Five-Star offers easy event planning

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Ted Amberg, owner of Amberg Entertainment, and Jim Jakubec, owner of Star-Walk Entertainment, now offer their companies' services under the cooperative umbrella of Five-Star Entertainment. |ret||ret||tab|

Amberg said his Springfield-based company has been in operation since 1991, and it specializes in entertainers, such as magicians, clowns and comedians, as well as karaoke machines, pony rides and casino equipment.|ret||ret||tab|

Jakubec's Arkansas-based company, Star-Walk Entertainment, also in business since 1991, offers several types of inflatable bounce rides, M-4 flight simulators and different trailer rides.|ret||ret||tab|

Together, the two men offer clients the convenience of making one phone call when planning corporate events, such as company picnics or holiday parties.|ret||ret||tab|

"We have all the equipment, rides, games, inflatables ... we have pony rides, the entertainers, the DJs we're now a complete planning group. We can put together anything from a birthday party to a company picnic with (thousands) of people," Amberg said.|ret||ret||tab|

Five-Star Entertainment also has signed an agreement to offer catering from Corky's Ribs & BBQ, Jakubec said.|ret||ret||tab|

"We plan and orchestrate the entire event ... providing everything, including food, concessions, entertainers, decorations, if there's advertising that needs to be done, like fliers ... we provide all of that," Jakubec added.|ret||ret||tab|

The two companies each exist separately, but work together as Five-Star Entertainment. Amberg said the cooperative began about 18 months ago, and with the addition of Corky's services, clients are able to call Five-Star for the planning of their events. Clients are able to write a single check to Five-Star, and Five-Star pays for catering, equipment rental and entertainers.|ret||ret||tab|

"We all specialize in a certain aspect of the events, and because of that, because we all have our areas of expertise, we're not trying to put on the whole thing ourselves," Jakubec said.|ret||ret||tab|

"Everybody knows what they're doing and is doing their own thing, but we get a common face to the customer, so when they talk to us, they will talk to a (single) contact person," he added.|ret||ret||tab|

Amberg Entertainment, Star-Walk Entertainment and Corky's are presently the only three companies in the cooperative. Amberg said if the three companies weren't able to work on a project because of logistics, they might ask other vendors to help out. He said having the three companies work together in the cooperative generates more leads than when they worked separately.|ret||ret||tab|

Becky Overend, catering director for Corky's, said working with Five-Star has increased the community's awareness of Corky's catering and what it has to offer.|ret||ret||tab|

"We're basically opening a lot of doors for one another, which has proved very beneficial for (the three of) us," Overend said.|ret||ret||tab|

Overend added that Corky's catering offers several other types of food besides barbecue, which makes it a good fit for the different events Five-Star coordinates.|ret||ret||tab|

"We can customize menus for any sort of party ... luaus and fish fries ... we do picnics, burgers and (hot) dogs, as well as barbecue," she said.|ret||ret||tab|

Amberg said one of the main priorities for the Five-Star cooperative is to educate larger Springfield-area companies about the availability of a local option for putting on company-wide events.|ret||ret||tab|

"Up until now, a lot of them have been using outside sources from as far away as Atlanta to put on their company picnics and events," Amberg said.|ret||ret||tab|

"Now that we've come together, we have the talent, the sources and the means to put together these large events, not only cheaper, but we feel, as good as, if not better (than out-of-town companies)."|ret||ret||tab|

Star-Walk Entertainment has handled several events in the area, including church events for James River Assembly, and company picnics for First USA and Loren Cook Company, Amberg said.|ret||ret||tab|

Trampas Harman, human resources coordinator for First USA, said First USA tries to work with local companies whenever possible. He said there weren't many options in terms of event planning.|ret||ret||tab|

Harman said about 750 people attended First USA's Sept. 30 company picnic, and Five-Star provided all of the entertainment and helped with cleanup.|ret||ret||tab|

"It actually turned out great. The weather was perfect and their service was just spectacular," Harman said.|ret||ret||tab|

"We opted to do our own catering, as far as the food, because we have an in-house cafeteria," he said.|ret||ret||tab|

Jackie Moore, director of human resources for Loren Cook Company, said Five-Star handled Loren Cook's first-ever company picnic June 3. Moore said Five-Star handled the entertainment and the food for the event, and Loren Cook officials were pleased with the event overall. Moore said about 1,500 people attended the event, and the food, in terms of quantity, was the one thing that didn't go as smoothly as expected.|ret||ret||tab|

"It was good quality, but they were not prepared for how many we had, or ... they weren't prepared for how much each person would eat, the quantity of food that people were taking," Moore said.|ret||ret||tab|

Jakubec said part of the problem with that was that Loren Cook officials had decided they wanted everyone to eat in a specific time period, in order to accommodate other activities. He said Five-Star had voiced some concerns about the timetable for the food.|ret||ret||tab|

"It's very difficult to serve that many people in that amount of time," Jakubec said.|ret||ret||tab|

"What we had is extremely long lines, and because of the extremely long lines, everybody decided that they weren't going to be able to go in for seconds, so they just kind of piled up on their food," he added. Jakubec said a lot of the food was wasted because of that.|ret||ret||tab|

He said Five-Star's goal is still to allow clients to customize their own events as much as possible, but he said they have learned from their experiences.|ret||ret||tab|

"What we've learned from that is instead of taking the customer's wishes and executing them exactly that way, we're more forceful now in telling them this is not going to work,'" he said.|ret||ret||tab|

"If we find a problem, we try to take care of it as best as we can and not let it happen ... in the future ... and try to resolve any problems with the customer immediately," Jakubec added.|ret||ret||tab|

Moore said Loren Cook Company takes some of the responsibility for the food difficulties, and she said the food perhaps should have been organized differently, with the use of meal tickets or another method to keep track of the amount of food people ate.|ret||ret||tab|

She said the entertainment aspect of the event went very well, though.|ret||ret||tab|

"That was great. Their people they brought, like the clowns, the magician, and the other entertainment was really good, pretty top-class, I think," Moore said.She said Loren Cook hasn't decided whether to have another company picnic, but if there is another one, it's likely she'll call Five-Star again.|ret||ret||tab|

Right now, Five-Star is gearing up for the holiday season. For the first time, the company is offering its services for corporate Christmas parties, offering several different packages. Amberg said the cooperative already has rented space at University Plaza Trade Center for holiday parties, and Corky's will provide the food, which, according to Overend, includes smoked ham and turkey and all the trimmings.|ret||ret||tab|

Jakubec said one-stop planning for Christmas events is somewhat unique.|ret||ret||tab|

"People contract their own Christmas parties, and they'll get the caterer, they'll get the karaoke, or whatever they want this is going to be a full-blown Christmas party, where all they have to do is come and have fun," he said.|ret||ret||tab|

Amberg said Five-Star's fees for planning and carrying out special events vary depending on what the clients want.[[In-content Ad]]