The Benefits of Sunbrella Upholstery Fabric and How To Care For It

Choosing Sunbrella fabrics for your commercial outdoor furniture is a decision you will never regret.

 

The benefits of Sunbrella upholstery fabric are many, but here are the main highlights:

Business Social Media Trend For 2013 - Creating a Mobile Device-Compatible Website

We've all been there - trying to use a smart phone or tablet to browse a website, only to find that the site is not user-friendly at all. If you're anything like me, you simply leave the site. Bam. Their loss.

 
Don't let that scenario happen to you. Your business may be terrific, your website top-notch, but if you haven't optimized your site for mobile devices yet, you may be losing valuable interactions with potential customers.

Searching for information and shopping by mobile device is not a passing fancy. In fact, it's the hottest thing since (insert generational euphemism - Example, sliced bread)! As Tech Republic reported in June of 2012, "Since 2010, mobile searches have seen a 400% increase and it is estimated that by 2013, there will be more mobile internet users than desktop users." Certainly our most recent Holiday season saw a rise in mobile shoppers.

So what's a busy business owner to do? Well, you can start by using a free tool such as Google's "Test Your Site" feature to see how your site looks when viewed on a mobile device. Doing this will let you know how potential clientele are viewing your website.

Then, when you're ready to take the plunge into mobile optimization, consider a company like bMobilized, where for $9.00/month you can get the following:

Point is, there's no reason not to embrace mobile marketing. It's here to stay, it's an expected service to customers, and it's relatively simple to get started. Good luck to you!

7 Ways Booth Seating Can Make Your Restaurant More Inviting

Booth seating can boost your profit margin, and make your restaurant a more inviting place for all types of customers. 

Read on to discover seven ways that restaurant booths and banquettes may entice your clientele:

1. Flexible seating capacity - booths typically allow four people to sit comfortably. However, groups of five or six can easily be accommodated in a pinch, either by adding chairs to the booth end or by getting cozy with one another on the provided benches.

2. An intimate dining experience - booth seating creates the effect of a barrier between guests in your restaurant, allowing them to carry on private conversations and enjoy each other's company, even with a full house.

3. Greater payoff per table - studies have shown that patrons who sit in booths tend to spend more per visit. Take, for example, this study finding published 3 January 2012: "Customer checks revealed that patrons in booth seating spent an average of $56.67, while customers who sat at freestanding tables spent an average of $38.92." That difference can really add up at day's end.

4. More patrons per square foot of space - due to their ability to go back-to-back, restaurant booths actually have an overall smaller footprint than a table-and-chairs configuration. Also, there's no need to take into account the additional space needed to pull out chairs or walk between them. Customers with disabilities will find that they can easily be seated at the booth's end, ensuring that your business is taking steps toward ADA compliance.

5. Kid-friendly dining experience - booths give parents the ability to confine children between adults, as well as provide the extra space needed for kids to wiggle, squirm, and expend excess energy. Kids are often more comfortable sitting on the padded benches as opposed to on chairs that are adult-sized, and high chairs can easily be added to the end of a booth.

6. Creative layouts - booths and banquettes can be arranged in a variety of ways, such as:

• perpendicular to a wall, with tables and chairs in the center of the room
• floating in the center of the room, with open ends on both sides
• lining the backs of the banquettes along a wall, which creates an open seating style
• use the finished backs of the banquettes to make a room divider or an isle within your floor space

7. Custom designs - restaurant booths are often custom made to your specifications. Booth seating can be basic, high-end, or somewhere in the middle. Variations include upholstery, wood stains, trim options, and style of the booth itself. Contract Furniture  Company offers fully customizable, made-to-order, affordable booth seating that's made in the USA - check us out!

Style CH6

Style BTB

Style HR3

The New Year Brings New Commercial Restaurant Furniture To Our Site

Contract Furniture Company is pleased to announce some new additions to our website.

 

Aluminum Patio - Restaurant Furniture

Jupiter Arm Chair

Jupiter Side Chair

Jupiter II Arm Chair

Lauderdale Arm Chair

Lauderdale Side Chair

Miami Arm Chair

Miami Bar Stool

Miami Table

Outdoor Wicker Restaurant Furniture

Savannah Arm Chair

Seattle Arm Chair

Seattle Side Chair

Seattle Bar Stool

City Center on 6th - Koreatown, Los Angeles, CA.

Just a quick note of thanks to the people over at City Center on 6th in Los Angeles, for sharing their installation photos with us.

Shown: Maya side chair and 200 Series table base

 

Shown: Aluminum market umbrella and Cambi table

 

You can view additional photos on our Pinterest page:

Top 3 Reasons To Invest In Commercial Grade Furniture

It can be tough when you’re starting your own business – so many details to attend to, lead times to take into account, and of course trying to stay within your budget. Plus, you want your place to look a certain way, to evoke certain feelings within your clientele. Along that line, let's talk about why it's best to pay a bit more for commercial grade furniture than to buy residential grade furniture. I’m going to simplify the benefits and characteristics of commercial grade furniture for you. You’re welcome, it’s my pleasure.

Sure, residential grade furnishings are cheaper, at least in the moment. However, over the long run contract (a.k.a. commercial) grade furniture will give you a greater return on your investment.

Here's Why:

~ Commercial grade furniture is always designed to be durable, easily maintained, 
    and have lasting value. It is ideal for when a business cannot budget for new 
    furniture every few years.

~ Contract furniture is meant to be used anywhere there are large numbers of 

    people who will use it daily, and/or where there may be large weight differences 

    among those users.

~ Commercial furniture takes into account the rough movements, multiple uses, 

    and environmental stressors that furnishings encounter, and reduces their 

    impact by using scratch-resistant surfaces, non-corrosive materials, mortise-

    and-tenon joinery, and UV-resistant fabrics.

Now for the technical specs for contract grade chairs and tables, as mandated by the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturer's Association (BIFMA):

Five Reasons Why We Love Live Chat

As of November 2012, we now have a Live Chat option on our website, www.ContractFurniture.com

These are the reasons that we love it:

1. There's no better way to make a customer feel attended to than to answer their questions on the spot. We can also provide links to products, guiding them through our site to the most appropriate furniture for their needs.

2. With our chat analytics it's easy to see the city, state, and country of every visitor to the site, as well as their landing page and even the search engine they used to find us.

3. A favorite tool of mine on the Live Chat operators' screen is the keyword information - whatever words/phrases the site visitor entered into a search engine to find us are shown, and can be used to better understand our clientele and their needs.

4. We can look at an individual's navigation through our website, allowing us to see what products they're interested in and what page they exited the site from. We also know if someone has visited our site before, which is handy for number five ...

5. Visitor's to our site can be invited to chat. There are a number of reasons why we'd want to do this: 

• They've visited before and have looked at the same products - therefore, maybe they have questions.
• A person has navigated through many of our site pages, and we want to help them narrow down their search, if needed.
• Someone we've chatted with before has returned and we want to offer a follow-up chat.

Moral of the story: Don't underestimate the power of the Live Chat feature - it's so versatile and such a rich source of information that it's well worth the investment.

Do you use Live Chat on your website? 

What do you love about it?

Holiday Shopping Trend 2012 - #trendalert

According to MarketPilgrim, this year's holiday shoppers will rely more than ever on both home computers and mobile devices to complete their shopping.

MarketPilgrim Infographics - October 2012

It seems like a good time to begin Pay-Per-Click ads, invest in SEO, and try to utilize social media for word of mouth sales. Another great tool is to have a Live Chat feature available for potential customers. Have your staff readily available to answer customer questions, guide their purchases, and provide any information they might need.

Contract Furniture Company has begun utilizing a Live Chat feature that's powered by Comm100. We liked that they gave us a 15-day Free Trial without requiring a credit card number.

Barbados Turf Club - Bridgetown Barbados, West Indies

Joining us today is the Barbados Turf Club, a premier place for horse racing in Bridgetown, Barbados.

We'd like to extend our thanks for the lovely photos! 

 

Featured Products From This Installation Include:

• Holsag Remy bar stool
• Holsag Remy side chair
• Bulldog backless bar stool
• Planked beechwood indoor table tops
• Cast iron round indoor table base

Installation Photos from Orinda, CA

This business office exterior is made more inviting by the addition of wrought iron furnishings and aluminum market umbrellas. 

Featured Products Include: 

• Balero lowback and highback chairs
• Mesh top dining tables
• Aluminum frame market umbrellas
• 70-pound cast iron Promenade umbrella base

Angeles National Golf Club Agave Bar & Grill - Sunland, CA.

A heartfelt "thank you" to the Agave Bar & Grill for providing these beautiful installation photos.

The chairs and bar stools shown above can be found in our European Beech Wood Furniture - Showroom 2 collection.

Cosmopolitan Sky Lounge - Allentown, PA

We would like to thank the Cosmopolitan Sky Lounge for providing installation photos!

Relax and have a drink with friends at this luxurious rooftop location in Allentown, PA. Outdoor woven wicker lounge seating with Sunbrella fabric cushions is the height of comfort and style. This open-air rooftop lounge features two bars, specialty drinks, delectable dishes and breathtaking views of the beautiful Lehigh Valley landscape. 

Outdoor Wicker Lounge Furniture at Contract Furniture Company

"Made In America" Making A Comeback!

In an article entitled, "What is 'Made In America' Worth?", Inc.com staff writer Eric Schurenberg makes the following points:

• The label still has far more international cachet than Americans are likely to give it credit for. Even in the United States, buyers have proven that they'll pay considerably more for some kinds of American-made goods--simply because they expect them to be a better value.

• Simon Anholt is a British branding consultant and creator of the Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index, which measures a nation's international reputation. In the market-research company's most recent survey, released in late October, the U.S. ranked first - for the fourth year in a row.
  
• Forced to compete with companies that benefit from lower labor costs overseas, American manufacturers have invested heavily in advanced plants. That tends to provide an edge in manufacturing precision and flexibility.

• Contrary to the thrust of much election-season advertising, America's reputation seems to be improving, not receding. In the Nation Brand Index, the United States was the only nation among the top 10 to improve its standing. A lot of this has to do with the American economy. While the United States has emerged sluggishly from the 2008 financial crisis, its recovery is firmly established, and is now more than three years old. The U.S. faces nothing like the 25% unemployment of Spain or the shrinking GDPs of most European nations.

At Contract Furniture Company, many of our commercial furnishings are Made In America and are also Eco-Friendly.

Palos Verdes Golf Club - Palos Verdes Estates, CA

We'd like to extend our thanks ...

... to Palos Verdes Golf Club, for providing beautiful installation photos to us. The wrought iron patio furniture and market umbrellas they chose make their outdoor space welcoming and comfortable after 18 holes in the California sunshine.

Wrought Iron Designer Patio Furniture at Contract Furniture Company