« Special Event Planning, Destination Management and Meeting Production with Otis Productions | Home | Venetian Night Chicago Fireworks July 2009 »
M&M is one of the premier providers of event services in the country
By admin | July 18, 2009
M&M is one of the premier providers of event services in the country. Our full-service Environment Design department carries an essential collection of tables, chairs, linens, serviceware, event furniture and tents. In addition, M&M offers an in-house Design Studio for customized theme elements, floral pieces and branded platforms. Our Strategic Services team delivers the extra level of service to any planning process at any stage. Product launches, sales meetings, incentive programs, employee recognition functions, as well as Weddings, Mitzvahs, Anniversary and Sweet 16 parties, virtually any kind of live event can be managed at M&M.
Our customers primarily consist of Corporations, Country Clubs, Hotels and other event venues, Caterers and Food Service, and Charity Accounts, as well as a steady stream of social clients planning their important life celebrations.
In 1982, Michael and Marcia Berk established M&M Parties, primarily an event planning entity catering to social and corporate clients.
In April of 1992 they expanded services and purchased Naperville Rental, primarily a homeowner tool rental store with some party rental business in the western suburbs of Chicago. They operated out of a 1,500 sq ft store front with a 2,000 sq ft annex for storage and cleaning of the party rentals. They shared the upstairs bedroom as a general office with the bookkeeper and 3 person outside sales team. A 6’ Santa Claus was stored in the bath tub!
In 1994, M&M purchased Party Plus in Elmhurst, Illinois from Taylor Rental mostly for their extensive inventory of tenting and party rental equipment. The business was moved to a 10,000 sq ft warehouse for our party rentals.
In 1995, M&M added 10,000 additional sq feet of warehouse, office and showroom space in the same building.
In 2000, M&M moved to its primary location a 43,000 sq ft showroom, office and distribution center in Carol Stream. The team grew to more than 60 full time event professionals.
In 2006, Rick Luckow and Eileen Boone, the owners of The Party People, a theme décor and floral company joined M&M as our Creative Director and Senior Producer bringing their following of customers and expertise to the M&M team.
In January of 2008, Bonnie Hansen Rybicki joined our team as V.P. of Strategic Development with the intention of helping our business evolve into a fully integrated event planning, production and rental supplier to the industry.
M&M The Special Events Company Description of Business
M&M is one of the premier providers of event services in the country. Our full-service Environment Design department carries an essential collection of tables, chairs, linens, serviceware, event furniture and tents. In addition, M&M offers an in-house Design Studio for customized theme elements, floral pieces and branded platforms. Our Strategic Services team delivers the extra level of service to any planning process at any stage. Product launches, sales meetings, incentive programs, employee recognition functions, as well as Weddings, Mitzvahs, Anniversary and Sweet 16 parties, virtually any kind of live event can be managed at M&M.
Our customers primarily consist of Corporations, Country Clubs, Hotels and other event venues, Caterers and Food Service, and Charity Accounts, as well as a steady stream of social clients planning their important life celebrations.
M&M The Special Events Company Unique or Innovative Approaches
Michael Berk asked himself, why would people utilize M&M when there were already a number of good companies in the market supplying equipment rentals, linens, flowers, décor, lighting, tenting…?
He decided to create a company that would provide a comprehensive approach by providing ALL of these elements from a single location, all utilizing the efforts of a experienced and well trained group of company employees who could help fashion the best end result for the client using the broad array of products and services as opposed to being fully dependent on any segment and being better equipped to satisfy the clients wishes, time frame and budget.
“With the economy slowing down, some companies with a $50,000 budget for an annual event might have to scale back their parties this year, but with us, they might still be able to get that $50,000 party for $30,000.” Berk says. “That’s because we’re a one-stop shop. Some of these companies have to contract with four or five people to get everything done, whereas we have the staff to handle it all for one price.”
G. Customer Service
The biggest piece of feedback that M&M gets from clients about their customer service is how responsive and flexible everyone is. The M&M Team knows that events can be plagued by the little details falling through the cracks and then the mad scramble to try and remedy the problem before the guests start showing up. M&M has decades of anticipating these types of snafu’s and jumping to help when the unexpected inevitable arises.
Naperville entrepreneur Cindy Shanholtz, who runs her own event planning business, Effortless Events, raves about the last-minute service from M&M. Shanholtz said she has called on them at least 100 times.
“The M&M people are a team effort who work together and are all about customer service,” she said. “… When I’ve called on them at the last minute, they’ve never let me down.”
Shanholtz said that once she was an event planner for a funeral. The meal service afterward was her responsibility, but a family member of the diseased “dropped the ball on ordering the furniture rental.”
“It was 10 o’clock at night, and I sent an e-mail to M&M so at least they would see it first thing in the morning since we needed the stuff that day,” Shanholtz said. “The next morning, I called M&M at 9 a.m., and they told me not only did they get the order, it had just left three minutes ago on the truck.”
H. Community Involvement
In the past M&M has worked with such organizations as the National MS Society, The United Jewish Defense League, the Gateway to Cancer Research, Naperville Garden Walk, Naperville Ribfest, The Edward Foundation , The Chicagoland Aids Foundation, and the Illinois Catholic Women’s Association, among many many others. Each group is given a very generous discounting of all of M&M’s equipment and services to support their cause and keep their event costs to a minimum.
M&M routinely donates to community groups and houses of worship.
In 2008 M&M implemented an internal program for recycling paper and plastic to do our part to reduce waste.
M&M The Special Events Company Unique or Innovative Approaches
Michael Berk asked himself, why would people utilize M&M when there were already a number of good companies in the market supplying equipment rentals, linens, flowers, décor, lighting, tenting…?
He decided to create a company that would provide a comprehensive approach by providing ALL of these elements from a single location, all utilizing the efforts of a experienced and well trained group of company employees who could help fashion the best end result for the client using the broad array of products and services as opposed to being fully dependent on any segment and being better equipped to satisfy the clients wishes, time frame and budget.
“With the economy slowing down, some companies with a $50,000 budget for an annual event might have to scale back their parties this year, but with us, they might still be able to get that $50,000 party for $30,000.” Berk says. “That’s because we’re a one-stop shop. Some of these companies have to contract with four or five people to get everything done, whereas we have the staff to handle it all for one price.”
M&M The Special Events Company Customer Service
The biggest piece of feedback that M&M gets from clients about their customer service is how responsive and flexible everyone is. The M&M Team knows that events can be plagued by the little details falling through the cracks and then the mad scramble to try and remedy the problem before the guests start showing up. M&M has decades of anticipating these types of snafu’s and jumping to help when the unexpected inevitable arises.
Naperville entrepreneur Cindy Shanholtz, who runs her own event planning business, Effortless Events, raves about the last-minute service from M&M. Shanholtz said she has called on them at least 100 times.
“The M&M people are a team effort who work together and are all about customer service,” she said. “… When I’ve called on them at the last minute, they’ve never let me down.”
Shanholtz said that once she was an event planner for a funeral. The meal service afterward was her responsibility, but a family member of the diseased “dropped the ball on ordering the furniture rental.”
“It was 10 o’clock at night, and I sent an e-mail to M&M so at least they would see it first thing in the morning since we needed the stuff that day,” Shanholtz said. “The next morning, I called M&M at 9 a.m., and they told me not only did they get the order, it had just left three minutes ago on the truck.”
H. Community Involvement
In the past M&M has worked with such organizations as the National MS Society, The United Jewish Defense League, the Gateway to Cancer Research, Naperville Garden Walk, Naperville Ribfest, The Edward Foundation , The Chicagoland Aids Foundation, and the Illinois Catholic Women’s Association, among many many others. Each group is given a very generous discounting of all of M&M’s equipment and services to support their cause and keep their event costs to a minimum.
M&M routinely donates to community groups and houses of worship.
In 2008 M&M implemented an internal program for recycling paper and plastic to do our part to reduce waste.
Contact M&M The Special Events Company for your next meeting, wedding or event.
Topics: Chicago Party Planning | Comments Off
Comments are closed.
