Picnic basket office building in Ohio
When is a picnic basket too big for a standard picnic table? When it's the size of an office building.
On a 25-acre piece of land in Newark, Ohio, there's one particular picnic basket that actually functions as an office building. Or rather, it used to.
The 180,000 square foot picnic basket-shaped building was once home to The Longaberger Co., a manufacturer of you guessed it, picnic baskets. It is literally the world largest basket.
At one time, business was booming and every year the company sold nearly a billion dollars of these traditional baskets made with maple wood and other related products.
The company's founder, Dave Longaberger, was so proud of his baskets that he wanted an office built to to resemble his product.
After going back and forth numerous times with his architects, in 1997 he got his wish. It cost $32 million to build but the result was one gigantic picnic basket structure complete with windows in between the slats. The building became home to as many as 500 employees. Just like the inside of an empty picnic basket, the interior space featured a 30,000 square foot open atrium that attracted natural light from between the two 75-ton handles.
But alas, the company was not able to sustain its volume of picnic basket sales. Longaberger died in 1999 and two years ago sales dropped to $100 million a year, a tenfold loss.
The doors were recently closed and workers relocated to the manufacturing plant in Frazeysburg.
Now what? Some commercial real estate experts say the building is too odd and bulky to attract buyers. Others say it will take quite a large amount of money to renovate the building and make it more standard.
Why change it at all? Longaberger's picnic basket building represents the best in Americana - building a business and trying something different. The structure should be treasured just like any historic building.
Sitting on a picnic table with a basket enjoying a meal in a park is as American as it gets. Let's do what we can to preserve this iconic image and this unique landmark.
Rolls Royce features picnic basket inside car
Just to show you the power behind the concept of picnicking, the premium auto manufacturer, Rolls Royce, has a fold-down picnic table installed in some of its cars.
The "bespoke picnic hamper" as it is called is installed in the Phantom Zenith collection. The baskets are actually numbered, to make them more valuable, like prints of a photograph or painting. Made of fine leather, these are not your ordinary picnic baskets. As you can imagine they are filled with crystal wine glasses, fine silverware neatly held in place and even drawers.
If you think you might want to purchase one these unique Phantom's for the premium picnic hamper experience, unfortunately you are out of luck. Only 50 of these collectible cars were made and they have already been snapped up.
Fortunately for the average citizen, you could always put a picnic basket in a Prius or Town and Country van and enjoy the same type of outdoor dining experience on a picnic table that you would enjoy if you drove one of this gazillion-dollar cars.
Picnicking gets fancy
It seems like more and more people like the idea of eating outdoors. Go to any park on a weekend and just about every single picnic table will be filled with people and barbecue.
Many companies are now coming up with unique products to enhance that alfresco dining experience.
For one, college football season is here and you can now find many picnic baskets with your favorite team logo, such as this Florida State University picnic basket. A team picnic basket shows you really care.
One company, Picnic Time, has the ultimate in picnicking accessories. They offer portable beer growlers and wine totes. You can get picnic totes with the logo of your favorite National Football League or Major League Baseball team.
Some of their totes are like portable kitchens - the Malibu is a big insulated cooler complete with plates, napkins, glasses, cutlery, cutting board, cheese knife and yes, even a corkscrew. It holds two bottles of wine in one pocket and the capacity for 12 beverage cans or other items in another cooler pocket.
As you can see, hanging out at a picnic table with a picnic basket is a big deal today. Why not, when it comes to providing the ultimate in dining ambience, you can't beat Mother Nature.