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Published On: May 02, 2010 12:12 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: May 02, 2010 12:12 PM
Patrouille des Glaciers and End of Season
With the airplanes taking off again following
their grounding due to a volcano in Iceland blowing ash (see previous entry),
Verbier lost the remainder of its clients and the town became empty and quiet,
except for the arrival of trucks thundering through taking earth away as they
dig a massive hole for the 3 Rocs
complex. Otherwise, the only other really visible people were the
soldiers preparing for the bi-annual Patrouille des
Glaciers .
With the airplanes taking off again following
their grounding due to a volcano in Iceland blowing ash (see previous entry),
Verbier lost the remainder of its clients and the town became empty and quiet,
except for the arrival of trucks thundering through taking earth away as they
dig a massive hole for the 3 Rocs complex. Otherwise, the only other
really visible people were the soldiers preparing for the bi-annual Patrouille des
Glaciers .
This incredibly tough race has 2 versions: the Petite Patrouille from Arolla to Verbier and the Grande Patrouille from Zermatt to Verbier. It is also run twice: once on Thursday (more amateur) and once on Saturday (elite). Normally, the Thursday race does not attract too much attention from the crowds. George was opening Harold's. But Alan thought that he would check things out anyhow as the weather was so warm and sunny. He was stunned to see such a large crowd in the streets and hurried up to Harold's to help get the place open. For the first time ever, with the weather being so warm, we had brought the terrace back up the night before. Clients helped set the terrace out and in no time there were no places left. The drinks business remained brisk all morning, though, as the sun went behind the building and our terrace fell in the shade, people thought that 14°C was too chilly and sought sunnier places. And, although it was not a burger-eating clientèle, it was a very good day for us.
So we were warned for the Big Race on Saturday. With the forecast for even hotter conditions, Alan was not going to take any chances and was in Harold's at 7am for an 8am opening, having stopped by the baker's to get some croissants. Viviane showed up at just in time for opening with some more croissants. No sooner had we opened the door than 3 people walked in, and thus started a crazy day. By 8:45 the terrace was full and remained that way for the next 6 hours. We had to struggle to keep up with coffee cups and spoons, and the sale of croissants went well too, so that we got some more just before 10 am. But at that time drinking habits changed and coffee sales dropped off radically to be replaced by soft drinks and some beer and wine, and we were only able to sell a couple more croissants. Summery conditions also inspired people to buy ice-creams and we had to refill the freezer several times. But, once again, sales of food were mediocre. On a normal day, food would represent 70-80% of business, but on this occasion, it only represented 25-30%.
By 6 pm Alan was really tired and was looking forward to Jamie coming in to replace him. He had a shift to catch up as George had replaced him the previous week so that he could go to Chamonix with some friends. At 6:15 there was no sign of him and he didn't answer his phone. So Alan called George who was furious as he had his whole evening planned out. It took more than an hour to hunt him down. He coldly answered George that he considered his season over and that George could go and get stuffed. When we think of everything that we have done for him, this attitude is completely out of order and he cannot expect any sympathy or support from us in the future. So George had to work the night shift. Gaëlle helped out much of the evening and business was pretty good till around 10 pm. So Alan allowed George to close a little earlier so that he could get the tail-end of his evening, for which he was grateful.
All in all, the day turned out to be one of the best of the month, but Alan was so tired that doing the day shift the following day was particularly difficult, so George offered to do a shift change for Monday to allow him to recover that was thankfully accepted.
We started the new schedule for the closed season on Monday, with the hope of attracting some workers. We have put together a series of menus at chf 10 to be sold between noon and 2 pm. Harold's is open between 11 am and 7 pm with 1 person working, except for Friday and Saturday when we are open in the evening too. This way we can be open 7 days a week with just 2 staff, both of which can get 2 days off. (Actually, Alan takes 3 as George will be taking more holiday time.) So far, though, workers do not seem to be particularly interested in our offering despite the A board outside publicizing it, and business the last week has been disappointing. But we guess it is just a matter of time before the word gets out and we begin to build a clientèle.
This incredibly tough race has 2 versions: the Petite Patrouille from Arolla to Verbier and the Grande Patrouille from Zermatt to Verbier. It is also run twice: once on Thursday (more amateur) and once on Saturday (elite). Normally, the Thursday race does not attract too much attention from the crowds. George was opening Harold's. But Alan thought that he would check things out anyhow as the weather was so warm and sunny. He was stunned to see such a large crowd in the streets and hurried up to Harold's to help get the place open. For the first time ever, with the weather being so warm, we had brought the terrace back up the night before. Clients helped set the terrace out and in no time there were no places left. The drinks business remained brisk all morning, though, as the sun went behind the building and our terrace fell in the shade, people thought that 14°C was too chilly and sought sunnier places. And, although it was not a burger-eating clientèle, it was a very good day for us.
So we were warned for the Big Race on Saturday. With the forecast for even hotter conditions, Alan was not going to take any chances and was in Harold's at 7am for an 8am opening, having stopped by the baker's to get some croissants. Viviane showed up at just in time for opening with some more croissants. No sooner had we opened the door than 3 people walked in, and thus started a crazy day. By 8:45 the terrace was full and remained that way for the next 6 hours. We had to struggle to keep up with coffee cups and spoons, and the sale of croissants went well too, so that we got some more just before 10 am. But at that time drinking habits changed and coffee sales dropped off radically to be replaced by soft drinks and some beer and wine, and we were only able to sell a couple more croissants. Summery conditions also inspired people to buy ice-creams and we had to refill the freezer several times. But, once again, sales of food were mediocre. On a normal day, food would represent 70-80% of business, but on this occasion, it only represented 25-30%.
By 6 pm Alan was really tired and was looking forward to Jamie coming in to replace him. He had a shift to catch up as George had replaced him the previous week so that he could go to Chamonix with some friends. At 6:15 there was no sign of him and he didn't answer his phone. So Alan called George who was furious as he had his whole evening planned out. It took more than an hour to hunt him down. He coldly answered George that he considered his season over and that George could go and get stuffed. When we think of everything that we have done for him, this attitude is completely out of order and he cannot expect any sympathy or support from us in the future. So George had to work the night shift. Gaëlle helped out much of the evening and business was pretty good till around 10 pm. So Alan allowed George to close a little earlier so that he could get the tail-end of his evening, for which he was grateful.
All in all, the day turned out to be one of the best of the month, but Alan was so tired that doing the day shift the following day was particularly difficult, so George offered to do a shift change for Monday to allow him to recover that was thankfully accepted.
We started the new schedule for the closed season on Monday, with the hope of attracting some workers. We have put together a series of menus at chf 10 to be sold between noon and 2 pm. Harold's is open between 11 am and 7 pm with 1 person working, except for Friday and Saturday when we are open in the evening too. This way we can be open 7 days a week with just 2 staff, both of which can get 2 days off. (Actually, Alan takes 3 as George will be taking more holiday time.) So far, though, workers do not seem to be particularly interested in our offering despite the A board outside publicizing it, and business the last week has been disappointing. But we guess it is just a matter of time before the word gets out and we begin to build a clientèle.
Posted: Sun - May 2, 2010 at 12:10 PM