Meet Fräulein GLYCK—that’s Lilli, Yvonne, and Christina, three entrepreneurs from Northern Germany who travel around Hamburg with their mobile bar. They serve chilled prosecco directly from their Piaggio Ape at weddings, work parties, and events. And they’ve been doing it successfully since 2018.
(Click here for the German version of the article)
But what’s it like to run a new part-time business and then go through a pandemic together? Lilli, Yvonne, and Christina will tell us all about it.
Before the pandemic, you were almost fully-booked taking your mobile prosecco bar to weddings, work parties, and events. How did the past year affect you?
Lilli: Business was going so well. We were out every weekend and we thought it would be like that forever. But all of a sudden, it was time to get creative.
Yvonne: So we found a way that we could still get our prosecco to the bride and groom. First, we tried a cost-effective package for small wedding parties and events. This went well, but pretty soon that wasn’t allowed either.
That’s how we came up with the idea of care packages. We filled bottles with fresh prosecco, sold them via our online shop, and delivered them to people in Hamburg.
Lilli: In retrospect, it all worked out well. We went to small weddings, often held in the bride or groom’s parents’ garden. And when a new branch of the Hamburger Volksbank opened, we stood outside and poured prosecco for the customers in the queue.
How did the pandemic affect you as a team?
Yvonne: Everyone deals with the situation differently. The pandemic blues sometimes affect you, you feel down for a while, and then it goes away. And it’s the same with Fräulein GLYCK. Having a fixed time to see each other every week and have a chat is what kept our spirits high.
Lilli: In any case, it brought us closer together because the three of us complement each other really well. We each have our own area that we know best, so we talk to each other a lot and inspire each other. We often think: “What are we still allowed to do?” “How can we think outside the box?”
It sounds like a lot of creative perseverance. But let’s start from the beginning—how did you come up with the brilliant idea of serving prosecco on wheels?
Christina: First and foremost, we all love prosecco. And we loved the idea of making lots of people happy really quickly.
Yvonne: Back then, we all worked for the same events agency, so we knew that it always takes forever before everyone has a glass in their hand at a champagne reception. And when we saw the Ape online for the first time, we thought: “We could easily supply a hundred people with that in no time.” We were so enthusiastic about how cute it looked.
Lilli: The Ape is a classic pizza delivery vehicle. When you’re out and about in it, it inevitably leads to an adventurous driving style, despite its top speed of just 35km/h.
You started in October 2018. What did it feel like in the beginning?
Lilli: It was really exciting. We were all on fire and worked hard on the project. And then we had our first big order. It was a wedding at a big venue in central Hamburg. We felt like the queens of the world!
How do your customers find you and how do you get orders?
Yvonne: Nearly 80 percent of our inquiries are via the form on our website, mainly because we rank very highly on Google. We are also at the top of the Google image search for “mobile bar Hamburg.”
Lilli: We mainly owe that to Yvonne. She got her teeth into the topic of SEO and brought us way up. We’re very grateful for that. Social media is important too, of course, so people can see us and we can network. But most people contact us directly and say, “Hey, we saw your website.”
What’s next for Fräulein GLYCK?
Lilli: We’ll continue to attend private events. Of course, people are still cautious and ask about our COVID-19 cancelation policy, but we understand that. However, we already have some inquiries for weddings, store openings, and work events, all of which have been postponed due to the pandemic.
Christina: We’re also getting more inquiries from people outside of Hamburg, such as Kiel, Lübeck, and Glücksburg in Northern Germany, and even from all over Germany. With the Ape’s top speed of 35km/h, we’re limited to Hamburg and the surrounding areas but we’re always looking to see what’s possible.
If you’re from the Hamburg area and fancy a fresh glass of prosecco, check out the Fräulein GLYCK website.