German Market Place

The other day I wanted to see how Erich's bread is accepted at the German Market place. When I went there around lunch time the shelf was almost empty, 2 loaves of bread and some Dinkelspitz where left. I was told bey the shop owner:
If you want to see the full variety of Erich's bread make sure you're here by 9:30 because an hour later you might only see some pieces left on the shelf.

To make sure to get some shots of his bread I went there at 9:15 am next day and ran into the delivery guy, just in time......

To make sure the bread of your choice is available you can also pre order over the phone.

Give them a buzz at 6466 4044

Open times: Mon-Sat 10am-7pm

ADDRESS

609 Bukit Timah Road
Bus Lines: 74, 151, 170, 171, 174

Erich's bread comes closer to your home!

Great news for Erich's bread lovers. An assortment of Erich's bread from his renown Backstube is available now not only at his Kiosk in Chinatown but also at the 

German Market Place on Bukit Timah Road.

Open times: Mon-Sat 10am-7pm

ADDRESS

609 Bukit Timah Road
Phone: 6466 4044
Bus Lines: 74, 151, 170, 171, 174

 

Click here to see a bigger flyer image

Let me guess! Something's happened!

Are those "brown Bags" and people BYO? Well, it looks like. 

The fact is this weak economy is also taking its toll in the Chinatown businesses. Shop owners have enough time to look around how others are doing, some get seriously jealous if someone else is has more customers! ..........and suddenly they remember laws and rules which have never been enforced before that say:

"You have to consume your drink wherever you've purchased it!" It's the stall owner who has to make sure everything is in order. Anyone who doesn't follow that rule will be reported!

It's as simple as that!

By the way, you can get beer for reasonable prices right next to Erich in the food street and even enjoy Erich's sausages there.

Fruit juices from Stanley next door you can drink at Erich's. No problem at all!

 

However no rule disallows to bring your own, just cover up, nosy neighbours might watch!

Erich is "the" man

Look at that! Female customers or should I say FANS are placing themselves right in front of the counter to get Erich's full attention. Some worship him almost like a rock star!!

Lucky it was a slow night or other cutomers would not have been able to place their orders ;)

But I'm not gonna comment on his facial expression?

  

And The Winner Of The H1N1 Flu Crisis Is: The Pharmaceutical Industry

"Governments, hospitals and people are rushing to get supply of Tamiflu and Relenza", 

"Drugs, masks and thermometers out of stock" 

Major player Smitech (ASia) sold 250,000 digital thermometers here last week, five times more than last year. Another, Futron Electronics, ordered half a million digital thermometers last week. 'Everyone the world over is buying a thermometer now,' said Smitech managing director Christopher Koh.

Wow, that really sounds scary, doesn't it? 

First of all, let me make it very clear: There is no room for complacency and we have to retain certain measures to contain a potential outbreak!

Having said that, I got a feeling that some officials are over reacting also. Sure this is a novel disease in its first days and we don't know how it's going to turn out. However let me just give you some facts for comparison: 

The H1H1 virus has 1269 confirmed cases and so far 26 died in Mexico. 2 people died in the US. Just an hour ago a second US death was confirmed. 

The SARS virus between Nov 2002 and July 2003 had 8437 known infected cases and 813 deaths. 

Now lets compare these numbers with the annual "common" flu which is a big killer every year with our without a pandemic. WHO estimates upward of 250,000 to 500,000 people are killed year after year and 3 to 5 million a year are 

infected.

Even in Singapore which doesn't have a clear flu season one person dies every 15 hours due to the "normal" flu! 

These are numbers that scare me way more than the Swine flu.

What are the measurements governments are taking against these numbers besides flu vaccine promotions? Only now they are making noise and ask people to conduct good hygiene in washing hands or ordering more "spring cleaning" in hawker centres.

Shouldn't that be done on a regular base since we know this is at least one step to prevent flu? What about restarting another campaign to stop spitting in public! Yup you hear right, I still see cabbies (other folks as well) stopping at red lights opening the door and spitting it out!

There would be so much more we all could do but that would take a day to write about.

Well finally, to be "fair and balanced", not just the 

Pharma industry but medical supply companies (masks, thermometers, etc) as well and not to forget all the online pharmacies with many of them selling fake drugs to people that have been scared by the media hype are making lots of money!

Of course exaggerated headlines in media reports do scare people, but who cares as long as you can get folks listen or buy! 

Yes these viruses sell!

7-steps To Wash Your Hands

Can you believe it? We needed the swine flu to learn how to wash our hands! There is no doubt about the importance of proper hygiene...but not only when there is the thread of a pandemic on our globe. Shouldn't we always conduct good hygiene? Like....daily? I consider this a tragedy that adult people need a step by step instruction how to wash hands! That's the responsibility of parents to teach kids and later in Kindergarten or Primary Schools there should be a continuation of this process.
Do Singaporeans really need to win a car and other prizes to start thinking about washing their hands correctly?
I do think it should be common sense and interest for everyone to do their best in a situation like that! 


Oh and did I mention one hospital will be on the spy during hand washing demonstrations held at its atrium on weekdays and lucky draw coupons will be given to those spotted washing their hands. But it has to be done the right way. That is using the 7-step hand washing technique. 
These demonstrations will even be brought to locations outside the hospital. Videos showing the hand washing technique are available on YouTube as well.
In my humble opinion this is a very sad state of a country that experienced SARS only a couple of years ago and still doesn't know how to conduct a proper daily hygiene.

2 Reasons for Erich to Celebrate

1. Reason: VIENNA takes the top spot as the world's city with the best quality of living, according to the Mercer 2009 survey.

It has passed Zurich since last years survey. Geneva another Swiss city retains its third position while Vancover and Auckland

are now joint fourth in the rankings.

2. Reason: SINGAPORE (29) ist the best city in Asia to live in.

Since Erich was born near Vienna and now runs his very successful business in Singapore, the 2 most important cities in his life are top in the world.

CONGRATULATIONS TO BOTH CITIES!

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Here are some photos of the winning cities: Vienna
Gloriette
St. Stephens Dome
Vienna Town Hall
Singapore: Suntec City and Marina Bay
Singapore Flyer Esplanade Theatres
Sun down skyline

Friends of Erich's Wuerstelstand is a new group on facebook

Erich now has a presence on facebook as well. If you want to join the group "Friends of Erich's Wuerstelstand" just type "Erichs Wuerstelstand" in the top right search box of your facebook window.

New secret hit on the menu

A very creative German couple, regulars at Erich's since the early days, have invented a new dish: "The Gery Glitter Semmel".
Its onion bread with a slice of meatloaf inside.

If you want to know the story behind just order it and Erich might tell you.

Everyone relax! Erich's Backstube is open again!

Erich's multi grain bread, Dinkelspitz, Bretzel, Onionbread and Muffins are back up for grabs. The Backstube is open again.

Just a few steps (3 stalls) next to the Wuerstelstand Erich has opened his Backstube kiosk and all the delicous bakes are on sale again.

No more excuses not to see Erich because you were missing his bread.

Bad Economy but Austrians are "crowding" Chinatown

No one can deny that there is an obvious slump in tourist arrivals however Erich is pleasantly surprised that so many Austrians are visiting him at his Wuerstelstand. Many of them telling that they've seen him on TV or news articles in different papers or magazines. Before their trip they checked Erich's location on our blog to make sure not to miss him and off they flew.

A hint for all future Austrian visitors, whenever you come to Erich don't be shy and tell him which part you're from and he will ring his cowbell and highlight your hometown on his Austrian map!

If you show him a news article where he's been featured you'll make him a happy man and if Erich has enough time he will tell you his stories (Motto: "Erich erklaert die Welt").

So see you at Erich's! Everyone's welcome though, regardless of nationality!

Change in Logo

Some of you might already have noted the change in Erich's Logo.

"Erich's" is now a registered trademark. The branding of Erich's starts now! To catch the latest developements make sure to check our website regularly.

Congratulations Erich, for your newly registered brand.

Change: Yes We Can!!

Lots of changes all over the world nowadays and Chinatown is not excluded. So no wonder that there are also changes in Erich's ventures.

Check this out: MARCH 31, 2009

Backstube is fully operating, producing the probably best Bretzels, Semmeln, Dinkelspitz, Bread and Muffins in town.

2 days later: APRIL 2, 2009 What the **** is going on?

The "Backstube" signboard removed, blinds are down, tables in front of the counter window?
Well, unfortunately it's not April fool's day, it's the 2nd of the month and the Backstube is really closed.
Some might think now: "Ya, we saw that coming! Bad economy, many closed shops in Chinatown and elsewhere, etc, etc. ?". But gladly, that's not the case.

The good news is: NO NEED TO WORRY!
Erich says, using the famous line of his dream guest in the previous post:

I'LL BE BACK (..SOON) sition period.

"Sometimes when I'm dreaming........"

Once in a while even Erich has some time to dream, especially on rainy afternoons when customers are hiding in shopping centres or at home.

That's when Erich starts dreaming who one day will show up at the Wuerstelstand...........

In this picture, the 2 most famous Austrians.

"You never know sometimes dreams come true, Erich!"

Latest TV appointment: Korean TV

As I mentioned in a previous post with regards to TV teams interested in shooting at Erich's it happened the other day. The Korean director a very nice and polite man was asking everyone at the kisok for permission to shoot, which actually never happened before and I've seen quite a few teams there.

Any way it was a very seious shooting with a light crew, sound engineer and the director asking the camera man to move around to different positions. Erich is already a pro (after so many shootings and interviews) so he sometimes tells the camera man which is the best postition for him.
For us it was a fun evening answering their queations about Erich. They TV director promised to send us a DVD once it was broadcasted in Korean TV in June and then I will post the video.

What was that on the chair? A Korean pet? No worries animal righests, it's just a wind cover for the mic.

At the end of the shooting Erich even had to sign release forms and other stuff, a really very serious thing.

LOST GENERATION

This video was created for the AARP : "U@50" video contest and placed second.
It is based on the Argentinian Political Advertisement "The Truth" by RECREAR which won the "Silver Lion" in the Cannes Lions Contest 2006.
Category: Public Awareness Messages
Title: TRUTH (Click if you want to watch the award winning video)



A great inspirational video and a perfect time to think about priorities in life during this economic crisis.

Quiet Chinatown

Isn't it scary how empty Chinatown looks nowadays, sometimes like a ghost town.

The silver lining however is that there are still noticeable tourist arrivals from (surprise) Austria and Germany. Many of these folks are visiting Chinatown and curiously searching for Erich's Wuerstelstand because they have seen him featured on Austrian or German TV or newspapers. Some of them even bring along the cut out newspaper article. So all the PR activities seem to become quite successful and will be continued.

Some TV teams have already announced their interest in shooting at Erich's kiosk in the near future.

One Thousand Apologies

Dear blog readers and friends. I am devastated and embarrassed. In my post about "the year of the ox" and the celebrities being born under this zodiac I made a very big mistake. I forgot to mention the most important and probably biggest of all oxes, the inspiration and main figure not only for this blog but for many travel reports and TV spots all over the globe: Ang Moh- Erich- The Sausage man!

How could I forget about this famous icon of Singapore's Chinatown. I do hope for forgiveness and his graciousness.

Here an "ox" celebrity recap:

Full success for ERDOMO stimulus package

The ERDOMO stimulus for Chinatown's economy seemed to have fully kicked in. A bit more people than usual showed up. Erich was sold out early that night as was the Thai shop with Erdinger.
However not all of the success can be claimed by the ERDOMO guys. It was a coincidence that the same night a big group of Austrian tourists and another party of Germans were there the same time.
Anyway it doesn't really matter who is stimulating the economy, we have to be happy that still tourists arrive and spend.
For Erich however it was kind of stressful to run out of some sorts of bread and sausages early that night, but that's the risk of his business, it's always hard to calculate how many people stop by at his Wuerstelstand so sometimes he sells out to early and sometimes he ends up with oversupply.

No pictures were taken because the generous spenders wanted to stay anonymous, which of course we do respect.

ERDOMO shows responsibility in current economic situation

The board of ERDOMO has decided to show some sort of responsibility in these troubled times and wants to hand out a stimulus package to Chinatown businesses.
The theme is:
"Trinken fuer einen guten Zweck, bzw. aus der Rezession rausfeiern! (Drinking for a "good" purpose or party out of the recession)!"
That's why they ask all members, friends, and friends of friends and all other interested parties to join them tonight (Thursday) at Erich's. The more people turn out, the more sausages they consume at Erich's, juices at Stanley's or Erdinger at the Thai shop the better the start for reviving Chinatown's economy.
We cannot rely on governments help only. People have to take things in their own hands as well.

So give it shot and show up tonight!! From 20:00 onwards.

P.S.: It is only a rumor that this is a bail out plan for Erich's Wuerstelstand! No worries he's still doing fine!