No, not our favourite Rolling Stones song, Jumping Jack Flash. Gas Gas Gas is a reference to the recent news that the government is going to ban the sales of Nitrous Oxide, or laughing gas as it is commonly known. Evidently some people like to breath it in for its psychoactive properties. Whereupon unfortunately it can cause illness, nerve damage and even death.
Now why is that on a blog for a catering company you might well ask. Easy, the substance is also sold in mini cylinders which fit into a whipped cream dispenser and turn fresh cream into squirty cream. We make massive use of it on our hot chocolate, and waffle/crepe services.
The alternative to this is the cans of squirty cream, nasty UHT treated ‘cream’ that is four times the price.
Why are blanket bans imposed that affect the massive majority of people who use the product responsibly, because some minority of cretins find an illegal use for it. How about trying the radical idea of punishing those who sell it for the purpose of sniffing, or those who actually imbibe it illegally, rather than all those who don’t.
Coca Cola
It is a similar story with Coca Cola, and other ‘high sugar’ drinks. I don’t drink the stuff very often. But on the rare occasion I fancy a tin, I find myself in the position of having to sell body parts to pay the exorbitant cost. Why so dear I hear you cry. Because there are a large number of irresponsible parents out their who pour gallons of the stuff down their kids throats, resulting in some massively obese kids, oh sorry, my blogs AI inclusive language system is telling me not to use that word, they are now to be referred to as kids with higher body weight. WTAF, instead of playing stupid word games to try and wallpaper over the cracks, why not concentrate on educating parents not to make their kids of higher bodyweight.
Of course putting the price of Coke up with this sugar tax, is going to instantly transform the said parents into health freaks that only dispense wholesome good food to their kids. Of course it bloody isn’t, the same useless parents will just find something else, equally as unhealthy to shut their little darlings up.
Alcohol
We are heading for a similar position with alcohol. Due to some people not being able to control their drinking, there is a clamour for a minimum alcohol unit price. Seriously, you think this will suddenly dry an alcoholicperson with alcohol use disorder out?
I have personal experience of people with drink problems. The cost of the product bears no resemblance to the amount they drink, They will beg, steal, borrow, sell their kids, whatever to buy what they need. The only thing a minimum price will do, is take more money off those people who drink responsibly. Instead of punishing everyone else, why not come up with a scheme that actually helps those people who need it, all that the extra revenue will do is line the pockets of the retailers.
We are in the process of building a new coffee van, this time based on a vintage Citroen Acadiane van. We wanted to give this more of a 1970’s vibe so commissioned the rebuild of a vintage Cimbali lever pull espresso machine to fit in with the ‘vibe’.
Claude Our Soon To Be Little Citroen Coffee Van
Coffee Grinders
We also needed a new coffee grinder and wanted a more utilitarian looking grinder to go with this. The modern stuff is all flashing lights and in built computers, we wanted something that looked, well, a bit more solid.
Some one recommended the German brand Mahlkönig. After a brief look online, it looked solid enough to fit the bill, and came with a fabulous recommendation. So we bought one.
Jeez, when I actually went to collect it I was stunned. This wasn’t just solid. This was the King Tiger Tank of grinders. I think it is actually heavier than the single group coffee machine we are having refurbed.
The company was founded in Hamburg in 1924. Initially it concentrated on the production of electric motors. But in the 60’s made the decision to concentrate on the production of coffee grinders.
The company rapidly established an enviable reputation for quality coffee grinders, leading up to its present day position as one of the market leaders.
Anyway stay tuned for images of our little red coffee van as it is due to be launched in the next few weeks.
Planning a wedding is one of the hardest tasks you’ll undertake. With so much to think about such as the venue, budget, food, the guest list. How to make it special, flowers, color schemes, bridesmaid’s? This can seem an impossible task however I hope these 10 tips for planning a wedding will help all the brides to be.
Start Planning Early
If you have set the day of the wedding and saved your date it is then time to begin planning. Even if your wedding is three years away in 2022 it is never too early to get on top of the planning and contact suppliers for what you want. Starting early can insure that you get everything you want and remain relatively stress free. The sooner the better. We have brides and grooms contacting us and placing bookings for one of our services such as the catering or the photography years in advance to ensure that were not already booked out that day. Our candyfloss and ice cream carts are always a lovely addition to a summer wedding. Something unique for the guests to make your wedding more memorable. Or maybe some mulled wine or luxury hot chocolate for a winter wedding? Book soon to avoid disappointment.
Setting A Budget.
Budgets are very important for weddings especially with hidden costs that can just creep upon you. You and your partner need to sit down and crunch some numbers to get a set budget that you can set aside for your wedding. Don’t forget hidden expenses such as dress alterations, beauty expenses and gifts for bridesmaids, flowers, the venue, music, invites and all the other costly things for a wedding.
Book The Best Photographer You Can
Your wedding album and other photos will be the main way that you will remember your big day for the rest of your life, so you’ll want to make sure that you find the best one in the industry. Make sure to see some of their previous work to see if it fits the standard and style that you dreamed of for your future wedding album, you could also ask friends and family who they may have used so you can get real reviews from people or ask the venue who they may work with to find a good deal.
There are many ways in the wedding to capture the special moments. Your photographer and videographer will capture the main bulk and every second of the day. As it is now the 21st century and guests will have mobile phones these will also capture the day I’m sure they’ll be many snaps and Instagram posts of your guests enjoying themselves and of course the bride and groom. Many weddings also enjoy a photo booth. We provide a number of different photo booths for weddings, from your standard photo booth in a box to the more unique ones like a taxi cab photo booth or an only fools and horses three wheel van.
Select A Theme
The theme doesn’t have to be an actual theme it could just be a colour scheme, but once decided on it will be easier to design your wedding around this for example table decorations and flowers you can match up with the colour scheme. Alternatively themes you could use for your wedding is chic, boho, festivals, vintage, wild west themed, whimsical, southern inspired, modern or traditional.
Create The Guest List
This is usually a very stressful task so maybe better to get it over and done with quickly. You will need to sit with your partner and family to create the list of who you would like to be at your special day. This will need to referenced with how many people your venue can hold. Some people start with the guest list first and then try to find a venue that will hold the same as the number of guests they have planned to invite. The list may also need to cut down, decide who can have plus ones or if you’re going to invite kids to your wedding.
Give Your Groom Some Responsibility
Your hubby to be may not have been planning this day since he could walk and talk buuuut he will definitely have opinions and preferences and some of his own ideas. Remember its not just your day and that its also about him too so let him have some say maybe he wants to choose what’s on the menu or helping to organise the budgets or even the music and venue. We have had weddings where the bride has secretly booked the Only Fools and Horses photo booth for their Del boy fanatic husbands.
Accept You Can’t Please Everyone
This is yours and your partners wedding, no matter what you do make sure that you and your husband to be are happy with the arrangements. Sometimes other members of the family get involved and sometimes it can lead to disputes trying to please everyone. This is your time to be selfish. Make sure that the plans are your own and what you and your husband to be are happy with.
Be Prepared
In the famous words of the girl scout motto be prepared! Write down a list of things that could possibly go wrong at the wedding. Make a plan to get round this. This way if anything was to happen you’d be prepared to handle this like a boss. It wouldn’t ruin your day or stress you out. For example make a box of necessities such as a needle and thread of every colour available for any misshaps with dresses or suits, bobby pins, deodorant, pens, flip flops, plasters, extra cash, pens and paper and safety pins.
Food Food Food
Choose the menu when planning a wedding that both you and your groom will enjoy, don’t worry too much about everyone else’s opinions and dietary requirements because trying to please everyone will be too hard. Make sure there is food at all times of the day for example the wait from the church to going into the meal can be a long time without food, or after the meal when the party starts it can be a hungry time later in the night maybe have snacks or a late night barbecue on offer for them. We offer a number off different fun finger foods to keep hunger at bay such as crepes, hire hot dog carts, popcorn, donuts and ice cream.
Finally Remind Yourself What’s Truly Important
Try not to do anything wedding related two weeks prior to the wedding. This will help you to clear your mind and make sure that you can enjoy every part of the big day that you have planned. When the planning is getting on top of you do one thing at a time, maybe create a checklist and try and check one thing of each week or month to make planning easier. Make sure you keep the big picture in mind, their will undoubtedly be argument’s, stressful times and difficult times throughout the whole planning of the wedding but remember that at the end of it you will be married and be spouses and live happily ever after…
December is usually our busiest month, by quite a margin. This year it got even bigger. We picked up a contract with Amazon to provide their Peak Treats service.
Basically it consisted of visiting 70 Amazon’s in 4 countries over 6 weeks, dispensing over 66000 Salted Pretzels and 15,000 litres of mulled wine (Non alcoholic sadly)
So how did it go. On the surface all serene and everyone happy.
Underneath, our usual paddling madly like ducks to make it look all serene.
Last Minute As Usual
We were notified that we had won the tender for the event. However we had to provide a sample of the food and drink for a company tasting. So obviously we didn’t want to start spending money on stock etc until after the tasting just in case it all went Pete Tong.
Happily they loved the items on the tasting and everything was finally signed off, 8 days before we were due to begin. This meant we have roughly a week to design and build 6 new mini Christmas huts for the job. To buy and take delivery of high capacity boilers and pretzel warming cabinets, new mains, obtain enough stock and and sort out freezer facilities for tens of thousands of pretzels.
Building The Stalls
Luckily the local fabricator we use was a bit quiet on the work front. So we nipped some spare steel we had up to him and talked him through fabricating the frame we needed. This took best part of a day. Fortunately the cover guy we had found was in the vicinity that afternoon so he called and measured up for the covers we needed and promised to have them ready for Sunday teatime (The job started Monday morning gulp).
A quick trip to the woodyard to have the counters made, and then the paint shop to pick up our new favourite product Raptor with which to coat the steel. Nigel promised to have all the steel work ready for mid week so things were on track. Our resident wood guy measured up for the wooden panels we needed and promised to have them by Sunday as well.
Pretzel Storage
We priced up a freezer trailer hire for the pretzels, but quickly worked out we could buy a second hand unit cheaper than hiring one, so that’s what we did. It was delivered about an hour before our first delivery of pretzels, so just in time, but hey, it was there. This proved to be a godsend. Not just for the pretzels, but a number of other jobs where we usually ended up disposing of stock, we suddenly found we had the storage capacity to keep it, so win win all around.
Stock
Pretzels
The pretzels came from a company we have used in the past who import them directly from Germany. The mulled wine was sourced initially from a localish company, which was handy, the problem was they only did them in bottles. So for the initial batch I ordered a thousand bottles. We went in one of our vans to collect the order. 2 pallets worth. The fork lift driver rubbed his beard, “Whats the payload of this van”.
“About a 1.2 tonne I think”, I replied.
“Ahh well 2 pallets is 1.2 tonne mate, and you too will take it a little over”
Oh FFS. “It’ll be OK, stick them in”
Only it wasn’t, once they were in the van towbar was touching the floor. Turns out that particular van was only a 1 tonne payload. We had to take one out and make another sodding trip. After that we sourced an alternative that came in 10 litre drums and was delivered direct to our yard.
Equipment
The equipment we sourced started out pretty well. And worked pretty well for about a fortnight. Then the warming cabinets started blowing the electric at random times. Turns out they have a design fault. The U shaped heating element in the bottom expands as it heats up. As it expands it rubs against the ide of the cabinet. Luckily it is insulated. Unluckily continued rubbing removes the insulation and then blows the electric. Quick work bending the ends of the element sorted that out.
Vans
I had all 3 of our vans serviced before we started thinking this would ensure everything was OK. Only true to form Murphy bit us twice.
On the very first day the van i was driving suddenly flashed up a warning that it was no longer charging the battery half way to the site at Rugeley. Now having owned Citroen Dispatches for a number of years I know that a failed alternator or snapped fan belt doesn’t damage the engine. I also knew from past experience that as the battery voltage dropped the van computer would start to shut systems down.
Sure enough ten mile from the destination, just as I hit twisty windy country roads, the electrically assisted power steering shut down. Followed by brake assistance, lights, indicators etc.
I actually got to the venue, pulled into the usual parking bay and applied the handbrake just as the engine shut down, phew.
Now the important thing was we had got there. Getting home should have been a problem, but one of our staff, Fred, had been late getting to work. So in temper he was told he was going to have to drive his own van and meet me at the job. So we had a spare van to tow me back.
The same sodding thing happened a week later with a totally different van. Only this time it was at Dunfermline in Scotland. This resulted in us having to call at Halfords and buy 2 new batteries so that we could keep changing them on the way home to keep the engine running.
FRED
Frank Spencer
Mentioning Fred, one of our regular staff members, we have officially changed his name to Frank Spencer (If you are too young to remember Frank, check him out here) . He left a trail of destruction throughout the duration of the contract. including;
Putting the plastic chocolate sauce bottles in the electric pretzel oven to warm them up. Cue an aroma of melted chocolate and plastic!
Faffing about with the gel packs in one of our ethanol gel pretzel warmers, managing to set his hand on fire, shaking it to get the burning gel off, and successfully setting fire to one of the brand new covers on our Christmas huts.
Deciding to move the fully loaded pretzel ovens on a job and forgetting to plug them back into the electric. Resulting in a panic to get everything warmed up in time of opening.
Security
The only other real hiccup we had, was the fact that we would do an afternoon shift at Amazon, then go back for the evening shift. But for some reason, the night security never seemed to have been notified that we had been booked to do the job. Cue most evening trying to convince security to actually let us on site.
