We’ve posted, talked, commented and communicated a lot about our construction project in Sóskút in 2022 and the 30th anniversary of Coninvest. Now we’d like to look ahead to 2023 and the many challenges that this new year holds for us.
Our property in Budaörs has sold. The new owners would like to move into our beloved office and showroom in the spring and use it as their own office. There is no way around it, we have to move to Sóskút in May! Contractors, cranes and workmen are working at full speed and we are ordering the last lamps, furniture, shelves and floor tiles. There are a lot of decisions to be made in a construction project of this size, and because a company develops a headquarters like this for decades, the buzzwords of sustainable, energy-efficient, easy to clean, durable, non-fatiguing are flying in the air and lining up against the cost price.
What do we want to realise in our new headquarters?
We want to create a workplace and guest space that would be recognised anywhere in the world. We want you to feel good and excited when you come in. We want to showcase not only working industrial kitchen appliances, but also the beautiful design items in our portfolio. It will be like an art space with ever-changing exhibitions.
In addition, we are building a modern 9.5 metre high warehouse to not only store equipment for Coninvest projects until the work areas can accommodate it, but also to create a consignment warehouse for our best-selling products. In today’s world, transport costs have risen so much and the supply situation for factories has become so uncertain that we have repeatedly had the feeling that only companies that have the money can build, create and construct. Not to mention the strain on our environment when we only transport one machine from somewhere, instead of using the loading space to store several times more. We intend to stock fast rotating items from our established and popular brands in the market in the future. Berkel slicers (we already have a huge stock, as it’s a love-at-first-sight product that the customer will want to grab and take home immediately), but we will also have Meiko dishwashers, AngeloPo and other industrial fridges and freezers, workbenches, Rational, MKN and Convotherm German combi steamers, and many more appliances that are essential kitchen equipment. We only ever think in terms of the high quality products you expect from us.
We are building a 350 sqm 7.5 m high, single-span showroom, which will also serve as a training and event space. In the past we have worked with universities and hosted, for example, BGE graduate students on open days. We also want to open our doors to secondary school students, and we intend to instil in them a sense of professional commitment, motivation and curiosity. We are looking forward to filling our new show kitchen with life, demonstrations, workshops and courses, and to organising our opening ceremony.
We are building a new workshop, parts warehouse and service training room. In many cases, space constraints have limited our training of service technicians at our current premises. This will be different in Sóskút. We have travelled a lot, attended various training courses and seminars abroad, tried to learn good ideas from everywhere and create the ideal conditions for our staff to do their work and develop professionally.
At the same time, we do not intend to neglect our clients and projects. We also have exciting assignments for 2023, and there will be plenty for our colleagues to do. From small gourmet delicatessen shops to large car factories, from refurbishments and renovations to greenfield projects, we have everything in our portfolio. From private villa commissions, hotels and restaurants to healthcare – because remember, we have to eat everywhere and it matters in what quality and under what circumstances we do it!
– Mirjam Kertész, CEO of Coninvest
