confectioner's book, business books 1930s @museum.de

Well, Gardi, I'm almost done. Are you tired? Do you want to go on upstairs?

Here, take the keys and go to bed.

No, Aunt Trudel. I'll stay and keep you company. Hmm... Now the café’s closed and everyone’s gone home, everything looks quite different. The empty seating area and the cluttered courtyard. It's all a bit spooky when there’s no-one around.

Oh, it just seems that way to you, because there's so much hustle and bustle here during the day. Heavens, and so many people! The customers, the waitresses, the confectioners... and the two of us. But to make sure it stays that way, I have to keep the books properly. Because with a cake shop like this, a business that has so many employees, you have to budget carefully to keep it all going.

Inputs, expenses, payroll, running costs... everything that goes with it. It has to be written down every night, otherwise you lose track, and before you know it, you’re making a loss.

But, Auntie Gertrud, the café’s doing very well. And I know from Heinrich, the confectioner, that you even sell our chocolates to customers in Switzerland.

True enough. But what if the customers don't pay, for example? All that has to be checked and recorded. You’re going have to learn to do all this some day. After all, you do want to take over the café one day, don't you?

If you say so.

All right, let’s leave it for tonight. But, Gardi, you know what...?

Here, take a look at this. It’s the big recipe book. It includes all the gateaux and cakes I want Heinrich to try some day. Why don’t you decide which cake we should tell him to bake next?

Oh, yes! Let me see... "Theory and Practice of the Confectioner".

Let me see... Violet Cake, Engagement Cake, Vienna Cake, Heligoland Cake – that one’s made with ice cream! Hindenburg Cake! I wonder if the old field marshall had a sweet tooth?... Almond Gateau – yum! – and Imperial Chocolate Cake... I think we should have Heinrich try them all!