H&C News meets with suppliers regularly to keep up to date with the latest product and service innovations, aiming to get the inside track on what companies offer to the market and how it is delivered.
This week, we met with Tony Carter, Sales Director of Jongor Hire at their offices in London to gain a better understanding of the business. Jongor Hire provide catering equipment, furniture, tableware, cutlery and all the necessary extras needed to host successful events.
We hear Jongor have now opened an office in London, what led you to this?
Tony Carter, Sales Director of Jongor HireOur customers – We have strong demand for our products and services from caterers in and around the London area especially for larger events. Sometimes it was cost prohibitive for them to use us though for some party events when we were over 100 miles away. Now with an established base in London we are able to respond quickly to any size order with both planned and sometimes last minute notice (always prepared to try and go the extra mile if required) and with local transport charges.
There are plenty of catering hire companies out there, what makes Jongor different?
Jongor is a hire company that provides a truly one stop shop for every element required for a fully functional temporary kitchen including front of house equipment and table top items. We can also provide a full management service and installation if required and we have a wealth of experience available to pass onto our customer’s, free of charge – of course!
We see Jongor lorries driving up and down the M4 all the time and even heard of The M4 being referred to as ‘The Jongor Expressway’, is this the main area for your business?
No, we operate nationally and have been known to go across the water to both Ireland and France. Only the other month we sent 25 forty foot trailers of equipment to Scotland for the Ryder Cup. The chances are that if you watch an event live on TV then we will have been there to install the kitchens for VIP hospitality and catering for the general public.
You’ve been at Jongor for 7 years now, how has the company changed since you joined? We have enjoyed solid growth year on year, especially on the heavy equipment side of the business. In 2012 we supplied over 160 kitchens to the London Olympics at all venues, substantial investment was made in the business to achieve this. This helped the company to grow further increasing our capacity substantially, especially in regard to the number of events that we are now able to supply at any one time. We moved to our new premises in Bristol during 2012 where we now have a stock in excess of 1m items for hire, fortunately we have not seen them all in at the same time yet! Again in 2012 we entered the refrigeration rental market and now have one of the largest fleets of cold rooms, standalone fridges and display equipment in the UK. One of the things that doesn’t change much at Jongor is the staff, so our customers get used to seeing the same faces and can always be confident of good and consistent service levels.
What are your own personal highlights working with Jongor?
There have been many highlights over the years, I guess as far as contracts go, the 2012 Olympics is going to take some beating. My greatest highlight would be the people that I have met and friends that I have made during the 25 years that I have been involved in this amazing industry.
Alexa Innes, Office Manager of Jongor HireWe also met with Alexa Innes, Office Manager of Jongor Hire to find out more about the new Jongor website, we simply asked what was the thinking behind it was and why now?
Since I joined Jongor in 2011 I’ve been talking to our customers, suppliers and anyone who’ll listen! I’ve noticed that very few however realises just how big we are, nobody thinks we shout loudly enough about what we do. Every time I speak to somebody they’re surprised about how much we stock “a fish and chip shop unit?! No?!” A couple of years ago we launched a new website, it took us nearly three years to build! It was very focussed on what Jongor was in the early 2000’s, like a jackstack; functional. Over the last few months we’ve been working away at a new website and we were really excited to see it go live last week. I may be biased but I think it’s much more like our Caribbean topper displays, functional – and it looks awesome! We really hope everyone finds it as user friendly as we do, all the information you need about our kit is on there and there’s a lot less ‘clicking’ than before! Our new website is just part of our new armoury of marketing ammunition, if we don’t tell anyone that we’ve got around 60,000 glasses in the Cabernet range alone who will?!
H&C News comment: It was a pleasure to meet Alexa & Tony and learn about Jongor Hire, the business is like an Aladdin’s Cave of catering equipment. Just about everything you could ever think of needing to host an event big or small is available. Another business we will be following closely in the months ahead. Our thanks to Alexa, Tony and team too, everything at Jongor seems to be done with a smile.
Contact the friendly team at Jongor
London
Unit 2, Swallowfield Centre, Swallowfield Way, Hayes, UB3 1AW
Tel: 020 3763 5939
email: London@jongor.co.uk
Bristol
Unit G, Kingsland Trading Estate, St Philips, Bristol, BS2 0JZ
Tel: 0117 955 6739
email: Bristol@jongor.co.uk
Jongor (Hampshire & Dorset) Limited
1700 Blueprint, Dundas Spur, Portsmouth, Hants, PO3 5RW
023 9269 2869
023 9267 7417
email: sales@jongorhire.com