While tables, chairs, linen and china , are important elements in any event, we’ve learned over the last 48 years that people are what really make parties special. There’s something magical about a group of people, from all-star teams of vendors to each and every guest that walks through the door, gathering around a common purpose or celebration.
Although the entire industry knows Party Rental Ltd. as the iconic Pink Hippo, it’s the people behind the scenes that truly make Party Rental Ltd. an icon in the industry. Our team is filled with truly talented people who make each and every event special and without them your event would be just another party.
Eva Kesse, one of our Business Development Managers, has been a member of the Party Rental Ltd. family for almost 40 years. Over the last four decades, she’s had a unique perspective of our ever-evolving business and industry, working closely with many of our most loyal clients and their spectacular events. She was also mentored by our founder, Sunny Halperin, a pioneer and visionary who helped shape not just Party Rental Ltd., but the entire event industry.
For the inaugural post in our People of Party Rental blog series, Eva shares with us memories of her early days at Party Rental Ltd. and the lessons she learned from Sunny along the way.
In the early days, Party Rental Ltd. was located in a storefront on West Street in Englewood, NJ with a parking lot and very small warehouse in the back. Newly married and in search of a job, I responded to an ad in the paper, and on the day of the interview, I arrived wearing a very stylish navy blue gabardine suit with satin piping. Long after I was hired, Sunny Halperin, who founded the company with her husband Michael, still talked about how much she admired that suit. To this day, I think that’s the reason that she hired me. (Sunny was the very definition of professionalism. Even though we were “behind the scenes,” she insisted we dress professionally each day because, “You never knew who could walk through the front door.”)
Sunny’s Wisdom: Always present yourself with professionalism — you never know who could walk through the front door!
Back then, before the internet, email, or even the fax machine, all orders were taken over the phone. We transcribed orders from work sheets onto carbon paper with perforated tickets that had to be torn and physically distributed throughout the company. After the tickets were created, it was my job to hand deliver the tickets to each department. My other duties included packing paper goods, checking the linen orders at the end of the day, and making copies! It wasn’t exactly the most glamorous job, but I hung on because I liked Sunny and I could tell I was going to like the party industry.
Eventually I was promoted to taking orders over the phone. I remember Sean Driscoll, then co-owner of Glorious Food with Jean-Claude Nedelec, once said to Sunny that he talked to me more often than his own mother. It was incredible how much time was spent on the phone with clients, but it allowed us to develop more personal relationships with clients, many of which we still cherish to this day.
I learned most of my customer skills from Sunny, who was an exceptional mentor. She taught me to make sure that the customer always understood that I was a partner in the project with a stake in event’s success. I also learned to troubleshoot orders, double and triple-checking that our clients had everything they needed to put on the perfect event. Sunny insisted that I review every order with a critical eye, asking questions and making suggestions along the way. Because of Sunny’s emphasis on the details, I became an expert at examining orders and spotting any missing products that would be essential for a successful event. I saw that our customers appreciated the time and attention we paid to even the smallest details..
Sunny’s Wisdom: Be committed to even the smallest details.
Sunny was my role-model. She was more than a vendor — she was the problem solver for our all our clients, which became the foundation for many of our strongest relationships. One of our oldest and most loyal clients, David Ziff Cooking, had a problem early in what would become an extremely successful catering career. The company had its first large order, a 400-person event, but not enough space to cook for that many people. David Ziff asked Sunny if he could set up eight catering-size barbecue grills in our parking lot on the day of the event so he could serve the 400 guests freshly-grilled chicken.
Sunny’s Wisdom: Be invested in your clients’ success. You’re not just a vendor, you’re a partner.
Sunny couldn’t allow the setup in the company lot because of insurance issues, but she had a better idea: she offered David her backyard at her home in nearby Paramus, NJ. David took her up on it, and on the morning of the event, he and his kitchen staff arrived with the chickens. Sunny wasn’t home when they arrived, but she left David the key, eight barbecue grills, and lunch — chicken sandwiches, of all things — for his entire staff. He loves to tell this story about Sunny’s generosity and kindness.
Sunny’s Wisdom: Be your clients’ problem solver. Find creative ways to make their lives & jobs easier.
Once during the eighties, when parties had no budget but the sky was the limit, we had a large rental order for an event at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that called for Red Reception Chairs for 400 guests. To fill the order, we custom painted the chairs ourselves, and they looked great. As they were breaking down the event, Sunny got a call from Chris Giftos, then the Special Events Director at the Met. The paint on the bottom of the chair legs wasn’t perfectly dry when they were set on the pristine white carpet in the Temple of Dendur, leaving 1,600 red dots behind as they removed the chairs from their space.
Sunny stopped what she was doing, grabbed Rawle Jonas, our warehouse manager at the time, called the insurance agent to meet her at the museum, and drove there immediately. Chris has often told me that her prompt reaction and attention to the situation was the very reason we became the museum’s first choice as a rental company.
Sunny’s Wisdom: You can make a mistake — everyone does — but it’s the way you solve the problem that counts.
Time and time again, Sunny set the example of how to serve clients, by making their lives and jobs easier. She showed how to take ownership of mistakes — even the near-disasters — and handle them so that the client would always know we valued the business. It was indeed a sad, tragic day when Sunny passed and I think of her and miss her often.
Over the years, I’ve grown into my current position as a senior member of the Business Development team. I am a proud partner to many of the larger accounts and events that we serve. I’ve seen much, learned much, and wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else for the last four decades. As I near my 40th anniversary with this wonderful, family-owned company that continues to strive for excellence, I still try to channel Sunny when a problem at first looks insurmountable and embody her philosophy on service.
