Cafe Allez! needs YOUR help!

Friends and customers: yesterday was a big day for us, it marked 1 year since our first event with Van Henri: a wedding celebration for a lovely couple, Paul and Jo.

Since then we’ve had a lot of adventures…
– We’ve partnered with some brilliant corporate clients like the Marriott Hotels group, Delta Global Source, Brown and Co. and others …
– We’ve had Henri re-branded for companies such as Butcher’s Pet Care
– We’ve helped other couples with their wedding celebrations
– We’ve battled through sub-zero temperatures to attend Christmas markets and fairs
– We’ve supported cyclists and runners at various sporting events
– We’ve served drinks to Timmy Mallett!
– We’ve fuelled various car & bike meets, from Hillman Imps to the Notts Custom Car & Bike show
– We’ve attended numerous meets at Leicester Racecourse
– We’ve made Henri a film star for a forthcoming Channel 4 film (and served a bona-fide A-lister in the process)…
– We’ve made over 106 cups of coffee
– We’ve been proud to use local produce from the likes of 200 Degrees Coffee Roasters, Hambleton Bakery, Digital Deadline, B&H Midland Services, Miss B’s Traditional Tearooms, Cherizena and many others
– We’ve offered a discount for anyone who brings us a re-usable cup – and offered our stylish re-usable bamboo cup for sale. (And all our disposables are compostable).
– We’ve had a frequent presence at the stunning Belvoir Castle, servicing locals, cyclists, tourists alike

We at Cafe Allez! love bikes: cycles and motorbikes alike.  In fact, with the exception of Van Henri, all of the team love to cycle when we’re not serving you with rocking drinks and goodies.

So today we launch a special loyalty scheme: grab one (or more) of our fabulous decals next time you see us; apply it to your machine (or water bottle); and show it to us on subsequent visits to get a 25p discount on the drink of your choice.

The decals are of the highest quality, being easy to apply, easy to remove in the future (but why would you?), highly durable and UV resistant.  You have a choice of silver or black designs, both incorporating the Cafe Allez! logo and with a distinctive bike cog theme.

Terms and conditions: this can’t be used in conjunction with any other offer except for our ‘re-usable cup’ 10p eco discount.  Only one redemption per visit is allowed.

Special thanks to Acethespace Design for the fabulous design and to Digital Deadline for their expert and swift printing.

Chances are if you have been to Café Allez! at Belvoir Castle over the last few weeks then you may well have noticed a new face in a Café Allez! apron. If we haven’t introduced you properly yet then let us do so now… introducing our newest recruit – Ella! Until recently, Ella had lived in the Vale of Belvoir all her life, however, she has just finished her first year at the University of York where she is studying English Literature. Whist she is home for the summer, Ella is joining the Café Allez! team.

Ella loves the outdoors and being busy, and has recently completed her Silver Duke of Edinburgh – her favourite bit of the award was the expedition (of course!). She gets around the Vale (including to work on Van Henri) on her cycle, her favourite section of road is Canal Lane and the surroundings of Dove Cottage!

Ella chose the University of York due to its relatively small size, and the choice of modules on offer as part of her course. At university, she is an environmental ambassador, and loves the steps Café Allez! are taking to be environmentally friendly. We are sure as she gets more familiar with our set-up, she will contribute ideas to our operation.

So next time you come and see us then you may well be served by Ella – do say hi!

PS a little birdy tells us she won’t be at the Castle this Saturday as she will be too busy celebrating her Birthday!

Cafe Allez! had a truly memorable day on Friday as Van Henri spent a day filming for Channel 4 in London…

At this stage we can’t share pictures of the filming process or tell you much about the project but we’ll release more news when we’re authorised.

What we can tell you:  Van Henri was playing the part of a mobile coffee shop, (typecast again!), in Kensington Park.  He’s the main setting for a key scene in the film.

What else can we tell you?  Well – the film will be broadcast in March and features probably the finest actor of our generation, who was a pleasure to serve…

We can also tell you that the filming process was a lot of fun, but hard work for cast and crew… 1 days’ filming (12 hours) equating to just a few minutes of final screen time.

The Citroen HY van / Citroen H van is an iconic vehicle and Henri in particular is a great choice for hire for filming and similar projects because a) he’s in such fine fettle, b) he is in quite a neutral colour and c) our Cafe Allez! branding can be easily removed to enable a whole new identity … as seen here …

We can also report that Henri behaved impeccably in the cut and thrust of central London traffic…

As a mobile coffee shop, sometimes there are logistical challenges to delivering our ideal menu, but we always apply some creativity and hard work in our quest to deliver what you want.

And, quite rightly in the midst of this stunning British Summer, you want iced coffee!

So … we’re offering this at most events now.  We’ve experimented and we’ve created a delicious iced coffee by brewing a double espresso shot over ice, then adding semi-skimmed milk and mixing together.  You can see this come together on our YouTube and Instagram channels…

That’s the standard offering… the variations after that are many, just tell us what you’d like!  We can swap the milk for cold water to make an iced Americano… or why not add a shot of caramel, vanilla or hazelnut syrup to inject some sweetness to soften the coffee taste?  And if you’d prefer yours as a decaf, or with oat milk, or soya milk? – no problem!

Cafe Allez! – keeping you cool this Summer and beyond ….

I recall when we first bought Henri that the lady who sold him promised us ‘many adventures’.  How right she was … the last few days have been pretty intense, but definitely an adventure alright…

We kicked off last Saturday with the Stanion Summer fete (near Kettering) for some family fun in the sun.  Sunday saw us back at Belvoir Castle, after which, Henri was re-branded and we drove to York ready for a week of events with our friends at the Marriott hotels group.

So… Monday saw us teaming up with the Marriott chefs and team and taking the ultimate morning break to one of their key customers in York, including barista coffees, smoothies and bacon rolls.  We returned in the afternoon to repeat the treat, this time with bruschetta and spicy pulled pork wraps.

Monday evening, Claire and Mark took the evening off but Henri was serving drinks to valued regular guests on the York Marriott lawn.

Tuesday: off to Leeds, where we set up a virtual coffee shop in the beautiful Trevelyan Square, before travelling to Bradford to serve up a break to remember for a key Marriott client (an agri-chemical firm).

Then we headed to Manchester, where we plotted our next day’s mission: serving breakfast, then lunch, to two of the Marriott’s key customers near Manchester airport.  This included a tour around an aircraft hanger / maintenance depot from the grateful customer.

Off then to Preston, where on Thursday, we headed to the English Football Leauge Trust to serve their team, before crossing town to the Northwest Ambulance Service NHS Trust in Preston, where we (and the Marriott chefs) took an afternoon break service to around 150 of their team.

After bidding farewell to the Marriott, we headed for home, then onto the Wincle Brewery Beer Festival near Macclesfield to provide coffee and cakes in the evening (Friday) and to the campers and revellers on Saturday.

Home Saturday night, then on Sunday out to The Health Store’s HQ in Nottingham, to provide our hot drinks service to the many visitors to their bi-annual open day.

Several hundred miles, several cities, several hundred customers served … 14 engagements in 9 days … Henri, we salute you! … as you head to the Citroen equivalent to the spa, (the garage for your annual service).

What has all this taught us?  Three things: 1. with teamwork – including support from the Marriott team, almost anything is possible!  2. The more preparation you can put in beforehand, the easier things get and 3. A curry and a pint taste better if you’ve earned it.  Last night, we reckoned we had!

Cycling home from a course last night, I did a double-take on spotting three of Henri’s cousins in a compound.  On closer inspection, all was not what it seemed … these are fibre glass replicas of Citroen HY vans that look quite convincing, if you squint a bit, remove your contact lenses and wait until dusk.

They’re mounted on a trailer so they can be easily towed around and sited in shopping centres etc.

We can see the appeal!  Unlike with Henri, with one of these, you wouldn’t be awake at night worrying about rust, oil incontinence, the next MOT, or an inability to cruise at a heady 50mph.

But let’s be honest – unlike Henri, they’re not the real deal, right?  So we don’t intend to swap any time soon.  And Henri isn’t concerned either as he believes imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

There are parallels with our service, the more we thought about it.  We could install an automated coffee machine and press a button marked ‘latte’ every time you wanted a caffe latte.  Or we could buy all of our cakes in from a big food wholesaler.  Your coffee would arrive a bit faster and would taste a bit like a latte.  Your cakes might be a little cheaper and more uniform.  But they wouldn’t be the real deal!

When we make your caffe latte, Americano, mocha, or … it will be authentic and made with passion and care, just like Van Henri.  We’ll source the best beans we can find from local roasters.  We’ll grind them fresh for each drink so your coffee is as delicious as possible. We’ll time every espresso shot so you get the optimum flavour.  And we’ll steam and texture your milk to the best of our ability, every time.

This all takes a little longer and sometimes, very occasionally(!), we’ll make mistakes.  But just as with Van Henri, there is no substitute for the real thing…

We’re set for a busy few weeks!  You can click below to see where to find us and when…

Cafe Allez! Calendar at 18.6.18

We’ve just launched our Cafe Allez! YouTube channel – why not subscribe to watch our videos?

We’re kicking off proceedings with four short films, showing you what it’s like to drive Van Henri, our wonderful Citroen HY van … we also explain a little more about the history and technical details of these iconic vans.  We take in the stunning Vale of Belvoir scenery including the iconic Belvoir Castle.

We’d love to hear your feedback, any questions you have, and ideas for future videos you’d like to see from Cafe Allez!

Search YouTube for Cafe Allez to find us, or click here …

Hands up, who’s tried a chai latte or tea before? Being open: until very recently, we hadn’t!

But then we remembered: a) “embrace change” and b) you should try everything once except for two things, one of which we can’t mention here.

So when we learned about Henny & Joe’s masala chai infusion, the care they take to produce it (in Bath) and the taste awards they’ve won, we thought we’d taste it.