Author: Jarm69

Fun Story

Tales Of Misadventure, Killer Monkey

10 May 2023

Years gone by, animal menageries were a regular site on fairgrounds. Most people hadn’t seen exotic animals, so the chance to visit a sideshow with some of the more weird and wonderful inhabitants of our planet was a big draw.

By the time I was growing up on the funfair circuit, they had disappeared. The only one with anything exotic was Uncle Gilbert Chadwicks show that had mostly things like six legged sheep (dead and stuffed) and other weird things. It also had a monkey. An actual real live monkey called Joey.

Now some of the older kids would collect dead goldfish from the hook a duck stalls, and feed them to Joey. I was invited along one day to take part in this ritual. Unfortunately not being trained in the art of feeding monkeys, I held onto the fish a little too long, and Joey decided that the quickest way to his meal, was to bite me first to get me to let go.

I remember Colin, one of the bigger kids, giving me a drink of his shandy, as a sort of bribe to not tell my dad what had happened. Unfortunately walking in with blood streaming down my hand elicited a demand as to what had happened.

The Hospital

Cue a trip to the hospital. Which wouldn’t have been too bad, unfortunately we happened to be at Hartlepool at the time.

Now, if you don’t hail from the North East, then you might not be aware of the legend of the monkey hangers. That’s how locals are referred to by other denizens of the North East. The legend is, that during the Napoleonic wars. A French ship floundered off the coast of Hartlepool. Eventually being shipwrecked, the only survivor being the ships mascot which happened to be a monkey.

The monkey luckily survived and managed to make it to shore. Where unluckily it found itself in Hartlepool. The locals, never having met a Frenchman, arrested the unfortunate primate as an enemy combatant. They tried to question the monkey, which steadfastly refused to reply. Presumably being a French monkey it didn’t understand English.

After a short trial, where Monsieur Monkey refused to offer anything in his defence. They found him guilty of invading Hartlepool and sentenced him to immediate death by hanging. Perhaps if the poor sod had been fortunate enough to be shipwrecked somewhere civilised it might have had a longer lifespan. This one was more monkey killed than monkey killer.

Anyway, having been informed by dad that I had been bitten, the doctor understandably asked by what.

The answer of a monkey didn’t really go down to well, with the doctor being a local lad. After a second request for the breed of animal met with the same answer he became quite irate. Dad calmed him down and explained the situation. Seeing the funny side, I am sure the doctor repeated that story regularly on his coffee breaks. Anyway, a call to a specialist wid animal resource in London brought the reply that it should be treated the same way as a dog bite. A bloody big needle of anti tetanus, and a through clean and bandaging of the wound. So after all I survived the attack of the killer monkey.

Equipment, Fun Story

New Equipment, Nissan Primastar

6 May 2023

We have pretty much always ran PSA group vans. Primarily Citroen Dispatches, and last year we added a Vauxhall Vivaro, same van, different badge. The Vauxhall was the LWB version which came in handy when transporting our gourmet burger units.

To be fair, they have been pretty reliable. Normally we swapped the oldest one in each year. Covid, mucked the system up, and we found ourselves needing three new vans.

Originally in 2021 we ordered a new Dispatch. It was going to be delivered for September. Then October, November December, January, and finally some time after March. At that point we cancelled it.

That turned out to be a mistake, since between ordering and cancelling it, the price had gone up some four grand, and the spec had been cut in half.

Everywhere we looked, they were quoting, pretty much indeterminate delivery times. Eventually I happened on a garage with a Vauxhall Vivaro, still at a reasonable spec, but a lot more expensive then we had been paying for vans. We added that to the fleet last March.

Vauxhall Vivaro

Roll around 2023 and the decision was made that we needed another two vans. Queue a look around our usual suppliers. What we found was that they had gone up another four grand since last year, while simultaneously the spec was cut again. So in effect, we would be paying more per van than the top of the range versions had been a couple of years ago. And for our money we would be getting something not much above the minimum spec.

Enter Nissan Primastar

To be honest, the cut in spec pissed me off as much as the jump in price, so I decided that maybe it was time to look around. Now that isn’t as easy as it sounds. Citroen, Peugeot, Fiat, Toyota and Vauxhall are all the same van. We hired a couple of Ford Custom’s one Christmas, and everyone refused to drive them, the handling was that poor. My experience with Mercedes vans, is that if you drive through a puddle of water they start to fall apart with rust within the week. VW transporters were liked, but just too bloody expensive for what you got.

Eventually we turned up at Nissan. The vans were a nice drive, slightly larger inside both the load area and the cabin than our previous vans which was a plus. Similar on fuel economy. Came with a shorter service interval than Citroen which is a bit crap, but were twenty per cent cheaper and came with a top of the range spec. they didn’t come with twin side loading doors as standard, but it was an option for only £280. So overall we decided to give them a chance and ordered two.

Catering

Burger Joints Of The World, Wimpy Burgers

3 May 2023

Growing up in the North East, Wimpys was THE burger place. As a kid growing up in the early 80’s McDonalds and Burger King hadn’t reached the North East at that time, and you wanted a burger, you went to Wimpy.

Named after the character of J.Wellington Wimpy in the Popeye cartoons, the chain was founded in Bloomington Indiana by Edward Gold in 1934.

By 1947 the chain had grown to 26 outlets spread across the midwest, with the Chicago tribune estimating the group was expecting to sell some 8 million burgers annually in the Chicago area.

International Expansion

Wimpy was a bit of an outlier in American burger chains. At its peak it was estimated to have 26 units in its homeland. But across the rest of the world it peaked at 1500 outlets.

It’s first foreign venture came in 1954 when Gold sold a licence to J. Lyons and Co. to open stores across the UK. In 1957 a joint venture was formed with Lyons to market Wimpy across the rest of the globe. This lasted until 2007 when Wimpy UK became a subsidiary of the South African group Famous Brands International. They took over the worldwide franchising arrangements directly from their base in South Africa.

The first UK Wimpy was in Lyons Corner House in Coventry Street London. The Wimpy was so successful that it soon led to the establishment of stand alone Wimpys serving only a range of burger meals. They differed to the later chains such as McDonalds, in that they were more like a typical diner with table service rather than serving across the counter.

One peculiarity of the chain, was that in the 1970’s entry was refused to unaccompanied woman after midnight, based on the assumption that they could be prostitutes.

1978 saw the debut of Mr Wimpy, the promotional character in his beefeater outfit.

McDonalds And Into A Decline

By the end of the 80’s McDonalds had gained a firm toehold in the UK, and the chain was starting to decline. McDonalds over the counter fast service found favour, and Wimpy had to start altering its operating methods in an attempt to remain relevant.

In 1989 the business was purchased by Grand Metropolitan, (now Diagio) who also owned Burger King. Many of the Wimpy outlets were converted to Burger Kings as the new owners felt the BK had greater international recognition.

Currently there are some 67 Wimpys still in operation in the UK. Many in seaside resorts, or other smaller towns such as Huddersfield, many in more low rent locations, a far cry from their heyday on the high street.

Wimpy Triple

Wimpy’s flagship burger. A triple pattie, but topping out at 864 calories. Positively anorexic compared to some of the burgers on offer in America.

South Africa

The chain has its greatest presence in South Africa where there are still 453 outlets. There they are themed more along the American Diner retro style.

Like many 80’s kids I remember the Wimpy fondly. A couple of years ago I chanced upon one on a job, and decided to try a quarter pounder. It was fabulous, and far superior to the other American offerings in the UK.

Catering, Equipment, Event Planning

Burger Joints Of The World, Quicks Burgers

29 April 2023

This time we leave the good ole US of A, and take a look at a chain of burger joints hailing from Belgium. I must admit a soft spot for these as on honeymoon, when we didn’t have a lot of disposable income, we frequented Quicks burgers as the most affordable eatery whilst we were in France and Belgium.

It is also nice seeing a different take in the actors and models used for the advertisements. Whereas the Americans have everyone looking like they have just stepped off a catwalk. Quicks use people that look more like, well people. Check out the welcome video on the homepage, love the part where one guy whips his wig off to reveal he is bald, whilst the other one is eating with his mouth open and full of lettuce.

The chain began life in 1971 when Baron Vaxelaire opened two restaurants in Antwerp and Waterloo. 30 years later it had grown to over 400 stores in France, Belgium, Luxembourg and a number of French overseas territories.

To be honest, the chain doesn’t really do anything outstanding or unique, but it just makes a nice counterpoint to the overload of American chains. Having tasted them I can attest to the fact that their burgers do taste a helluva lot better than your typical McDonalds fare.

Mega Giant

All in all, a nice, profitable if rather bland entry into our series of burger joints.

Catering

Celebrate National Pretzel Day

26 April 2023
Hot Dog Carts For Hire

Happy National Pretzel day everyone. Another of our popular lines has a day dedicated to it. Once again by the Americans, boy they sure love their food.

Like many things in life, the origins of the pretzel are a little unclear. Its reputed that they were invented by Italian monks to reward the children who had learnt their prayers around 610 AD.

Another source puts the invention in a southern France monastery. The looped pretzel could also be related to the Greek Ring bread from the communion bread used by monks a thousand years ago.  The Catholic Church bestowed pretzels with a religious significance for both ingredients and their shape.

Soft Dough Or Crunchy

There are two distinct types of pretzels. The traditional large soft dough pretzel. Very bread like and served with salt or cinnamon.

pretzels
pretzels

There is also hard snack pretzels. These are crunchy bite sized pretzels. The same shape as their larger dough counterparts (or indeed available as sticks), but more like a crisp or biscuit. Sometimes these are served covered in chocolate, and they tend to come in a variety of flavours.

Hard Biscuit Pretzels
Hard Biscuit Pretzels

Whichever pretzel floats your boat, we can provide a range of Pretzel serving carts to serve them to your guests or colleagues to help celebrate national pretzel day.

Soft Dough Pretzel Machine
Soft Dough Pretzel Machine

We serve our soft dough pretzels in our warmer/humidifier. This keeps them at both the correct temperature, and nice and moist. Served with salt and cinnamon, and also a range of spices to help add some flavour. Celebrate national pretzel day with gorgeous dough pretzels.

Check out some of our other desserts.

Catering, Equipment, Event Planning

New Equipment, Generator System

18 April 2023
10kva-Generator

In the past when we specialised in ‘Fun Food’ such as candy floss, doughnuts etc. We usually had it in our contract that the client was to provide power. This worked great for single items.

However as we moved into bigger catering jobs such as gourmet burgers, the discussion would go like this.

“We need four individual 13 amp power supplies”,

Client “No problem”

On arrival we would be handed a 6 way multiplug, which connected to a single 13 amp socket, and then told that the other two connections were for the pizza van and DJ. So all in all they were trying to run some 60 amps from a 13 amp connection.

The predictable result was that we spent most of the night trying to find some way to actual power our kit up.

The Move To L.P.G.

Or to give it its full title, liquid petroleum gas. We bought in a considerable amount of kit that could be powered from portable gas bottles. An added benefit was that many of them actually cooked faster than their electrical equivalents.

The downside was that many health and safety officers don’t like gas. So many venues we were banned from using it and back to the original problem.

We already had a small 30 amp generator that we used occasionally, but for some of the larger events, this was nowhere near enough.

10kva-Generator
10kva-Generator

The Answer, More Power

It was decided that we needed to move up a class in generator systems. We looked at some new builds from a company in Peterborough. We worked out that we needed probably a 30kva set. So we decided to go for a 63kva.

The thinking behind this was that buying what we need did not give us any room for future growth. So 63 gave us some breathing space. Additionally the larger set was only some £800 more expensive, was no bigger physically, and used the same engine so should have similar running costs.

Making It Portable

We acquired a set of axles for it, and asked our friends at Fairtech Fabrications to put a trailer system together for us so that it was road transportable.

Being Mounted

They fabricated a simple two axle trailer and mounted the unit for us, giving us flexibility to power anything we are going to run in the next couple of years at least. We could probably do with a mid sized generator system, something in the 25kva range perhaps, but that is for a future project.

Finishing Touches

Once we had it mounted, we adding some basic branding with our new Crazy & Co. logo, and storage facilities for cable adaptors etc, along with a detachable fire extinguisher, just in case.

Catering, Food Trucks, Fun Story

Burger Joints Of The World, Fatburger

15 April 2023

Next up in our series of burger joints, is another American offering. The aptly names Fatburger, motto “The Last Great Hamburger Stand” .

Originally called Mr Fatburger, it was started by Lovie Yancey and her husband. When the couple split up, Yancey dropped the Mr from the name.

It remained pretty much a California based business, until the late 90’s when an expansion project was embarked upon across five Western States in the US, along with Canada, China, Pakistan, UAE and over a dozen other countries.

The chain was built up to 182 stores across the world. With some celebrity owners such as Kanye West, Pharrell and Montel Williams all owning franchises.

XXXL Triple Kingburger

The chain offers the usual burger chain fare of fries, burgers, onion rings and so on. Its top of the range offering is the XXXL Triple Kingburger. A 2050 calorie behemoth that is a heartattack in a bun with a full 1.5 pounds of beef.

We love burgers as much as the next guy, but really a full pound and a half. The equivalent to six quarterpounders, no wonder the USA has an obesity problem. This burger alone is almost a full days calorie intake no wonder they call them fatburger.

Equipment, funfair events, Funfair Rides, Manufacturer Profile

Zamperla, A Manufacturer Profile

12 April 2023

Another in our regular series looking at amusement ride builders throughout the world. The Italian company of Zamperla S.p.A. based in VicenzaVeneto, is a little different to many of the other big names out there. There range not only encompasses the giant roller coasters of many of their competitors. It also included more funfair orientated travelling rides, again matching others in their market, but they also build a range of tiny coin operated rides. The kind you find in a supermarket or shopping center.

History

Their history dates back over a century, to when, like many ride manufacturers, they were actually operators. Originally travelling an equestrian circus, before becoming one of the first operators of a street cinema in Italy.

Mr. Antonio Zamperla, founder of the company, realised that many of the larger amusement rides, such as the dodgems, could be recreated in smaller versions for the children. Indeed the ‘Mini Scooters’ or bumper cars for kids was one of their early successful lines. Leading to a host of repackaged attractions for the smaller clients visiting fairs.

Of course they have a range of adult rides to complement the children’s attractions.

Arrival Stateside

In 1976, the company arrived in Montreal, before moving to New Jersey to establish a sales office and spare parts warehouse operation.

The company provided some seven, out of the initial 12 rides that were installed in Euro Disney, a feather in the cap by any yardstick.

In 2005 the founder of the company, Mr. Antonio Zamperla, became the first Italian to be inducted into the IAAPA Hall of Fame 

Roller Coasters

The company also boasts an impressive resume in roller coasters. Though they did tend to specialise more in attractions that could be dismantled and travelled. Over the years they have built some 368 coasters and counting.

Resources;

Zamperla

Catering, Equipment, Event Planning, Food Trucks, Fun Story

Burger Joints Of The World, In-N-Out Burgers

5 April 2023

Gourmet burgers are one of our main lines nowadays. Despite the campaigns for healthier heating, veganism etc, burgers are still massively popular.

Like most people I have made many a visit to the famous American chains over here, namely McDonalds and Burger King. In fact I am old enough to remember when Wimpy was a massive chain, and truth be told, what I remember of them, their burger was better than either of the USA behemoths.

However there are many other chains or ‘burger joints’ in the US of A. Non at the size of the main two, but some pretty big and expanding. Some of the smaller ones are nowhere near in size, but have massive public followings. We are gonna look at a few of these, their history and menu’s.

Our first contender is the quaintly named In-N-Out Burgers. First launched in the Los Angeles suburb of Baldwin Park California by Harry and Esther Snyder in 1948. The original store was tiny, only some 10ft square. Harry would visit the local wholesalers each morning to pick out the freshest ingredients whilst his wife Esther would take care of the administration and bookkeeping.

The beef patties were made by hand fresh every morning, and quality was a watchword for them from the off.

Drive Through

Harry would work in his garage on a night, after long days of cooking burgers. Later in 1948 he put together a two way voice box allowing his customers to order food without even leaving their cars. This focus on drive through was a mainstay of the companies business model. In fact it wasn’t until restaurant No.21 in 1979 that they even had a sit down section to allow guests to consume their food on the premises.

By 1963 they had grown to the extant that they opened their own processing plant for the burgers, up till then Esther had prepared each patty using a hand press.

By the time Harry Snyder died in 1976, at the age of 63, the chain had grown to 18 restaurants.

Second Generation

Harry’s son 24-year-old Rich Snyder took the reins after his fathers death and expanded the chain rapidly, building the chain to 90 stores over the next 20 years.

Sadly in 1993 whilst returning from opening store No. 93 in Fresno, California, Rich died along with four other passengers when the light aircraft he was in crashed due to being caught in the wake turbulence of a larger aircraft that landed in front of them.

His brother Guy took over and aggressively expanded the company to over 140 locations in six years before dying from an overdose of painkillers.

Esther Snyder died in 2006 at the age of 86 whereupon the presidency passed to Mark Taylor, former VP of operations.

Animal Burgers

They launched their ‘Animal’ burger in 1961, where the beef pattie was fried in a thin layer of mustard, add extra pickles and grilled onions were added.

Protein Burger

Their protein burger, dispenses with the bun and wraps the whole lot in lettuce, for a healthier option.

Flying Dutchman

A real unusual one this, think of taking the burger out of the bun and , well and nothing. That’s what you get, two patties, two slices of cheese (well that yellow stuff the Americans claim is cheese), pickles salad and wrap it in a slice of paper. In N Out have many items on their secret menu. Not on display in the restaurants, but viewable on the website.

In n Out Burgers Crossed Palm Trees

The company tend to have a pair of crossed palm trees at the front of each location. This is allegedly in allusion to Harry Snyder’s favourite movie, It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad World.

Bible Quotes

In keeping with his Christian beliefs, many In n Out Burgers items such as the drinks cups have bible references printed on them.

Equipment, Event Planning, funfair events, Funfair Rides, Manufacturer Profile

A Manufacturer Profile, Bertazzon 3B

3 April 2023

I sometimes think that half of the funfair rides manufactured around the world are built by Italian companies. Todays quick profile is based on the Treviso based company of Bertazzon 3B.

Started by three brothers Luigi, Ferruccio and Marcello Bertazzon in 1951. They quickly moved into producing dodgem tracks and go-karts.

By 1963 the company was formally established, as Bertazzon 3B (for 3 brothers).

Modern Production

The company now is a major player in the ride production world, with Carousels, dodgems, dark rides, the Matterhorn, flying chairs and rail rides amongst others.

The company is, to use a modern buzz word, vertically integrated. All this means is that they pretty much produce everything they need in house. Some small stuff such as galvanising is done by outside contractors, but pretty much everything else they design and build themselves.

Dodgem Cars

One thing that Bertazzon do seem to stand out for is the breadth of dodgem cars they produce. Not just a couple of different styles with a range of paint jobs, they have some pretty unique stuff available, and seem open to the idea of building custom cars for clients.

They also produce a ‘drifting’ car, which as the name suggests drifts like a rally car when a button is pressed.

Resources;

Bertazzon Website