When we started our business, The Vermont Spätzle Company almost five years ago we needed to advertise our brand and make our own deliveries.
Every other week Marty did a 500 loop throughout the state of Vermont. He tried doing it in his dad’s old Pathfinder which worked in the very beginning, but as the delivery run grew, we needed a delivery van.
Everywhere we went people stopped to talk to the “spätzle people.” The advertising on the van was working. We wanted as many people possible to see our company logo and ask about it.
As the business grew, we couldn’t give up one whole day of production for delivery day. We are very blessed to have a local business, Wilcox Ice Cream, drop ship our frozen spätzle for us. It’s worth every penny for us to have a distributor.
We still deliver to the NY surrounding area, but the amount of cases deliver doesn’t require a delivery van any more.
When we started the business we sold my Volkswagen. We didn’t want the burden of a car payment with the uncertainty of a new business. I began driving Marty’s dads Pathfinder. I was grateful to have a vehicle to drive, but it wasn’t something I enjoyed driving; except for the heated seats.
We sold the pathfinder last winter, it needed a bunch of work and we didn’t want to sink money into an old vehicle that I didn’t even like, but drove.
That’s when I started driving the delivery van all of the time. I hated it. I hate that it only has front windows and I have to use only my mirrors to merge onto highways and to back up. It’s not easy to drive and not pleasurable at all.
The speakers suck which is an understatement! I listen to music all of the time but not in the van. The cheap base model tiny speakers are so terrible that I’d rather go without music.
Week after week I started to hate driving the van even more. I parked way in the back of parking lots because I can’t park the thing correctly. I have no perception of where the parking lines are without being able to see properly.
Another thing that I hate about driving the van is the advertising. What we needed in the beginning became a drag. Everyone knew where I was and would comment they saw me here or there. People still stopped me to ask about our product. When I am out running errands, errands I don’t want to be doing anyway, the last thing I want is to have to talk to people and making the errands take twice as long.
Having a vehicle with your brand on it is not ideal because I have to be a courteous driver; I don’t want to give our business a bad name. I am not a patient driver and like to make gestures and swear…are you surprised at all? Lol.
With winter coming, I really knew I didn’t want to drive the van anymore. The van doesn’t have heat, it has slightly warm air. I hate winter and the cold, so not having heat is awful and not acceptable.
Again, I didn’t want spend money to put in a new heating system in a vehicle I hated. I hate driving it so much, I hated to drive at all. I told Marty I wanted my own vehicle again.
We have a monthly car payment on the van so it’s not like a new bill. I was sure I could find a nice vehicle roughly within the monthly payment we already had.
I did find one! I pick it up on Friday afternoon. I’ll wait to show her to you after she comes home. The only thing I will tell you is that I love the color of my new vehicle…Area 51. 👽
Thank you Spätzle Mobile for your service. You were there when we needed you, but it’s time to move on and help someone else out. Adios kid!