There used to be meeting rooms and a larger tea kitchen at the Obermenzingen headquarters of Genussreisen GmbH. There are now crates and boxes full of wine, breadsticks, cheese, San Daniele ham and many other things that can be packed into a pleasure box. The stairs to the basement have also become narrower because boxes are stacked on top of each other towards the wall on the right. This is not how you imagine a travel company to be. But what can I say: Corona makes it possible.
Beatrix Schell already had a dream while she was studying business administration with a focus on tourism: her own company offering trips for gourmets. To places and regions where you can eat and drink well, where there are specialties to be discovered that you would otherwise not come across when travelling. That was very much in line with her own tendencies, says the native Hungarian. “My parents had a small vineyard on Lake Balaton themselves,” she says, “we always had to help out there as children.” At that time she hated it – but at some point the hate turned to love: “The peace and quiet there have become a passion for me.”
The dream became reality, 15 years ago she and her husband founded the company Pleasure Travel. Tours through European regions that are known for their culinary specialties, mostly with overnight stays in small, owner-managed hotels. So insider tips. For individual travelers as well as for groups who want to book a whole package. That went from a weekend for two in Friuli for 268 euros to a group trip for several thousand euros.
“We were left with nothing,” reports Schell. Then the saving idea came to her
Your concept was well received. And it also had the advantage for the two that they could go on a journey of discovery themselves to find all the small and large producers that they were then allowed to introduce to their customers. “There are great, small manufacturers there,” reports Schell, “they make hard cheese, for example, which is also suitable for vegetarians because they use plant-based silver thistle extract instead of animal rennet. This also thickens the milk and creates the typical crystalline one Structure, as you know it from Parmesan.” She is happy about every new insider tip that she can offer. But also if she can include the winery of rock singer Gianna Nannini and her organic wines in her travel portfolio.
Of course, such details make the experience of gourmet travel. And when the pandemic suddenly broke out in March 2020, the Schells were initially overcome by deep despair. “We had a few sleepless nights,” reports Schell, “we were left with nothing.” The cancellations just poured in, who wanted to go to Italy, France or Portugal under these circumstances?
In those days, Schell reports, she talked a lot on the phone with her tour guides at the destinations. And one day, the Italian partner reported that she just had a Zoom meeting with New York. Then the saving thought came to her. “I turned to my husband at the other desk and said: ‘You know what? We’re now simply doing our pleasure trips via zoom as an interactive workshop!'” She gives him credit, says Beatrix Schell, for immediately agreeing with her. “and didn’t come with concerns and objections, as others would have done immediately”.
There are many delicatessen boxes, “but ours come with a travel companion!”
A small meeting room became a live stream studio where Schell moderates her travels. And the tea kitchen became a packing station. Because if the pleasure travelers couldn’t come to the wineries, restaurants, cheese and ham factories, bakers and confectioners, then they had to come to the pleasure travelers – by cardboard box and delivery service, by small clips and live connection. The world packed in a box, so to speak.
“There have of course been many delicatessen and cooking boxes since the beginning of the pandemic,” says Schell, “but ours come with travel companions!” In addition to a package with wines and local specialties, there is a live stream of 90 to 120 minutes in which the delicacies are explained – by Beatrix Schell herself and by tour guides, winegrowers and producers. Just as it would happen at the respective destination in Piedmont or in Provence – only via zoom on the computer. “Our expert from South Tyrol, Andreas Gottlieb Hempel, who will soon be 80, has worked enthusiastically and now leads Zoom tastings.”
It was quite a logistical challenge, all the delicacies had to be ordered and packed. Although the small producers were happy about the orders, they occasionally reached the limits of their capacities. Sometimes there are problems with the delivery times, so the two company owners sometimes have to work a night shift so that everything gets to the customers on time. Apparently they are enthusiastic when you look around the offices of pleasure travel. Schell has now packed nine European regions into boxes, mainly in Italy and France, but Great Britain, Portugal and Austria are also on offer, “unfortunately Hungary of all places isn’t doing so well”.
Otherwise, the Schells are very happy with the success of their virtual trips, a large insurance company has just ordered 600 boxes for their employees, with the associated online trip, of course. Of course: analogue trips are something else. And one can imagine that, despite everything, Beatrix Schell is longingly waiting to find insider tips herself again, directly at the respective travel destinations.