Gaby Book 18 - Summery

 
“I've booked you two on a course next week,” Therese casually dropped into the conversation.
“Course?” Con queried.
“Yes a course,” her mother confirmed as we accelerated onto the autobahn.
“What sort of course?” I enquired from the back seat.
“Hygiene and food preparation.”
“We already did that for the bakery,” Con pointed out.
“Not this one you didn’t, this is much deeper, we don’t want you poisoning people and the insurance insist.”
“When is it?” I asked, I might not have a full diary but nevertheless I like to have some idea what I'm doing.
“Wednesday in Neuweid.”
“Neuweid?”
“You don’t have to repeat everything I say Connie, yes Neuweid, it’s where the regional health are based.”
“We’re supposed to be working on Wednesday, at the Weinkeller?” I mentioned.
“I know, Gab, you’ll be back in plenty of time, it starts at nine and finishes mid afternoon.”
“Nine?”
“Connie,” Frau T admonished, “don’t worry, your dad will take you and bring you back, he’s got business in Koblenz so it will kill two birds.

Neuweid isn’t somewhere we go very much, it’s a fair size town and not that far but it’s on the other side of the river, the Rhein that is. We do occasionally get there but it’s a bit far for our usual training rides and anyway Koblenz is better for shopping and easier to get to if we aren’t going to Bonn or Kӧln.

“So what do we do on this course then?” I asked.
“Cleaning, cooking, some basic first aid.”
“Great,” Con sighed.
“Which reminds me,” Therese went on, “can you add a Ersthilfekasten to the list.”

The shopfitters, Kletterburg’s, well their catering department’s place was in an older building in the south of Koblenz, I’m not quite sure what I'd expected, maybe a big store like Saturn® perhaps but this wasn’t it. Therese parked in the small car park and we disembarked, I straightened my skirt as we waited for Mrs T to lock up.

“So why the skirt and stuff?” Con asked, “bit over the top.”
“She looks very professional.”
“For an office, we’re only getting stuff for a würst stand.”
“Doesn’t mean you should look like a scruff.”

I couldn’t get a word in edgewise as the two Thesing’s went back and forth.

“Wasn’t my idea,” I admitted, “Dad said I should dress smart.”
“And very wise he is too,” Therese opined, indeed she’d foregone her usual jeans for smart trousers and a nice blouse.

We crossed to the building, Therese ushering Con and I ahead and into the reception area.

“Good morning.” the receptionist greeted, “How can we help?”
“Morning, we need to look at some catering equipment,” Frau T supplied.
“Sure, if you want to sit I'll get someone down to help.”

The seating was the sort of sofas and chairs you see outside the changing rooms in fancier stores, better than plastic seats but you wouldn’t have it in your lounge. Each of us took a perch and settled to wait.

“This is all a bit posh,” I mentioned.
“Overboard,” Con stated.
“You wouldn’t want to buy from them if it was a couple of broken chairs would you?” Therese offered.
“Guess not,” Con allowed.

Not more than a couple of minutes of sitting passed before an office smart bloke appeared from around a corner.

“Morning ladies, Marius Haaner, how can we help?“
All of us stood to shake the proffered hand.
“Therese Thesing, my daughter Connie and her friend Gaby, we need some catering equipment.”
“Please, sit,” Marius prompted taking a seat himself, “so what do you need?”
“Pretty much everything,” Con stated.
“Okay,” Marius wasn’t fazed by her flippant statement, in fact his eyes lit up some, “let’s start at the beginning then, what are we catering for?”

Therese explained the reason for our visit, Marius took a few notes and raised his brows at Con’s list.

“So you really are starting from scratch, this may take some time,” he noted stroking his neatly trimmed beard, “shall we get started?”

Hmm, wonder what Max would look like with a beard?

“Ladies,” he invited clipping everything onto, yeah obvious right, a clipboard before standing.

To be honest, deciding on refrigeration equipment isn’t high on my list of exciting pastimes but that's where we started. Who’d have thought there were so many types, styles and sizes, we weren’t even trying to match kitchen décor! By comparison the actual cooking was straightforward, a double basket fryer, griddle and after some discussion a hotplate that will be custom made to fit our limited space.

“Coffee?” Marius offered as we climbed the stairs up to the first floor and the small appliance showrooms.
“I'm good,” Con offered before seeing the look on my face, “but I know Gabs will.”
“That would be good Marius, I can do with a break,” Therese added.

We were directed to a room from which the smell of fresh ground coffee wafted heavy on the air. The space had some comfortable seating but the thing, well things, that dominated were the myriad beverage delivery systems filling the counter space that ran around three walls.

“Wow!” I allowed.
“Please, sit, what would you like?”

It wasn’t long before I was sipping a cappuccino and admiring the various appliances, simple percolators, huge Gaggia’s, automated machines, they were all there. Okay I can be a bit of a coffee snob, I'll put up with filter coffee but you can’t beat what you get out of a nice shiny Gaggia or similar. I lovingly admired a huge four cup Gaggia, what a bit of kit.

“Nice eh?” Marius offered joining me.
“Very,” I agreed.
“But not in the budget,” Therese noted, “I was thinking one of the automat machines?”
“Maybe more suitable for your kiosk,” our salesman agreed, if he was disappointed he didn’t show it, indeed I could see Mrs T’s point when I looked at the almost four thousand euro price tag on the glittery behemoth.

We moved to a line of machines, many of the popular brands were represented, WMF, Bosch, Tschibo, Philips and to be honest they all looked pretty similar. I looked longingly back at the Gaggia but I guess at the end of the day we aren’t setting up a coffee bar, our clientele would no doubt put up with instant.

“Gab?” Therese prompted.
“Sorry?”
“What do you think we should offer?” Con asked.
Good question, “I suppose we should keep it simple, cappuccino, latte, milk, espresso, probably tea?”
“Perhaps the WMF 5000,” Marius suggested, indicating a smart looking black cabinet, “top fill, self cleaning, stand alone or plumbed versions.”
“Price?”
“Nineteen hundred outright or fully serviced on a two year lease is five hundred down, forty a month.”
“Any movement on that?” Frau T enquired.
“Not directly but I think we can sort something on start-up supplies?”
“What about the others?” I put in, I quite like the look of the Tschibo unit.
“Okay,” Marius allowed before patiently taking us through the other options.

“WMF?” Therese queried.
I nodded, “It has got the milk steamer.”
“Thank heaven for that,” Con sighed, “how can you get so worked up over a coffee machine?”
“It’s important,” I told her, “and it needs to be idiot proof for you.”
“Huh!”
“Girls!” Therese admonished, “WMF it is then Marius, on the lease.”

He nodded and added that to his order pad.

A quick stop at the Ladies preceded moving to another, larger showroom full of everything from cake moulds to paper cups, Bain Marie’s to teaspoons. I'm not weird, honest, but I was enthralled at the range of stuff, colours, qualities – I mean who’d have thought you can get three qualities of paper napkins, let alone all the colours and print options? Not that we were looking for napkins but you get the idea.

“Coffee cups,” Con read from the list.
“And stirrers,” I added.
“Paper I guess, we don’t want plastic, at least paper’s recyclable,” my BF told us.
“You thought of using proper cups?” Marius queried.
“Like ceramic?” Mrs T offered.
“Or glass,” he suggested, “most of your customers will drink at the kiosk yes?”
“Probably,” I agreed, “might get a few taking coffee for the train.”
“So use paper for those but it’s more economic to use proper crockery.”
“I see where you’re coming from Marius but we’d need a washer if we use ceramic, we’re a bit pushed for space and it’ll further stretch the budget.”
“Look at it this way, plastic or paper you’ll be buying all the time, proper cups you buy once, bit more to set up but they’ll pay for themselves in no time, even pay for a dishwasher.”

I got it now, I think the others did too. Oh sure Marius was trying to optimise his sale but let’s face it we most likely wouldn’t be coming to him for paper goods in the future. Thinking about it, disposable stuff isn’t very eco friendly whatever it’s made of, with proper stuff you re-use it pretty much indefinitely, we have proper plates and stuff at the bakery after all.

“We could put a dishwasher in the storeroom?” I put forward.
By her expression Therese was clearly doing some mental arithmetic, “Just supposing we went with that, what are we looking at, round numbers?”
“Fifty plain cups, mixed sizes with saucers – one fifty, washer, you shouldn’t need anything too big, Bosch eco model four hundred.”

So to put it simply, a euro per coffee and the cups are paid for after being used three times each, eight more times and the washers covered too. Bit simplistic I know but paper cups have to be bought and disposed of, that’s a continuous ongoing cost.

“We should do it,” Con stated.

And so we then spent time deciding on crockery and cutlery, what’s true for the cups is equally valid for plates and eating implements. Well Pommes and Currywürst are always served on a paper tray so we’ll stick with that for takeaway but if they are sitting in the garden we’ll plate it up. It came to nearly two fifty in the end what with the matching blue stripe on all the crockery and the extra items like a couple of dozen knives, forks, spoons etc.

Eventually, after over three hours, most items on our list were covered and not only was it time for reckoning up but my stomach was rumbling too.

“Okay Ladies, I'll get this written up, I'll send the rechnung in the post with the lease forms, you should have it on Monday.”
“What are we looking at for delivery?” Therese asked.
“From cleared payment I'd say two weeks, the hot plate might be a little longer but only by a day or two.”
“Okay, well thank you, Marius, we’ve taken up a lot of your time.”
“No, thank you, Frau Thesing for coming to Kletterburg’s and nice to meet you too girls, I wish you every success with the kiosk.”
“Thank you, Herr Haaner, you’ll have to stop for coffee if you’re passing,” I suggested.
“I'll take you up on that, Gaby, have a safe journey home.”

Therese gave a deep sigh once we’d got back in the car, “Well I don’t know about you two but I'm starving.”
“Gab’s stomach has been growling for ages,” Con observed.
“Thanks for pointing that out, Con,” my gastric system emitted a loud rumble right on cue.
“Buckle up then, we’ll stop at the Eck .“

We didn’t waste any time following the instruction and we were on our way, only the crossing of the town between us and lunch.

“So how much does it come to?” Con asked her mother as we queued at yet another set of traffic lights.
“More than I'd hoped,” Frau Thesing admitted, “but less than we’d budgeted.”
“So all that stuff over the dishwasher?”
“Smoke and mirrors, never let the salesmen know how much you are prepared to pay, they’ll do their best to take it all.”

Note to self, never try to sell Therese Thesing anything more than a coffee!

Maddy Bell © 19.12.16