It sounds cliché, but it really has flown by. Our second BRASA anniversary magazine, packed with information about BRASA and the tenth anniversary year, is ready for you. Pride is the predominant feeling. First of all, on the team, because we run our great company together. It almost feels like family, with so many celebrants who have worked with us for a long time. Colleagues who are real catering people and have consciously chosen this beautiful profession. As teachers, they train the next generation. Ten years ago we started with one chef, now we have an entire kitchen brigade ready to serve the guests. The quality of our products is extremely high. This is due to the suppliers we work with and the products we make ourselves. Look at our own pastry shop. We aim for the very best and our suppliers also strive for the same. BRASA has now grown from a seasonal company into a catering business that is open all day long, seven days a week, all year round. We have made a huge leap in professionalism. In addition to dinner, we started with a lunch menu and now we also serve breakfast. We won the Terrace Top 100 and then traveled to Barcelona with the entire team. BRASA stands for quality, good wines and good food. In the coming years, our focus will be on keeping the company stable and improving work processes even further. Standing still means going backwards, you must always keep looking at what can be improved. We will do that together. But first we will enjoy all the festivities surrounding the tenth anniversary. Without guests there is no BRASA, without colleagues there is no BRASA, without suppliers there is no BRASA.
After a 48th place in 2018 and silver in 2019, there is now finally that coveted first place for Brasa Bar and Kitchen in Purmerend. Arwin Versteyne already had a top business and knows how to get the most out of it every year, but time and again he and his team manage to surprise and convince: ‘This is so good!’
Listening to Arwin Versteyne talk about entrepreneurship in the hospitality industry is like watching Lionel Messi on a football field. What he says all sounds completely logical and that makes it seem so easy.
But of course it doesn’t work that way. Since he converted his nightlife café Het Café into Brasa Bar and Kitchen in 2014, Arwin has slowly built an unparalleled business that is perfect in all facets. From breakfast to lunch, from drinks to dinner and ending with a DJ; Brasa is a complete company. Versteyne looks around carefully, learns, listens, invents and creates and all the good of that comes together in his business on the Koemarkt in Purmerend.
And the first thing you notice is the expansion. Versteyne had had his eye on his neighbor’s property for a long time, and when it became available last year, the entrepreneur struck. The two buildings now form one and the terrace has become a lot larger in one fell swoop. In total, Versteyne now has room for 120 guests inside and around 180 outside on the terrace.
‘I used to have one parasol with four heaters, now I have twelve with just as many heaters.’ Everyone who wants to is covered and warm at Brasa. In addition, the terrace is now finally equipped with glass screens. Finally, in the words of Versteyne. ‘I’ve wanted this for some time, but the municipality never allowed it. “Thanks to corona, they have been more involved and there is now a three-year trial.”
The comfort on the terrace, the nice variety in furniture, the top products and the delicious food: after a second place there was only one possibility for the next Terrace Top 100, said Versteyne after the result in 2019. He kept his word, chapeau !
Jury report
And then we will of course also take a look at the jury report with which Brasa managed to get the main jury to visit. An anonymous professional jury member was sent to the Koemarkt in Purmerend twice. Just as many times a positive report was returned. A summary:
‘Yes, what can we say now? This is just a treat to be able to be here,” says the report of one of our most critical jury members. Brasa knows how to treat everyone to an absurdly high level, where hospitality, products, comfort, conviviality and actually just ‘the catering industry’ come together. A top terrace. ‘Almost unreal and overwhelming how you are greeted here! At the reception it was immediately very warm and happy,” we read in the report. ‘Up until the installation, we were accompanied and welcomed to the rear terrace by three different ladies.’
And they all look so neat. All employees in beautiful shirts with the logo on the back and styled by Oger. A denim apron, everyone wears an earphone for good communication and a smile from ear to ear. Of course, it’s not just about appearance here. These ladies and gentlemen are on top of things, without being a disruptive presence, and know the ins and outs of the hat and have an eye for detail. “Serving is just a job here!” we read on with amusement.
Brasa moves with the times. We have of course known Gin Tonic for a while, but here we find a very nice variation of Gin alcohol-free on the menu, with a ginger ale this time instead of a tonic. And what we order is delivered ‘super quickly’. They work smartly from two bars: one for cocktails and gins and the other for the regular ‘ram work.’ ‘Yes, this cannot be anything other than the top of the Terras Top 100. Brasa has been in this league for several years, and they are proving that again now.’
Source: Misset horeca
Text: Michael Simon
06-09-2021
