Every weekday the alarm clock of Bert Arends (61) from Beileen goes off at 5:15 am. At half past seven he boards the train to Amsterdam, to sell coffee in the Vondelpark with his mobile coffee trick. The reason for traveling all the way to Amsterdam for this is simple: “There is a lot of work here,” says Bert.
Just before corona, Bert started selling coffee in the Vondelpark. It went so well that he never stopped.
With his off-peak ticket he travels first class to Amsterdam Central, where he takes the bus to Houthavens. He has a warehouse there where all his coffee stuff is kept. In the warehouse he prepares his coffee truck, which he drives straight through the city to the Vondelpark.
The first people are already waiting for Bert in the Vondelpark. He’s there every day around 11:30 am, and they know exactly that. “I cherish this phenomenon,” says a lady who regularly gets a cup of coffee from Bert when she walks through the Vondelpark with her grandchild. “It allows for more interaction with each other, while everyone else just walks past each other.”
Contact with customers is what Bert likes so much about his work. “The barista is always popular,” he says. “When I want to drive away, people still knock on my window to ask if I’m still open. They think I can whip up a coffee anytime, anywhere. But that takes a little more time and effort.”
The differences between Amsterdammers and Drenthe residents? “Well, Drenthe people always find coffee a bit expensive,” says Bert, laughing. “And if an Amsterdammer orders coffee and he wants cow’s milk, he says: I want a cappuccino with regular milk. While in Drenthe it is self-evident that you get cow’s milk in your cappuccino.”
After a whole day of tapping coffee, Bert packs everything up again at the end of the afternoon. “I always try to catch the first train after off-peak time, so that I can still get home on time. The NS does not always cooperate with that. But if I succeed, I am always happy to be in Beilen. .”