COFFEE TO GO
By Joy Pincus
The following article was published
in the City Lights section of the Jerusalem Post on page 7, Friday,
November 15, 2002.
How many weddings or special events
have you been to that served up an unbelievable meal only to top it
all off with a lukewarm cup of instant coffee? Well, those days are
coming fast to an end, and even faster on account of the up and
coming “Polay Café” coffee caterers. Their goal is to bring the
best catered coffee to any event – whether wedding, bar mitzvah or
private party, and to serve it to your guests in style.
“The main idea behind our business,”
explains co-owner Matan Gal, “is to serve people good espresso
wherever they want: in their homes, at work, on a mountain. We build
them a wooden bar wherever they want, and decorate it with something
simple, but special. Something that when you see it, you not only
think coffee - it makes you want to drink coffee.”
Tal and partner
Tomer Shabat, believe in the quality of the coffee they serve, and
use only the brand Segafredo, whom they believe in, and with whom
they have a relationship going back many years, back to high school,
in fact, when their affair with coffee started. When Segafredo, a
Italian chain of coffee shops in Israel, opened a new branch near
their school in Mishmar HaSharon, they quickly found that they were
spending more time in the coffee shop than in school. With neither
boy very interested in school, it didn’t take much to lure them
away, and they could be found most of their senior year occupying
its tables, drinking espresso after espresso and feeling that life
just didn’t get any better. It seems only natural, therefore, that
the two decided, after their army training, to open their own coffee
– related business.
According to Gal, the coffee
catering business has been growing in Israel over the last five
years, with an ever-increasing demand to match the rising level of
what people expect at their special events. They find themselves
invited to weddings, birthday parties, bar and bat mitzvahs,
business parties, beach parties, musical concerts, special
occasions, everything – you name it, they can cater it. They also do
quite a few celebrity events (though they won’t drop names,
preferring to maintain their clients’ privacy).
“At first it was only for the elite
and was very expensive. Now there is a lot of competition, and also
a much greater demand – people want to add a coffee bar to every
event they do, so we have a lot of work,” says Gal.
Working with a pastry chef trained
in both New York and Paris, they offer not only top of the line
coffee, but any assortment of desserts to go with it.
One of their specialties is Café
Barad (Ice Coffee) along with a wide variety of cold drinks, but as
the weather gets colder, they will add more hot drinks as well as
new varieties of tea and chocolates. Also on the menu are Belgian
waffles, ice cream, crepes, sandwiches, in fact, anything people
might want in addition to coffee, can be provided.
But more than good coffee and
refreshments, the two have taken their experience in catering,
combined it with their personal love of the bean, and turned the
serving of coffee into both science and art. After a special
bartenders course that featured espresso making, the two are now “Baristas”
– professional espresso chefs – as is every employee they hire.
“Everyone who works for us, we teach them, we train them
everything. There are a few things very important to us,” explains
Shabat, and he means more than just making coffee.
“More than coffee, we provide
service. We teach them how to stand in the bar, how to dress.”
Workers are drilled in the importance of keeping the bar clean, and
never touching food with their bare hands.
“But the main thing,” adds Gal, “is
we always serve with a smile. That’s really important to us.”
The two young entrepreneurs, both 23,
seem wise beyond their years, in both their approach to the business
and the care they take to see it succeed, which includes a
never-ending study to become better at what they do.
In the beginning, “We saw what
worked,” says Shabat, “and what didn’t. We learned from other’s
mistakes, and saw what not do and how not to be.”
“Yes,” says Gal, “And we still go to
coffee shops to learn. We sit and watch how other people work. We
go to events and see what we can learn, always keeping our eyes
open, looking to see how we can serve better, and make a better
coffee.”
But is the nation of ‘botz’
(translated literally as ‘mud’ and used to describe the black coffee
commonly drunk by native Israelis) drinkers, really ready for
Italian coffee? Apparently so, says Gal. More and more people in
Israel are starting to like espresso.
“People aren’t easy to change. Many
people will always order black coffee after black coffee, but more
and more are open to change, to trying new things and to drinking
espresso.”
And a lot of their skills must go
towards diplomacy, such as when someone who ordered a latte says,
“What’s that?” when it comes. The guest might complain it’s weak,
because he didn’t understand what he was asking for.
“Different people understand
different things about coffee,” says Gal. “There are people who
come and ask the difference between latte and au lait and
cappuccino, and you explain, and that’s fun, because people learn
something, and you feel you gave them something besides just coffee
– a little bit of knowledge. And also, some people come and teach
you new things, which is always nice.”
Alongside their own efforts, there
has been plenty of help along the way, from friends and family.
Says Gal, “Everybody is really supportive….Looking to help find
events to do, giving a hand, giving financial support, emotional
support, tips, encouragement. It’s a good feeling. We do experiments
on them to see what they think, and we just feel them behind us,
wanting to see us succeed. When we can pay them we do, and when
not, they still help with all of their heart, and (with a smile)
they help us drink up all the cold coffee that’s left after an
event.”
Do they enjoy what they do?
Absolutely, says Tal.
“At this age if you are not going to
do it for fun it’s not worth it. We started because we like it,
and its’ grown because we like it. Take a wedding for example. We
always know that when we go to a wedding, for us, it’s just another
wedding, another day at work. But for the couple’s whose wedding it
is, it’s one day in a life. So we have to do the best job, to give
them the best coffee and cake, and make them not forget this day, in
whatever part we take.”
Their business has been growing over
the past year, mostly by word of mouth, and they are preparing new
portable coffee bars to match the growing demand for their
services. Having tested the market, they feel certain they know
what people want, and even more certain that they can provide it.
Would they rather be traveling or
studying, like most of their friends? Absolutely not, says Gal, the
business is “the best school – you learn many things: marketing,
selling, you learn about managing, you learn human resources, you
learn everything about business.”
And as for travel, they have that
covered - each winter they go snowboarding in Europe, although this
year, for the first time, they’ll have to go separately, since one
of the owners needs to always stay with the business.
For more information on Polay Café,
or to invite them to cater your special event, call Matan Gal at 054
746 270 or Tomer Shabat at 053 561 734
Joy Pincus is a contributing writer
to the Jerusalem Post and Women’s E News. She is the former staff
writer and assistant editor for Women’s International Net Magazine,
and was recently published in the anthology Cup of Comfort for
Friends (Adams Media, 2002).
Sidebar:
Matan Gal explains that people very
often don’t know the difference between café afuch, (café au lait),
café latte and cappuccino.
He explains:
Café Afuch: one espresso topped off
with steamed milk and a small amount of foam.
Café Latte: ½ espresso topped off
with steamed milk and a little foam.
Cappuccino – Same as Afuch, but with
less steamed milk and a large amount of foam.