Czech Day

Every few months at Key we have a special day to celebrate one of our sister companies in Europe. This time, it was the turn of the Czech Republic… Such a beautiful country!!!

A very motivated team of 7 staff put their heads together to plan a way to introduce the Czech culture to the rest of the company – food, music, games, culture and more.

The food was our first challenge, which was the most difficult because Czech food isn’t found easily in the UK. So, we had to complete the task of adapting the Czech recipes by using English ingredients.

As a result we put together a very colourful and interesting menu; Beef Goulash, fried camembert, cabbage salad, potato salad and cold sandwiches with ham, salami, roast beef and edam. We pickled cold sausages which looked more like brains than something edible and for dessert we made vol au vents with jam and double cream and apple strudel.

In two days the team had to prepare this massive event which included the decorations, the music and the food… it really was a big rush! Trying to do the shopping with a shopping list that wasn’t organised, attempting not to forget anything, looking for equivalent ingredients when the supermarket had sold out and jumping between different shops to find the perfect onion!

The team was ready, knives, tablespoons, pans… READY, GET SET, GO! Time to prepare a perfect lunch for 100 people. Although our colleagues would have been happier if the boiled vinegar from the sausages didn’t smell throughout the entire company!

Alongside the food we had a presentation about our sister company and played music by Czech pop singers who sing like Katy Perry, or Michael Buble…

18th of June, 12 pm, the Czech Republic day started, all employees still at their desks with the chefs in the kitchen. The food was laid out on tables with Czech flags as table cloths. The presentation and the music were ready to go. The sound of foot steps from a curious crowd on there way over. Time for the fun to begin.

At first a few people were reluctant to try the unusual dishes but the warehouse shortly arrived and jumped straight in with their forks! One mouthful later and the compliments began to start. Everything tasted really good (yes we were better tasters than ‘cookers’). As a team we can be proud of the job we did.

The favourite dishes of the day were the Beef Goulash which was prepared by Sarah and Steph in Marketing and the potato salad with its sweet cucumber taste prepared by Chloe and Lesley.

Next celebration in September will be for Casal, our sister company in France.

Article by Chloe, Internship Student.