Some firms revive holiday tradition, though shindigs are less lavish than in past.
The company party is back in metro Atlanta.
Many businesses shelved the annual shindig during the recession and its aftermath but now are renewing the tradition, though national surveys show holiday parties are still not as common — or as lavish — as before.
Atlanta area caterers and party venues report bookings up this year as much as 10 to 20 percent.
“We’re trying to stagger the parties so that we can accommodate everyone,” said Ashley Moore, whose employer, Phipps Plaza restaurant Davio’s, has almost no openings left for holiday party business. “We don’t want to turn anyone away.”
Steve Simon, a partner at Fifth Group Restaurants, said his company has been equally busy. The number of holiday parties at Fifth Group’s restaurants, which includes South City Kitchen, Ecco and Lure, started growing in 2010, but really didn’t return to pre-recession levels until last year.
“We are beyond 2007 levels now,” he said, referring to last good business year before the downturn. “It took some time to get here. Like everybody else we got clipped in the recession.”
Holiday parties are an economic barometer of sorts. While the recession officially ended in 2009, Atlanta was slower to recover compared to other cities because so much of the area’s economy was based on housing, financial services and other sectors that took a big hit during the economic collapse.
But the region saw strong job growth this year and in 2014.
Holiday bookings are vital to the hospitality community because restaurants, hotels and bars can make as much as 20 percent of their annual revenue in the three weeks before Christmas, hospitality experts said.
The average cost of an event is about $80-$100 per person and average party attendance ranges from 60 people to about 650.
A casino theme
Atlanta data analysis firm Cardlytics threw a bash earlier this month that had all the trimmings of the holiday parties of yore. The casino-themed event included dealers to staff the different gaming tables, tasty hors d’oeuvres, drinks and a band made up of Cardlytics staffers with musical chops.
About 275 Cardlytics workers from all over the metro area turned out for the gathering, held on the second floor of Ponce City Market, the renovated former home of Sears and City Hall East.
“A big piece of what makes our company work is our culture,” Cardlytics office manager Shaina Horrell said. “It’s all about balance. We work very hard around here. But we also want everyone to feel appreciated for that hard work.”
Companies throwing parties vary from mom-and-pop shops with a handful of workers who usually keep the event in-house to divisions of international firms like Accenture, whose Atlanta office celebrated the holidays at The Ellis hotel on Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta.
“It’s a way of showing gratitude,” Accenture’s Chris Reichner said. When the economy was sluggish, Accenture celebrations were limited to the office or happy hour gatherings because of tight budgets, but they’ve expanded to event spaces as business has picked up.
Giants like Coca-Cola and Chick-fil-A generally let departments decide whether to celebrate instead of holding a company-wide party, spokesmen for the companies said.
Inquiries about space availability for holiday parties started as early as last January, said Claudia Aguas, catering director at Four Seasons Atlanta. Small groups celebrating with a simple holiday lunch also are on the rise, said The Ellis sales and marketing director Tom LaVaccare.
Meatier offerings
Businesses throwing holiday parties this year have been more willing to increase budgets to offer meaty hors d’eouvres, wine pairings and holiday photos, caterers say. But while food spending is up, full-course dinners, bands and champagne fountains are out.
Nationally, about 65 percent of companies will have a holiday party this year, according to a November survey by the Society for Human Resource Management. That is down 13 points from 2012, the group found.
A study from outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas found around 19 percent of companies surveyed nationally did not plan to hold holiday parties this year, up from 10 percent in 2014.
“To call them in decline would be wrong, but they are not as extravagant as they were,” said John Challenger.
Challenger said workers at some companies prefer other perks such as extra time off to celebrating with colleagues. Telecommuting, the growth of contract and temporary workers and decentralization of offices has reduced work cohesion and made coming together less appealing than in the past.
“In a way, the parties are more important now more than ever because people are so disconnected,” Challenger said.
For employees of Hampton Inn in downtown Atlanta, the holiday party held earlier this week at The Ellis hotel was all about recognizing good work in the face of stressful conditions, said Kara Raygor, the hotel’s human resources director.
Staffers were given $25 WalMart gift cards, vouchers for one-night free hotel stays and chances at raffle prizes including a flat-panel TV, Beats headphones and other gifts.
“It’s something we always try to do, even if we have to scrimp and save to make it happen,” said Raygor, adding hotel management was able to purchase bigger gifts this year because of the better economy.
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