Morningbru Coffee

December O.C - Its Going To Be Mad

2011-12-08T10:16:00.001+02:00

The O.C is going to be huge this month with 1000 lanners that have already booked. They are expecting a full house this weekend and we will be there to help 'em all stay awake.

We are excited and a little nervous, working the O.C is different from other events in the sense that you don't get much sleep. You are indoors for the weekend and with a 1000 - 1400 people you spin your arse off. We both decided to hire some extra hands for this one so we will be able to cope with the masses. Pressure is on to get the job done and Morningbru will provide a great service this weekend.

If any of you are going to the Lan this weekend come support us at the stall. We have everything you need for a weekend of gaming. You know, excessive SUGAR AND CAFFEINE !

New to the menu

Espresso
Cappuccino
Chococcino
Pancakes (assorted flavors)
Lammingtons

I am going to do a video on this one to let you guys see how busy it can get .........................mmmmm, I'm thinking time lapse again :) I do love myself a good time lapse.

After the O.C we are doing Noisy Radicals, but more on that next week. have a great weekend !

Totally Chilled Week And It's Friday !

2011-11-04T11:06:00.003+02:00

So its week 7 on the new spot and its been really chilled because we have no major events coming up. I must say it has been refreshing. Not much stress or planning and prepping involved :) This weekend will also be one of pure nothingness while we relax and wait patiently for week 8. Things on the new spot are still going well and we are managing to maintain our daily averages.

We are still waiting to hear back from Groovy Troopers, but I doubt we are going to as the party is next weekend. We were both looking forward to stalling at that one but we might just be Troopers and pull in for a party anyway.

In other news we hooked a little freezer for an idea I have for a new tasty treat to serve up on hot day's. It's a small display freezer for a new product we want to try, it's delicious, nutritious and we haven't seen anyone else doing them soooo, we want to give it a shot.

New Signs :)

November and December O.C's are coming up and we are uber keen to make it happen like only Morningbru can --- November O.C has a Vampires and Zombies theme so that should be very interesting. We will have pics and video of it all so stay tuned. Yes Yes YES!!!!! we scored a brand new D.V handy cam :) :) :) so we will be filming in style, no more shaky, blury Cellphone camera work.......

Ok so that will conclude this weeks post...... looking forward to the weekend and hoping you all have a groovy one aswell.

Morningbru.

Successful Weekend Behind Us

2011-10-27T11:56:00.000+02:00

So as you all know Morningbru booked up two events this past weekend, the kite festival and our regular O.C lan party. Wow what an intense weekend , If I could sum it up in one word it would have to be CRAZY.

The crazy all started on Friday after work, we had to pack michelles car for the O.C and I had to get through to Muizenberg. Now Michelle drives a cute little yellow Golf and the packing space was pretty limited. Fortunately I was and still am a professional Tetris player so the minimal packing space wasn't a big problem. I mean I'm sure we could have still fit a medium to large dog in there somewhere :)

Ok, so Michelle was packed and ready, she left and I made a mission to drop off the trailer at the spot in Muizenberg. Got there at around 5 pm did my setup and got all the paperwork I needed to do done, I was feeling positive about the weekend and it was too late to turn back now, we were at the top of the rollercoaster and all we could do now was go with it.

Saturday morning 5 am I got up, ready for this, ready to go flip pancakes. I met Chantelle at 8 am, most of the setup was done and all we needed to do now was mix the batter. Well when I say we, I mean Chantelle..... hahaha. So as the day moved on we had made a few sales but weren't as busy as I'd hoped. I phoned Michelle every 3 hours or so to see how things were going. The few times she could answer her phone I could tell she was really busy. Well, I thought, at least one of us is making it happen.

Saturday at the kite festival was alright and I wont complain, I managed to pay off the vendor fee and Chantelle's wage, leaving me with a little cash left for some odds and ends we needed for the following day.

Michelle on the other hand was cooking at the O.C I decided to stop in to say hi before I went home for the night. I got to the O.C and went straight to the stall only to find it still pumping. Michelle was overs, I forced her to go sleep and I took over for a while. I left around 10 pm and asked Isandre not to wake Michelle for at least another hour..........

.............So thankfully Nic turned up on Saturday night to relieve me of my duties because I was on the edge of burnout!

Myself and Isandre arrived at the Velodrome on Friday afternoon for the big set up. OC, for those that don’t know it, stands for Organised Chaos and Chaos it was!!! As soon as we set up we put the first pot of coffee on to brew. After about a minute the coffee machine just STOPPED WORKING. I mean, for no apparent reason, it just DIED!! To say I started to panic just a little would be an understatement. Can you imagine...a coffee shop unable to serve coffee! Thankfully Isandre was there to calm my nerves and help formulate a plan until we could get it seen to. She arranged for a few coffee plungers that we could use as a last resort. Fortunately my knight in shining armour (Nic) arrived to save the day and got everything working again J

As a few of you might know, this OC consisted of many firsts for me: It was the first time working without Nic beside me, it was the first time working at the OC without the trailer and it was the first time selling pancakes at the OC. The trailer was missed and the lack thereof commented on by many, a question I heard often was “where are we going to write now??” I also missed the security of four walls and felt very exposed with everyone watching my every move. Another first at this OC was a bunch of cyclists practicing in the Velodrome for about 3 hours during the LAN, um WTF? And there were a bunch of LANners playing rugby inside the arena the whole weekend, even at 4 in the morning. LOLWUT?!!

At about 5 ‘o clock on Friday we started serving our first hungry customers and it just DIDN’T STOP! Isandre and I filled up on vodka and red bull and pushed on until about 4 am when we closed until 6 to rest our weary legs. When we got up there were already people waiting for their morning dose of caffeine and the chaos continued once again with very little break until early hours of Sunday morning. We met some awesome people and there was always someone popping by to say hello or lend a hand.

Now we’ve always known how much those LANners love their coffee, but I was not expecting how crazy they’d be over our pancakes! We had some pretty awesome flavours including melted marshmallow and double chocolate brownie pancakes. Nom nom nom! We also got some really good comments from the OC website’s feedback forum where people give their pros and cons from the latest event: “Cheering on the pancake ladies at morning brew. Coolest people EVAR.” - M05HP1T, “Pancakes! Nom nom nom.” - CourageD, ”And, THE PANCAKES!! They were amazing. Slightly pricey, but I didn't mind, because it was like romance explosion in my mouth. ” - Kitsu (Er, a romance explosion??) THANKS Kitsu !! :) I even heard someone calling our pancakes “beautiful” J

So there you have it, all the aching limbs and sleep deprivation paid off in the end. It was a super fun and super successful event and we can’t wait to do it all again next month!!

.............. Sunday at the kite festival was mad. I met Chantelle at 8 am again and we started doing the usual setup, she mixed the batter while I sorted out the trailer and signs. The morning was quite until about lunch, people just started pouring in through the gates. Madness ensued and suddenly we were extremely busy.

There was no time to panic and all I could do was flip those pancakes one after the other. I have never made so many pancakes in my LIFE! It felt like it was never going to end, we would mix one batch of batter and it would be gone in no time, orders were flying in and the pressure to keep everyone happy mounted.

So there we were spinning like crazy people in a metallic pancake making cage. Time flew by and before we knew it the day was done and we were very close to selling all our stock. We made it and managed to sell out over 75 liters of batter. Sunday at the Cape Town International Kite Festival was a success and surely made up for the previous day's dwindling sales.

So there you have it, two events waxed, experience gained and some more insight into running a small business.

Check out the videos I made for both events and you will see the contrast between the two.

Until the next post, stay well

Morningbru

2 Events 2 People -- One Weekend -- Dun-Dun-Duuuu!

2011-10-21T11:16:00.001+02:00

The Situation: We booked two events for this weekend and we have to split up to be able to do them both. Michelle will be doing the O.C - our regular monthly event and I will be doing the Kite festival, a totally new event for us-uncharted territory. I will be using the trailer for the kite Festival and Michelle will be Trailer-less, relying on good old fashioned tables and stuff.

We both roped in some help for these events, Chantal will be helping me and Isandre will be with Michelle, Thanks girls :) At this very moment we are still in Stikland I am typing this from inside the trailer while michelle is doing the last of the checking and listing. Lists...... For The Win!

OCTO KITE !!!

Angry looking kite bird

We have both been a little stressed this week partly because it's the first time that we have double booked and well, we are a bit nervous. In the end when it's time to get things done we manage to make it happen, so I know that we will do fantastically. I will make a short video clip of the Kite Festival so that you guys can also check it out. The Kites they fly there are amazing and some of the pics I have seen make you wonder how the hell a kite in the shape of Cartmen can fly?

Quote From Their Page

"The Cape Town International Kite Festival brings together people from around the world in a celebration of kiting and creativity, to generate funds for Cape Mental Health Society, raises awareness of the importance of mental health and highlights the link between physical and mental well-being."

It is all for a good cause come join in

You can check out the Kite Festival page, just click on THIS

So if you are going to be at Africa's biggest kite festival 22 & 23 Oct 2011, come have a pancake mmmm-nom nom nom nom.... For more details about the festival go check out their page here or on top at this :)

OK, this is all I have time for today, be safe readers and most of all have fun this weekend :)

Morningbru

Village The Gathering

2011-10-17T22:14:00.000+02:00

Johan burger showing
how its done, with a
hoop.

This weekend we found ourselves at the Village, it was a nice change of pace from standing in Stikland and we were ready for a good party. We planned to leave early the Friday afternoon and we actually did :) After a drive that felt like forever, taking a wrong turn and nearly overshooting the farm....., we arrived. It was around 4pm and I met Philip who showed us where we had to stand.

Our stall at night.

After a chat and a brief chill Michelle and I started with the setup. It took us about an hour or so, beer soon followed and many minutes of relaxing. Friday night was chilled, we found ourselves relaxing hard on our lumo bean bags and before we knew it we had some groovy company, that's what our chill out area is for :)

Michelle doing some kind of disco
inspired move ;)

We got to bed early and slept well after a hard days work. Saterday morning was slow and relaxed, people were starting to arrive now and the party atmosphere was gaining steady momentum. We were set up opposite the camping area so most of the day we just watched other people set up their chill sections and tents. Many new friends were made and some solid connections formed, that's what I love so much about the outdoor trance scene......people are friendly and willing to stop for a chat.

Happiness

Dance floor

Trading was slow, very slow at a stage I thought we weren't even going to break even and then, we whipped out the smokes. Initially we weren't planning on selling cigarettes but as it turned out we had a couple of boxes in stock because we left straight from our spot in Stikland on Friday afternoon. We started out selling them at R30 a box and slowly pushed it up to R40, I know, thats ridiculous right. Surprisingly nobody really complained and I guess if I were in their position I wouldn't of either, if you want smokes you want smokes and you will pay anything for them.

I jokingly told a women that it was R70 for a box and she started counting her coins...... I kind of felt guilty about it for a little while but I knew that if it wasn't for the profit we were making on the smokes we would of made a huge loss this weekend. So cigarettes saved Morningbru at the Village and I thank all you smokers who were willing to part with your forties for a box.

The village - very awesome!

Truly a lot of hard work went into making this one of the most beautiful setups I have seen, thanks village crew.

Gernot you FUNNY owe! lol

Tjad a loyal Morningbru supporter, we found your blanket
dude ;)

Sunday was lekker hot with a light breeze bringing the coolness, by 11: am we were sold out of smokes. I guess I should of gone and bought more because we had about 3 people an hour asking for ciggies the whole of Sunday. So this weekend I learnt that we should stock up hard on smokes because it seems that no one really remembers to bring enough to a party.

Village was great and once again a learning curve, we made it out ok and managed to get enough rest before work on Monday. Today was the first week of our second month on the new spot and it feels good to know that we have been so consistent with our business venture. More posts to follow on our progress and adventures here at Morningbru. I will leave you with a little experiment I produced at the party, a four minute time lapse video of the view from our stall and some of the amazing people we met at the party...

Week 4 on It's way out - The Village This Weekend!

2011-10-13T11:34:00.000+02:00

Week 4 on our new spot --- WORST WEEK EVAR!!!

So it has been slow here in Stikland and we are sure it must be because its the middle of the month or something. Monday was like a graveyard, then Tuesday picked up a little, Wednesday we were back to normal and today, well, I dunno, lets just say there's still time :)

MorningCAT!

On the bright side we are still doing OK. I suppose when you start doing well in your business you kind of set a bar for yourself and you naturally expect to keep doing well so that you can stay above that bar.

Then reality slaps you around a bit and you realize that things cant always go up and up, you need to fluctuate and give as much as you receive.

On a much MUCH more positive note we will be trading at The Village this weekend. Michelle and I are super keen and we cant wait to get there........... C'mon weekend!

We are still in prepping phase and hope to have tied up most of the loose ends by tonight so that we can get an early start on Friday. We don't want another Organik mission on our hands when we only get there at like 9 pm and have to stumble around in the dark. So prep plan prep plan! that's the way to do it. The last Village we traded at was epic and we really enjoyed.

Our tent is going into the operating theater today as well, stitching up the damage caused by the ferocious wind at the Heart 104.9 Fm Soccer Day. It's going to be a quick fix her up with some plain old thread and needle. Will be using some of our Village profit to send it to a proper "Tent Person" for some decent patch and repair work. We wouldn't want to see our beloved stretchy go to wreck and ruin.

Good news - Morningbru will have some new signage next week :) Vega Graphics here in Stikland have given us some great prices on a few correx sign boards that we will be using for our events and the side of the road.

I was just busy designing the PANCAKE sign when my version of Photoshop decided to totally flip out..... busy re-installing it as I type. As soon as I am done I will post up the signs to the blog.

Have a groovy day!
Morningbru

Week 3 Done - Heading Into Week 4

2011-10-10T13:05:00.002+02:00

Oh yeah! It feels like we have been here on our new spot for ages but in fact it has only been three weeks and what an exciting three weeks it has been, despite the dismal view, constant noise coupled with never ending wind, we have prevailed.

From day one we knew we were better off here and now we can confidently say that it is fact. Our daily averages have only risen since we started in Stikland and the future is looking brighter by the day. Morningbru is quickly turning into a sandwich style Deli and the Stikland population are loving it. At the moment we stock: Tuna Salad R14, Egg Mayo R12, Cheese Tomato R12 and our latest edition Brie peppadew cucumber R14. All our sandwiches are made freshly in the morning with Duens health seed loaf, wich is prety damn tasty. Can ya say, OM nOMnOMnOm!

If any of you, our readers, have any more ideas for health sandwiches please feel free to leave your recipes in the comments section. J We want to add at least one new sandwich a week to see how they are received by our customers here. Any suggestions would be groovy.

Events we have planned for next weekend and beyond so far are as follows, The Village, Kite Festival, O.C Lan Party, Groovy Troopers (pending) and Noisy Radicals. We are trying to secure one or two more but we will have to see, I don’t want to die in the pursuit of work here hahaha Nah ! it’s not that bad.

So we are amped and excited for this next two months and we plan to bring our grooviness to an event near you Soon! Be sure to look out for us and drop by for a chat.

In other news I am finally getting my HTC phone fixed so we will be able to take better quality pics and video for a while, sorry Michelle I know the blackberry was doing it for now but let’s face it, it’s camera really SUX! Anyway just a quick post to keep you in the loop.

Enjoy your week!

Morningbru

Successful Event Behind Us And Week 3 On Our New Spot

2011-10-06T19:37:00.002+02:00

Soccer Stars In The Making

Last weekend we were contracted by Heart 104.9 FM for a soccer day event. We weren’t expecting it at all, they surprised us both by calling last minute – we didn’t hesitate and snatched up the opportunity. It all went very smoothly and we were received very well by all who attended, coffees were flying and so were our fresh pancakes, banana caramel was a winner with the sweet toothed crowd and we were flipping pancakes as fast as they could eat them. We didn’t really know what we were in for and weren’t expecting much from this one but it all turned out to be a fun filled soccer fest of a day.

Celebrities of all sorts were there too, like soccer players from Santos and other clubs, some foreign soccer players, T.V personalities and idols people. Don’t ask me to name them because I really, really have no clue as to who they were. We were serving celebrities and we didn’t even know it hahaha. Michelle had a fat chat with the guy from Top Billing and only found out afterward it was a shleb lol. Anyhow, it was a good event and we did well.

The only negative thing about the event was the wind. Damn! It blew hard, it actually blew our stretch tent poles right through our tent L leaving two gaping holes in it. Cups and coffee pots also found themselves doing involuntary flips off of the table and not to mention the sugar tubes and stirrers going awol with every gust. If you were to look at us from a distance it would have been a mixture of serving people, flipping pancakes and catching things J

Some Soccer Celeb's (Santos)

I suppose every war has its casualties and in this case it was our beloved blue stretchy. No worries, nothing a needle, patches and thread won’t fix. Heart FM wants to use us again J so we will be doing the 17’th annual kite festival in Muizenberg on the 22 Oct to the 23 Oct which is great news because that specific event pulls between 20 000 to 25 000 people annually over two days, we will only be doing pancakes because one of their main sponsors do all hot drink related products. This is fine with Morningbru .....

Pancake Station

Week 3 in our new spot and we are doing great; our regular base is growing by the day. Coffee though, is not as popular as we would like it to be but the pancakes and sandwiches are doing very well. I am sure once we get an espresso machine and start doing proper cappuccinos and lattes we will gain more popularity with the offices in the area.

Our Setup, Struggling Against The Vicious Wind

We are thinking of a little slogan to add to the Morningbru brand and so far it looks like we will be going with “making coffee personal again” or just “making coffee personal” We think it is great because you don’t often get personal coffee in industrial areas, it is always a garage with a vending machine or something. It is impersonal ---- put in money, get your drink, no time for talking or anything just give and get. I guess with the fast paced lives we are living convenience and speed of delivery is everything and I know many people might prefer this way but I myself would much rather opt in for something a little more personal...... A machine can give no love, yet. J

Have a great evening people

Morningbru

Morningbru - Evolution

2011-09-30T22:20:00.000+02:00

Hey all, last post was a while ago but were back to get you up to speed with what is happening. The Morningbru trailer is done and we are proud to announce that the Village (event) was a huge success. We were feeling the good vibes and love all weekend from start to finish, thank you to everybody who made it out to buy a coffee and muffin from us on the weekend. To all the guys that helped us set up and down a beeeeeg thanks from the Morningbru team.

To the left is the legendary trailer decorated and tagged by our customers with whiteboard markers. The "buy something to write something" campaign added an extra dose of personality, great work people we loved reading them all when we got home on Sunday evening. We have started a facebook "like" page as well so feel free to go "like" us. If you were in any of the pics please tag yourselves to help spread the word.

To the right are happy coffee slurpers enjoying our fresh bru, Coffee goodness all round. We had loads of fun at this event and know that we will be doing this kind of thing as much as possible in the future. If you guys happen to know of an event please feel free to contact us, we will be more than happy for any information regarding an event.

Everybody loves Coffee

Indeed.

In other news we are trying to secure a monthly spot at the O.C LAN parties which are held once a month in bellville having a solid event every month will set Morningbru up, Wunce ! > > wish us luck!! Soon we will also be incorporating the trailer at our usual morning spot offering our R15.00 Coffee Muffin deal to the thirsty traffic.

Have A Great Day
The Morningbru Team

Week 2 Done And A Surprise Event

2011-09-30T20:00:00.002+02:00

Week two on our new spot and it is going really well, pancakes are taking off man, we have a few regulars and many new faces rocking up everyday. People are digging the stall vibe and we are making new connections by the minute. We have really kicked our turnover up by 100% and we are grateful beyond.

I am pritty tired as i type this so excuuse any spellingk mistkes and stuff, we have been working straight from 5 am this morning until now, 10 pm and we are still busy, eish! I guess that is what it means to run your own business in this kind of industry but hey I'm not complaining, it's great!

Heart radio booked us on short notice for a soccer event tomorrow so we barely had time to prep up, which means we are still busy, busy, busy. Michelle is in the kitchen mixing up pancake batter like a beast and I have taken a break to blog for a minute. The bakkie is packed up and reasonably ready for tomorrow. I can see Red bulls in our near future, at least 4 each. We are super keen to serve all the attendees hot coffee and pancakes, lets hope we have a successful and most of all groovy day at the event.

Anyway I better get back to work before I get an egg or a wooden spoon to the back of my head.

Enjoy your weekend and be safe, Morningbru :)

Location Location Location

2011-09-27T18:07:00.000+02:00

It has been a busy week following Organik and the universe has compressed us into a new spot

Industrial Life

As you know we didn’t do very well with our sales at the party this last weekend and well, we wanted to get rid of at least some of the left over stock. Back home we organised that we could stand in a business park in Stikland to sell some pancakes and coffee. The plan was to go to the strip first, supply our regulars, pack up at 12pm and move to the next spot to sell our pancake mix.

Samitches!

It was alien to be standing in a business area and it felt very different from what we were used to. Very busy roads, people driving pretty fast and our view has totally changed instead of trees we now have buildings and concrete :( Our first afternoon was great though and we turned over in one afternoon what we would have turned in one week on the strip. “Excited” is the first word that comes to my mind when I think of that first day on the new spot.

Pre-order Line

Regretfully we had a hard decision to make after work, leave the strip (that we have come to love) or continue to split our days in two. Taking into account how hard we fought for permission to stand on the strip I was a little reluctant to just let it go, but in the bigger scheme of things it is all about your location and the fact that we can now trade more than just coffee is appealing to us. We both decided that it would be in the best interest of Morningbru to relocate. With a mixture of relief, sadness and excitement we started planning our next day in Stikland Business park.

New Spot

We open up shop at 7am and end our trading day at 3:30pm, we also got one of those new NeoTel handsets for business. We have been giving people our number so that they can pre-order pancakes for their office. The other day we got a R80 order and a R60 one, so this concept is going to work, day 6 and we are feeling good about our decision.

Enjoying Some Coffee...........AGAIN :)

The new spot definitely has it’s perks, for one, my parents own a pub right around the corner called Annies Ladies bar, drinks after work maybe J They allow us to use it as a headquarters for Morningbru which means that we can “bru” our coffee right there in the morning, mix batter, make sandwiches and have storage space. In fact as I type this I am sitting in the bar while michelle is selling pancakes and coffee a mere 200 metres away. So I can have time to do my other work, which revolves purely around the internet and my laptop. If michelle needs anything she just gives me a call...... eg. Michelle calls for another pot of coffee or a couple of sandwiches, I then make it and trot down to her with some needed stock. This setup is great because it allows us to split up our time to be more productive.

It is our sixth day in the new spot now and it is going well, we are doing better than we would have on the strip and people are getting to know us and starting to enjoy our pancakes, banana caramel and cinnamon sugar for now. Goodbye Strip we now consider you our runway, the gravel that started it all.

Yeah, so that’s what’s been happening here at Morningbru. We are moving forward and we are amped.

Morningbru.

Low Down On Organik And A Video

2011-09-22T21:04:00.003+02:00

Our first outdoor for the season was Organik Gaian Dreams, we planned, prepped and double checked, it was an absolute awesome party, the vibe was great and we both felt that it was what a party should be --- Connected, vibey and energetic!

The setup.

We arrived the Friday night after a long and slightly stressful drive, the trailer, man, it jumps around on the road and looks like it wants to tip over a lot. Every time I looked in the review mirror my heart skipped a beat, eventually I just kept it at 60 kay's an hour and stopped looking.

I reckoned it was pointless stressing out about it and if it was going to tip it was going to tip. We managed to get there in one piece and were thankful that we found the venue quite easily and that the trailer was still with us.

Our plan was to get there the Friday afternoon set up and relax but as it turned out we got there after dark and well, its not easy to set up a stretch tent at night. We got the trailer in position pulled out the stretchy offloaded the bakkie made some mojitos and decided to call it a night. The cold was intense but luckily we had plenty warm clothes, blankets, a mattress and each other to keep warm. We slept in the trailer the first night ---- it was surprisingly comfortable.

Saturday morning 7 A.M we got up and started sorting out the setup, by now the Sun was out and we were soaking up the heat ray's with much appreciation. I sorted out the stretch tent while Michelle handled the coffee machine and made more mojitos.

Making use of the chill out area.

Our mission with our setup was to provide a groovy chill out section next to our stall so that we could offer something more to our peers than just coffee, hot chocolate and crepes (pancakes).

Our chill zone was a great success. We had a good mix of interesting and beautiful people coming and going at all hours and parking off on our beanbags and beetle seat to rest their weary legs, take a break from the sun and, eventually, get shelter from the rain.

We had mojitos for breakfast and beer for brunch, alcohol is useful when you are working at an outdoor event or any event where you know you won't be sleeping much, it helps to keep your energy levels up. By the time the beats started we were ready to trade and knew that we were going to have a great time.

Nightfall came and with it the cold, oh it was cold! Every hour that passed it just got colder and colder. Of course with it being so cold our hot drinks were selling and we were more than happy to serve it up to the happy trancers. Business was slow but it was ticking nicely. By 3 a.m though we weren't selling much at all and the weather was taking it's toll on us.

Service

I decided to make a B-Line for the jumbo sized green bean bag we got for the party and wrapped myself in a sleeping bag. Michelle joined me soon after and we started generating some much needed heat.

We decided to close up for a while and slowly drifted off into dream land. It was a warm trance induced coma that felt like an eternity of phat fluffy bass. 3 hours later I woke up with the energy of at least one racehorse and I was ready for Sunday, especially the sun part.

Our party affirmation.

I got Michelle up and made her something hot to drink. We could see light now and knew it wouldn't be long before the sun was out in full force, ready to warm up the party again. I cracked a beer for breakfast and started brewing a new pot of coffee goodness, it wasn't long before we had our first coffee lovers at our hatch. A small rush ensued and coffees were flying out of the trailer. Happiness is a cup of hot caffeine in your cold blue hands.

The toilets had eaten enough crap for one weekend. :)

The first half of the day was warm and sunny and then - - - It started raining, nay, pouring. We packed up at about 4pm and hung around till 5, by this time the music had stopped and most of the party people had already driven off. We hitched up the trailer, tied down the poles and drove off silently into the farmlands. The drive home was tiresome and long but we made it home safely. The party was great and although we didn't make much cash it was well worth all the effort.

We made some great connections, met lots of beautiful people and left with residual feelings of warmth and connectedness that we hope will continue to affect our daily dealings with our customers.

Organik - Gaian Dreams was definitely one for the books!!!

We took some video --- I put together a little movie for you guys to watch, enjoy.

Organik - Kinda In A Panic

2011-09-16T14:25:00.000+02:00

Wow it has been an intense week of organizing and prepping for our event this weekend. Organik is going to rock and we are going to be there serving hot coffee and delicious pancakes. Our pancakes have been tried and tested by us of course, many pancakes have been eaten this week.

The final four are Banana Caramel, Strawberries and Cream, Cinnamon Sugar and Hummus, Cheddar and Spinach. If you are coming this weekend be sure to stop by for a tasty pancake ala Morningbru.

This week on the strip has also been great and we have sold a total of 35 cups. That is a six cup improvement on last week bringing our average cup per day to 7. Eventually we want to be at around 30 - 40 cups a day and if we keep on improving at this rate we will get there sooner than later.

Anyway I really had to squeeze this post in today, we are sooo busy running around tying up loose ends for this weekend. Wish us luck and have a awesome weekend.

Morningbru.

Hoops And Yo Yo --- Coffee!

2011-09-12T20:34:00.001+02:00

Found this cool little short - Enjoy

Short Courtesy of Hoops and Yo Yo

Num num num num num

Monday Gone - Gaining New Customers And A New Spot

2011-09-12T20:25:00.000+02:00

Coffee

Monday has come and gone - 6 cups sold, 5 new customers and one comeback. Good signs. Pancake man didn't show up today, this is strange as he is always there, like everyday besides Sunday. What can you say the man loves making them pancakes ;)

We were soul alone on the strip and it kinda felt weird, almost scary. A tazer is now on the priority list in case, you know, someone tries to jack our stash when we are alone on the strip. Hoping the pancake man will be back tomorrow, I need my breakfast :)

I will service your coffee needs

Happy customers at the top and me serving some more on the left. Thank you for the support :) good times. These pics are a bit fuzzy - using a blackberry curve o.O --- My camera got broken _*sadface....

Trailer---Shiny

So as you can see we have changed the way we position the trailer, it's at more of an angle and closer to the Pancake man, we will post more pics so that you can see the full effect.

It creates a more sociable vibe because the people that come and buy pancakes can glance right over into our trailer. It is also better because it is further away from the road and less noisy.

Michelle and trailer

Before we were kind of cut off and all people could see was our backdoor, not good for business I say.

Notice the sign, it says ----FILTER COFFEE / HOT CHOCOLATE --- straight forward and simple. We think it has been working for us, gaining new customers everyday.

setup

Me enjoying my first cup

Working stuff out

The new spot is also very shaded which will help heaps on those hot day's. Cant wait for summer to kick in so that we can try selling Ice cold Juice, Lemonade and Water.

K - that's it for the post, hope to see some of you at Morningbru sometime soon.

Morningbru

Productive Weekend And A New Week Ahead

2011-09-11T18:03:00.002+02:00

Eagerly looking forward to this coming week to see how many cups we get sold on the strip. Last week stands at 29 cups sold, let's see if we can better that in the next couple of day's.

Michelle and I had a totally productive weekend preparing for Organik. Stretch tent is fixed and gas appliances are ready for work. Oh yeah.

I'm sipping on some of our coffee right now, it inspired me to post something on the blog. Well done to the Springboks for their victory today. I trust you all enjoyed the match. :)

Morningbru

First Week Done - Organik In The Works

2011-09-09T20:35:00.001+02:00

Sold a total of 29 cups of liquid heaven this week on the strip, meaning we are averaging 5.8 cups a day at the moment. It has been an interesting and productive couple of day's and we are looking forward to Monday so that we can do it all over again.

Hopefully cigarettes will be on the menu in the near future, still trying to get wholesale prices so that we can offer packs cheap! cheap! We want feet at our stall, what better way to get it than with a highly addictive drug o.O

Going to be a hectic week as we are preparing for Organik (Outdoor Trance Party) - We have some yummy treats for all the happy stompers :) Super awesome Hot Chocolate (with marshmallows), strong Filter Coffee, sweet treats and a chill out area under our stretch tent. If you going to be at Organik I hope you drop by and come say hi.

Looking forward guys, have a safe and groovy weekend.

Morningbru

Getting Into The Swing Of Things And Hello Winter

2011-09-08T17:27:00.002+02:00

Welcome back winter :) - weather served us well today. With the cold comes the need for hot drinks, sold twelve cups today and we are hoping to better it tomorrow. Feels great to have the permit and to be legal on the strip, where are the coppers now?

Morningbru bounced back after two days of only two cups a day :( --- rocking some new signage outside the trailer that are letting people know what we are doing on the side of the road.

We are not looking half bad for our fourth day back on the strip. Thank you all for the support and positive feedback.

New menu items to look forward to in the coming weeks

Cigarettes (not the healthiest option but hey, people want em!)
Mineral water (Ice Cold for those hot days)
Juice (various flavors)
Thinking of fresh lemonade, once we gather a following.

Slowly we are getting back into a steady routine and I am sooooo happy, damn it feels good to get up early, squeezing the most out of the day.

I hope all of you are having a great week so far and if you aren't, well, come have a cup of coffee we are always smiling even when the sales aren't there. Amandel Rylaan Next to the pancake man (Eddie) DO IT!!!

Morningbru

Starting From Scratch.....

2011-09-05T16:51:00.000+02:00

This morning was truly like a blast from the past, getting up nice and early brewing some coffee and heading out to the strip. We arrived just after seven with the hopes of selling at least two cups of coffee goodness for our first day back. We realized that we are basically starting from scratch here and it will take time before we can reach the numbers we want.

Today we sold six cups in total and we are totally happy with that. Tomorrow will be even better, well, I hope it will, one guy told us that he was wondering where we went, another pulled out of heavy traffic and chilled with his coffee until the traffic had cleared up. If you ask me that guy was smart, traffic was heavy this morning.

The large cups are working out for us, only one person actually bought a small coffee. The large cup looks impressive and totally kicks the smaller cups ass. If I wanted a cup of coffee I would take the large, no doubt. Morningbru is set to take off and we are excited about so many things at the moment.

I am aching to get a espresso machine so that we can start making all the good stuff. Of course we do need a generator first before we can even think of espresso and that sort of thing, in time I am sure we will get there. Loyalty cards are in the works, so soon you will be able to buy five coffees and get your sixth one free. Once we reach twenty to thirty cups a day we will launch the loyalty card special.

We are back and we are ready to sell some coffee :)

Morningbru

Permit in hand - September O.C Cancelled :(

2011-09-03T09:58:00.000+02:00

It was a hectic and busy day yesterday, lots of driving - a little road rage! (TAXI) and a permit acquired.

Yes people, you read that correctly, we are now fully legal to trade on the strip. Shirley Alexander was very helpful in the end and wished us well with the business.

Thank you Shirley, at times I wanted to come and blow up your offices out of frustration but patience has paid off and things are back on track.

The Vending Licence!

Apparently Shirley had a meeting with all the vendors on the strip to decide our fate and they had only good things to say, hence us getting approved for the permit.

So much politics o.O ---- but hey I'm not complaining anymore. Woohooo!

So if you don't know, that is what a vending licence looks like. I like the yellow edges. hehehe

The Elusive Permit

This is the permit.. It is only valid for six months before we have to renew it. But hey, at least we finally have it now. Good Lord we were losing hope. So there it is guys we are sorted and ready.

Stay tuned for our August O.C post!
Sadly the September O.C has been cancelled
:( BEEEEG SAD MOUTH!

Gives us a month off to change our strategy a little I guess.
The O.C will be back in October and we will be there ready for business.

Have a great weekend guys.

Morningbru

One More Day.....

2011-09-01T14:24:00.003+02:00

Tomorrow at 11 O'clock we will be going to see Shirley Alexander, hopefully all our things are in order and we can get our permit on the spot. Very excited, if all goes well we will be back on the strip this coming Monday. A post will be up after our meeting, we might even sneak in a few pics of the process.

Permit happy face!

So much are in the works for Morningbru and we are feeling uber positive about the business. If you happen to be in the area please come by and support us by buying a fresh cuppa, we make good coffee ;)

Morningbru

Permit is happening!

2011-08-30T14:13:00.000+02:00

Good news - Meeting up with Shirley Alexander on Friday morning to finalize the permit issue. So next week Monday we will be back in operation .... :) Our cup size has increased to 350 ml for R10.00.... and a 250ml for R8.00. Hope to see a few familiar faces on the strip next week.

The August O.C was amazing and a more detailed post will follow soonest. Have a great day and drink some coffee!

Morningbru

We are still alive !

2011-08-09T16:00:00.000+02:00

What the hell man, still no permit! How hard can it be to process an application! I am starting to wonder if this country actually wants small business to prosper. Does South Africa want entrepreneurs in their country??

What do I have to do to get this thing approved? Who do I have to bribe?! All I want is permission to sell COFFEE for heavens sake, I"m not peddling drugs, I'm not a pimp! All I want to do is fulfill a basic human need, coffee in the morning. Good grief I feel like Charlie Brown here always missing the football and falling on my ass!!

Please, if there are any government people reading this, help a guy out. I am just trying to earn an honest living by doing something I love, serving people -- why wont you let ME?! Wow, ok I got that off my chest, feeling a little lighter :)

Well we are still alive and keeping our heads above water, doing events like the O.C really help Morningbru to stay alive and with the trance season speedily approaching our spirits are lifting in the hope that we will do some good business in the coming months.

Nom Nom Nom

Groovy art by some of the taggers

About the O.C ..... End of July we did another O.C at the Bellville Velodrome and it was a success, over 400 people attended and we served them well. Hot coffee, brownies, giant donuts, muffins and hot chocolate (with marshmallows) all went down very well.

Happy Face

We got to set up right inside this time giving us an advantage of being more visible. We also prepared more in the lines of sleeping arrangements and trailer stability. No more rocking trailer meant less sea sickness whilst serving our customers. A mattress also helped a lot ;)

July O.C Pros

Tequila and orange juice - gives you a good kick
Built a cave out of tables chairs and blankets to sleep in
Stable Trailer
Running shoes work wonders for you (comfort baby)
Not as cold as the last one
Found out you can shower there (Clean*)
Brief moments of sunlight when going for a smoke outside (vitamin D)
Got to leech over 700 gigs of series,movies and cartoons
Paper towels make life easier.

Found my hoodie after loosing it in the showers

July O.C Cons

Not half as busy as we thought it would be
Still didn't get enough sleep
Walking half a Kay to fill up a 25 litre water can ( like 10 times )
Ran out of white sugar tubes WTF
OMG the music was sooooo baaaaad and made my stomach turn slightly ( the trance was great though, thanks Dave!)

The Self built cave at the back of the trailer :)

All in all the O.C was good and we delivered our services to the best of our abilities. We are looking forward to the next one at the end of this month. We are hoping to add espresso to the menu, but at the moment I am not sure if that will actually happen. Time will tell, only time --- oh yeah, and money.

Ok so that's where this post is about to end, hope you enjoyed it. Oh and by the way, we have reached over 1400 views !!! Wabam! Keep reading guys. Morningbru wont be going anywhere anytime soon except for up ! up ! up!

July O.C Preperation

2011-07-27T11:56:00.000+02:00

July O.C is upon us, we are excited to do yet another O.C event and we hope it will be a smoother ride than the last one. We are gonna rock the lan with bigger cups, tasty treats and our usual vibe of pure awesomeness. I hope all you lanners, leechers and magic players are thirsty for the good stuff.

We have solved the trailers "rocking issue" - the poor trailer was never really as stable as it could be. Two jacks have sorted it out though so we can say goodbye to sea sickness when working....hahaha. Our urn broke a while back but it is all fixed up and ready for work ----- will be using it to keep the hot chocolate hot and ready. The second urn will be used for hot water which will be available for free to all the lanners that need some.

The permit should be processed in the next month so we will be on the strip again, I can't wait it has been a long and drawn out process and finally we are getting some feedback from the authorities. Let's just hope that they keep their word and do what they said they are going to do. :/

The blog has reached 1200 views thanks guys. Once we get busy on the strip again I will have more to post about and we can really get this blog going. At the moment though Morningbru is struggling a little to survive, so we don't really have much to post but thanks to the O.C we will make it out alive. We have also gotten some feedback from a few trance parties --- excited for those. Morningbru will see you at an outdoor party this season!

Well we have to get back to preparations for this weekend --

Have a great week further

Morningbru

900 Views and Counting

2011-07-13T21:58:00.001+02:00

Hey all you happy readers :) we have reached 900 views since the blog has started... so thank you all very much for the ongoing support and clicks, catch us at an event soon.....

We have started preparing for the next O.C event which will be taking place on the last weekend of July. We are hoping to make a bigger impact than last time. Larger cups (350 ml) will be available and, of course our legendary chocolate brownies will be there too. In other news we have started looking at some trance parties that are coming up. We would like to get into as many as possible for the coming outdoor season.

Morningbru has decided to create our own coffee blend so we will be leaving LavAzza behind us. We really like the blend we are going to be using. It is similar in taste with a slightly richer and fuller body.

Have a great night
Morningbru Coffee