History

Social Supper originally was the tray division of American Art Works in Coshocton, Ohio. Many of the old advertising trays for beer companies and Coca Cola were from American Art Works and were Social Supper trays. In 1956 one of the American Art Work employees, Robert McDevitt, bought the tray division and moved it to Dresden, Ohio. Over the years, he also bought a silk-screen decorating business to imprint glass and ceramics to go along with the metal trays.

Most of the production from Social Supper was for the houseware industry and went into retail stores for resale. Social Supper had a network of sales reps and permanent show rooms in the U.S. and attended houseware and giftware trade shows. Soon thereafter Social Supper was doing custom mug decorating for premium fulfillment and large restaurant chains. Most of the products imprinted were manufactured in Ohio at Scio Pottery and Libbey and Anchor Hocking Glass. Social Supper joined the Advertising Specialty market in the early 1970’s.

As steel prices increased and life styles changed, the demand for heavy gauge metal serving trays decreased and Social Supper exited the tray business in the early 1980’s.

We are Dean and Donna Cole, the current owners. We bought the business in 1986 just before the assets were to be liquidated at public auction. We have concentrated on expanding the Promotional Products Line by modernizing equipment and marketing in a more aggressive way. We are also fortunate to be in a high traffic tourist village for expansion of our retail line.