After a week or two of R&R we are finally back at the helm, steering our Bodega inexorably towards the Christmas rush (we hope!) In anticipation of this we now have to stock up on certain lines, and so the trucks have been arriving over the last couple of days, laiden with all the materials that we need for bottling. Over the next few days our bottling line will be working overtime, as will our staff, as we fill the warehouse with a bit of Christmas cheer……

 Unfortunately, however organised we are (or think we are), there is always something to throw a spanner in the works. Whilst bottling the first tank for example, the capsule machine started to play up, and decided that it would only put capsules on two out of every three bottles. A 33% saving I hear you say – but unfortunately not acceptable to our customers! In the short term the only answer is to have one individual standing in front of the line dispensing capsules by hand as the bottles speed past at roughly 1,500 – 2,000 bottles per hour – that’s about one bottle every two seconds.

Having drawn the short straw I had the task of placing the capsules myself, and I can tell you, not only do you hardly have time to blink, but also, after an hour or two, the whole process has a slightly hypnotic effect (no doubt I will be ‘capsuling’ in my sleep tonight).

So when we tell our customers that Angela and I are very hands-on managers, that’s exactly what we mean!

After a week or two of R&R we are finally back at the helm, steering our Bodega inexorably towards the Christmas rush (we hope!) In anticipation of this we now have to stock up on certain lines, and so the trucks have been arriving over the last couple of days, laiden with all the materials that we need for bottling. Over the next few days our bottling line will be working overtime, as will our staff, as we fill the warehouse with a bit of Christmas cheer……

 Unfortunately, however organised we are (or think we are), there is always something to throw a spanner in the works. Whilst bottling the first tank for example, the capsule machine started to play up, and decided that it would only put capsules on two out of every three bottles. A 33% saving I hear you say – but unfortunately not acceptable to our customers! In the short term the only answer is to have one individual standing in front of the line dispensing capsules by hand as the bottles speed past at roughly 1,500 – 2,000 bottles per hour – that’s about one bottle every two seconds.

Having drawn the short straw I had the task of placing the capsules myself, and I can tell you, not only do you hardly have time to blink, but also, after an hour or two, the whole process has a slightly hypnotic effect (no doubt I will be ‘capsuling’ in my sleep tonight).

So when we tell our customers that Angela and I are very hands-on managers, that’s exactly what we mean!