New Partnership Offers One-Stop Shopping In September, Grandview, Mo.-based Brancato's Robinson Catering/All Seasons Party & Tent Rental and West Des Moines, Iowa-based The Event Pros joined forces to offer one-stop shopping for clients.
Although the two companies have just started bidding together on jobs, The Event Pros owner Julie Andrews said they have worked together for the last eight years, starting when she was a sales representative for the Kansas City Chiefs football team. In 1998, she moved to Iowa to create her event planning company.
The partnership will help both companies reach new areas for business, she said. "Brancato's wanted to expand their territory around the Midwest, but they don't have a sales staff that can call on people in Des Moines and Omaha [Neb.] and Minneapolis," Andrews said. "I call on conventions, golf tournaments and fairs - any type of event up in the central Iowa area."
The companies pool their resources to win projects. Brancato's has "a much bigger inventory than anybody I could work with in the Des Moines area," Andrews said.
Explaining how her firm benefits Brancato's, Andrews said: "You can imagine all of the competition they have if they are bidding on a convention in downtown Kansas City. If they can say they have an event coordinator on staff that can help them with ground transportation, nighttime events and airfare, that gives them a leg up."
Brancato's works with other event coordinators, and The Event Pros uses other vendors for jobs outside the Midwest.
