Printed Ice Buckets – the unspoken bespoke wine cooling revolution
Chilling in Style. Set up thirty years ago, The Waiter’s Friend Company has established itself as a master supplier of printed ice buckets and promotional wine coolers, with a range of custom-printed ice buckets and bowls second to none. So, when it comes to seeking out a branded ice bucket or bowl that will make a strong advertising statement, right at the point of consumption, clearly we’re the people you should be talking to.
Promotional wine accessories have long been recognised as a cost-efficient advertising solution for below-the-line promotion in the hospitality industry. But items such as branded plastic wine coolers and metal wine coolers need a degree of design innovation that combines form with function and recognises the knockabout demands placed on wine service accessories in today’s wet sales environments. Aspects of functionality such as handling, transport and stack-ability have been carefully thought through at the design stage, so you don’t have to.
The only thing worse than a tepid glass of Sauvignon Blanc is sparkling wine or champagne that’s lost its cool. Understanding the temperature conductivity qualities of different types of materials suitable for wine service has been a key part of Waiter’s Friend’s success. However, they have combined their technological competence with creativity and design flair to understand how to achieve sales success in drinks industry marketing.
Sometimes, for new brands, that success has to be preceded by regional trial and evaluation, before a national rollout can occur. So how do you get a full advertising message on printed ice buckets, bowls and coolers when only a small order quantity is feasible? This is where Waiter’s Friend steps in. Not only can they offer high visibility, full-colour branding on ice buckets, wine coolers and bowls for national promotions, but they also specialise in supporting your tailor-made promotions, with small order print runs, utilising laser-cut vinyl logos that can be custom cut to fit your printed ice buckets.
Waiter’s Friend’s expertise doesn’t stop there. Differing brand profiles call for custom-printed wine accessories that can properly reflect back and enhance your brand’s image. So, offering the widest range of designer and off-the-shelf coolers and buckets pays real dividends for your brand image.
Working closely with our European manufacturing partners, we’ve overseen the birthing and evolution of various materials that are perfect for promotional printed ice buckets and wine bowls. Whether you’re after traditional polished aluminium or steel finishes or the very latest cutting-edge technology in scratch-resistant thermo polymers, Waiter’s Friend can offer the complete solution to successful wine cooler branding.
The more dedicated wine glass manufacturers think so. That’s why they talk to winemakers and oenologists before bringing out a new design. But it’s something you can easily prove for yourself. Take out as many different glasses as you can lay your hands on. Tumblers, tulips, goblets, flutes, sherry, liquor; it doesn’t really matter other than to get four or five radically different shapes for comparison. Then pour the same wine into each. Give them a good swirl. Now sip away and you’ll think you are tasting and smelling four or five assorted wines!
So if different glass shapes affect the smell and taste of the same wine, should we have a dedicated glass shape for each and every varietal? At least one glass supplier, Riedel, advocates something along these lines, marketing an array of different glasses at extravagant prices for just about every wine variety you can think of. That’s probably OTT and you’ll certainly pay an arm and a leg for the privilege of flaunting the Riedel brand, quite apart from the daunting prospect of where exactly you are supposed tostore all these different shapes and sizes.Don’t get me wrong. The right shaped glassware can showcase the nuances of wine, especially in a variety as subtle as, say, Pinot Noir. But while it may be a lot of fun to have a huge bowled Merlot glass, another for Cabernet Sauvignon and a third for Gamey, what ‘s the best glass for say Chianti, which can be a blend of Sangiovese, Canaiolo and maybe even Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon grapes?
Faced with just this dilemma the top Italian glassware manufacturer set out to create just four glass shapes, for red, white and sparkling wines, that would maximise the enjoyment of aroma and flavour across all the varietals. Series Hi-Taste Glassware challenges the preconception that says superlative glassware needs a proliferation of designer shapes and a premium price tag.
As you will discover from your own glass test, open necked glasses like tumblers or tulip shapes with a flared rim wider than the bowl, produce the worst results. These sort of shapes allow the richness of the aromas to escape too quickly, flattening out the best of vintages. You need stems too, especially for white wines – nothing warms a wine faster than a hot clammy hand clasped around the bowl! Rims also should be lip friendly, rounded and well formed.
It was just these sort of practical consideration that the top-quality Italian winemakers brought to the task, influencing design. Hi-Taste glassware represents a break-through in modern automated blown glass technology, offering double the normal resistance to shocks. This has been achieved with the addition of Nesium™ a new wonder proprietary alloy, that gives these glasses core strength, elasticity and durability without compromising clarity. Withstanding intense usage and repeated dishwasher cycles, Hi-Taste glasses maintain their sparkling appearance consistently outperforming their contemporaries.
Do glass shapes affect wine taste? Undoubtedly. But you don’t have to spend a fortune to buy well made, well researched glasses that will truly enhance your enjoyment and pleasure of wine.
