo – an even more thoughtful way to recognize and show you appreciate your employees.

Want to show your employees that you think they’re superheroes? It’s easy. Just look at what Lenox Hill Hospital did for their annual employee appreciation event in New York.  Maui Wowi has been catering smoothies for the annual event for 2000+ people for many years. This year, the theme was to make the staff feel like the superheroes they truly are. The Human Resources and Catering staff at the hospital decorated with novelties, signage and apparel and the Maui Wowi smoothie staff took off our usual Hawaiian shirts in favor of the famous “S” superhero — that’s right, Smoothie-Man!

If you’re an HR manager, event planner or company owner looking for something special to do for your employees this summer, a Maui Wowi catered smoothie bar for an employee appreciation event is the best idea you’re going to find. Here are six reasons why (and if you need 80 more, call us):

1. Everyone loves smoothies. We offer dairy and non-dairy options like Maui Wowi Tropical Smoothie for your smoothie catering event. Plus we come to your location with our portable tiki bar and set up in minutes. If you provide it, we’ll add alcohol to make the best pina coladas, strawberry daiquiris and margaritas you’ve ever had.

2. New York (and other cities) are miserable in the summer. Like the song says, “Hot times, summer in the city, back of my neck feeling dirty and gritty.” Make your New York (or hundreds of other cities) summer a little less of a sweat with a smoothie catering event at your office, warehouse, manufacturing plant, or any place else there are people in need of cooling off.
3. Everyone loves coffee. If fruit smoothies aren’t your jam, how about frozen blended cappuccino or cold-brew iced coffee?

Add some gourmet flavor syrups (think Peppermint, Macadamia Nut, French Vanilla and more). Don’t like coffee or smoothies? Sorry, don’t know what to tell you.
4. Our smoothie catering events are healthy events. Our smoothies give your people a full dose of Vitamin C for the day. Fewer sick days. More productivity. Higher revenues. Higher earnings. Bonuses! Do the math!
5. The alternatives are crummy. Ice cream? Messy and fattening. Donuts? Sure, feed your people fat bombs.
6. Get your employees to stay later on Friday. Want people to hang around and get an extra hour of work? Have our smoothie catering on a Friday afternoon–  or any late afternoon — and your people will stay at work longer.

Summer is coming – which means corporate picnics, employee appreciation events and a little bit more of a laid-back atmosphere. Many of Maui Wowi’s smoothie catering clients have every-other-Friday relaxation events as a way to keep people motivated before the weekend. Having Maui Wowi provide smoothie catering for your event and serve pina coladas (and other flavors — and perhaps even with a shot of rum or vodka) is a great way to bring your staff together.

We serve a variety of dairy and non-dairy smoothie flavors for our smoothie catering events The most popular are strawberry banana, pina colada and mango orange. A big summertime hit at corporate picnics is our Lemon Wave – a frozen lemonade. We also offer frozen cappuccino, black raspberry, peach and kiwi lemon lime. And we just introduced our non-dairy Tropical Smoothie, which combines coconut, pineapple, guava orange and banana.

Most of our customers love our portable tiki bar setup. In minutes we’ve got our Vita-Mix blenders humming, blends ready to go, and we can make hundreds of smoothies an hour for your team members. One bar and one or two servers are fine for most events of 150 people of fewer. We’ve had events for thousands, like the one pictured below at Viacom. For that, we set up four stations with eight servers. So large or small, we can handle it.

We also operate indoors or outdoors. Whether on a balcony, in a parking lot,  in a public park or onboard a boat, we can do our thing outside. 

The most important element of what we do is work effectively with event planners and catering companies who are organizing company picnics, employee appreciation events, promotions/trade shows and other events. We make sure that we do our job so you can do yours. We’ll arrive early, set up fast, operate professionally and clean up well. Just show us where the electric is and we’re good!

Smoothie catering is at the heart of what our company, Maui Wowi, does. When most people think of smoothies, they think of blended fruit. Yup, we do lots of that. But we also have amazing frozen blended cappuccino drinks that we serve at corporate events, weddings, bar mitzvahs and anyplace there are people who like coffee drinks. 

We also provide great espresso catering — cappuccinos, lattes, Americanos — and we can incorporate frozen blended cappuccino drinks so your guests can choose hot or cold coffee drinks.

Here are a few of our frozen cappuccino drinks:

Blended Espresso: Our signature frozen cappuccino and ice

Cappuccino Alani: Frozen cappuccino with our mango orange smoothie blend

Cappuccino Colada: Frozen cappuccino with our pina colada smoothie blend

Cappuccino Honu:  Frozen cappuccino with caramel sauce and coconut syrup

Cappuccino Macadamia: Frozen cappuccino with macadamia syrup

WeWork is the biggest story in office space in New York City these days. The company brought Maui Wowi for a smoothie catering event recently. We set up our blenders on their really nice bar area and they provided the festive decorations. There are now 50 WeWorks in New York City — hopefully, you’ll see us at all of them soon enough for a smoothie catering event.

Maui Wowi provides smoothie and espresso catering for companies throughout the New York metro area, the Northeast, MidAtlantic and nationwide. There’s always a thirst (pun intended) by companies to do something special for their clients, employees or partners. We find ourselves in interesting new locations all the time — that’s part of the fun of this business. Big media companies, law and accounting firms, banks, movie sets, companies that make swimwear and widgets we can’t even pronounce all turn to Maui Wowi for our catering services.

If you’re planning a corporate event, here are some reasons why you might consider contacting Maui Wowi:

Our catering service is different from what you’ve tried before. Rather than food or drink that’s dropped off at your location, our smoothies are made on-site. There’s an interaction factor with your guests that makes a much bigger impact and statement for your event.

Our servers are experienced and work quickly. We can make 300+ smoothies an hour (don’t believe it, try us – if we can’t,  it’s free!). So groups of all sizes are easy for us to accommodate. 

Our smoothies are healthy:  Yes, you can do an ice cream sundae bar. Fattening and messy! Or you can do a Maui Wowi smoothie bar. Neat and healthy. (We’d be happy to provide nutritional info.) We have dairy and non-dairy menu options.

Our espresso drinks are just as good as our smoothies. When really good coffee (ours is from Hawaii) is important, call us. We provide great brewed coffee, espresso/cappuccino/latte drinks with syrups, sauces and everything else you’ll need.