Technological advances are often crucial for event planners to have a marketing edge. Here are new and recently renovated Philadelphia venues that have stayed on top of upgrades and improved offerings for tech-savvy guests. The hotels, conference centers, restaurants, private rooms, and other spaces can accommodate groups large or small for private and corporate events, conferences, meetings, weddings, business dinners, teambuilding activities, cocktail parties, and more.
Paladar Latin Kitchen & Rum Bar opened in King of Prussia Town Center in September. The atmosphere is inspired by Cuban culture and the menu is influenced by Central America, South America, Cuba, and the Latin Caribbean. The bar has power outlets and USB ports at every seat. The restaurant measures 6,081 square feet, including a 560-square-foot private dining room that offers flat-screen, HDMI projection, and space for as many as 60 guests. The dining room seats as many as 180 guests, while the bar seats 30, the main patio seats 86, and the bar patio seats 46. Buyouts are available.
In September, the Philadelphia Museum of Art unveiled significant improvements to its South Asian Galleries. This part of the renowned museum now includes state-of-the-art lighting as well as three interactive digital kiosks. These “living labels” offer insight into each of the items on display as well as a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the museum’s curatorial process. In addition, each object has been newly photographed and cataloged online; visitors can browse and sort the items by theme, subject, date, medium, and other criteria. The 10 galleries measure more than 7,000 square feet, and the adjacent area can accommodate 125 guests reception-style.
Open since October, the bi-level WeWork Market Street is in the Center City neighbohood. The co-working and event space has lounge-style furnishings as well as cafeteria-style seating. The location spans 36,000 square feet and can accommodate 50 seated guests or as many as 80 reception-style. Display monitors and audiovisual equipment allow meeting attendees to connect their computers and devices to any computer in the space. WeWork serves La Colombe coffee and offers local beer on tap from Doc Street Brewery.
Building on the success of its South Philadelphia location, Garage North opened a 2,500-square-foot spot in the Fishtown neighborhood in August. The space is equipped for cocktail-style buyouts for up to 175 guests. The vibe is casual, with a large, open space, vintage signs, a 97-foot bar, nine televisions, skeeball, pool tables, and floor-to-ceiling garage doors that open to the street. Instead of an in-house chef, Garage North rotates between guest and visiting chefs each day; customers can view the bar’s #indakitchen online schedule to see who’s cooking and what’s on the menu each day. Guests can also choose from more than 400 different varieties of canned beer.
In September, Revolutions Bowl opened a 52,000-square-foot multifaceted entertainment venue in a former metal warehouse in the Fishtown neighborhood. Revolution at Penn Treaty's on-site restaurant, Burger & Beer Joint, serves New American cuisine, and the space also includes a live music area, a bar, and a bowling alley. Bowlers can use selfies on the scoreboard and order food via smartphones, and bumpers automatically rise and fall depending on who’s on deck. Revolutions is available for partial or full buyouts and can host as many a 850 guests for receptions. The venue can accommodate DJ services, live music capabilities, and projection screens.
Philadelphia’s very first axe-throwing facility opened in September. The 8,000-square-foot venue hosts supervised and structured axe-throwing tournaments. Urban Axes welcomes groups as small as eight and has standing room for as many as 80. Meeting planners can go online to see availability and reserve the space in real time. Groups are welcome to bring games such as cornhole and horseshoes to enjoy in between turns at the axe-throwing targets. Planners can supply their own food, or Urban Axes can coordinate third-party catering.
Upscale Italian restaurant chain Scarpetta expanded into Philadelphia in September, setting up shop in the Rittenhouse Hotel. The 6,000-square-foot restaurant can seat as many as 150 guests and includes a private space with seating for 14. LDV Hospitality, which owns Scarpetta and a number of other chic eateries, maintains an internal database of frequent patrons, complete with information including food preferences and favorite drinks. Restaurant staff can easily access these details to enhance the guest experience.
Open since October, Slice Fishtown is decorated with reclaimed wood, exposed brick, industrial lamps, and other accents. The venue offers a casual, industrial vibe that’s at once rustic and modern. The 450-square-foot Trenton-style pizza shop can seat 20 guests inside and 10 outside, or accommodate as many as 40 guests cocktail-style. The restaurant uses online services such as GrubHub and Eat24 to handle delivery and pickup orders. Additionally, Slice uses a state-of-the-art point-of-sale system to track repeat customer requests, preferences, and orders.
In easy reach of the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University, Herban Quality Eats serves healthy gourmet food in University City. The hip and trendy spot includes 30-foot ceilings, exposed ducts, a concrete floor, and neon signage. While the entire space measures 2,000 square feet, 800 square feet can be available for planners to use for events that seat as many as 40 guests. The restaurant, open since January, began using the Caviar app for online orders in July. The app allows customers to view photos of all of the available dishes before ordering. Herban Quality Eats also maintains a health-oriented blog called Macktab on the restaurant’s website.
In July, Marc Vetri’s Italian gastropub Alla Spina reinvented itself with a new menu, including 20 beers on tap and 50 bottled brews. The venue also underwent a renovation that replaced the lounge area couches and chairs with gaming tables, which creates an open layout that lends itself to socializing. Alla Spina offers AppleTV, enabling groups to stream online content, show presentations and slide shows, and mirror their computers to the restaurant’s TV screens. The 2,500-square-foot space can fit as many as 150 guests inside for receptions, and the patio can be tented to accommodate as many as 75 additional guests. Upstairs, a private dining area called the Cage can seat 25.
