San Diego’s Original Picnic Planning Entertainment Company Celebrates Its 30th Year of Serving Up Food, Fun and Entertainment
Picnic People, an outdoor events company specializing in picnics, tailgate parties and corporate team building activities, is celebrating its 30th year of delivering fun and exciting events across San Diego County. In the last 30 years, Picnic People has thrown more than 20,000 unforgettable picnics for a variety of clients that include families, corporations, schools and local charities.
The San Diego-based company, chosen as a top family-owned business in 2014 by the San Diego Business Journal, began as an idea hatched by founder Lisa Richards in 1984. Richards, a University of San Diego student at the time, found inspiration for the company while riding her bike through the picnic areas of Mission Beach one sunny afternoon. Richards quickly began to develop the concept and within a year established the company as a local service, providing picnic food, drinks and activities all in one easy party package.
“I sometimes have to pinch myself when I think about where we started as a company and where we are today. I owe it all to our loyal clients, many of which have made our picnics a yearly corporate tradition.” said Richards. “Southern Contracting, my oldest client, has picnicked with us since we launched in 1985, and I’m proud to call Qualcomm our client for the last 14 years.”
Richards also attributes the company’s success to her incredible staff. The company has a strong commitment to providing employment opportunities to students and young adults. Brought on as “Recreation Specialists,” Picnic People hires more than 700 part-time employees to staff their events each year. The company’s president, Frank Christian, began his career with picnic people in 1992 as a part-time hire while attending San Diego State University.
In addition to creating jobs, Picnic People is a strong supporter of a variety of San Diego charitable organizations. Richards estimates that Picnic People annually contributes more than $500,000 in food, equipment and services across the county. After events, Richards and her team also routinely visit the San Diego Rescue Mission to donate usable picnic foods and utensils on behalf on their clients.
To celebrate their 30th anniversary, Picnic People is throwing their own picnic bash at their warehouse in Miramar on May 21, 2014. The morning portion of the event will be a party for Picnic People’s clients, thanking them for their 30 years of business. The evening portion of the event, beginning at 5:30 p.m., will host a San Diego Chamber of Commerce Mixer to celebrate local businesses and organizations. The event will feature games, a D.J. and samplings of Picnic People’s new menu items. For more information and tickets to the event, visit sdchamber.org or picnicpeoplesandiego.com.
FUN STATS
- In the last 30 years, Picnic People has served over 1.5 million hot dogs, 1 million plates of barbecued food, 750,000 servings of popcorn and 820,000 pounds of chicken and trip tip steak.
- Picnic People employs more than one thousand entertainers to staff their events, including clowns, face painters, magicians and musicians.
- The largest event Picnic People has thrown was for 15,000 US Naval soldiers for the US Navy Single Sailor Group Day in 1996.
- For an average picnic, Picnic People will load more than 10,000 items on their event truck.
ABOUT PICNIC PEOPLE
Picnic People, the longest-running picnic tradition in San Diego, has been fortunate to be able to spread joy to hundreds of thousands of San Diegans for over 30 years. As a one-stop-shop for outdoor events, our clients’ picnic wishes are our picnic goals. We are able to plan and execute picnics for 25 – 25,000 people, so no matter how many employees, friends and family members are invited, there’s plenty of activities, food and fun for everyone.
Picnic People prides itself on having something fun for everyone and our adventurous, outside-the-box planners are there to ensure a great event. The joy and amusement that comes from a well planned, brilliantly catered and exceptionally executed picnic is irreplaceable. Visit www.picnicpeoplesandiego.com to start planning your picnic today!
