Corporate Blog Scout24

Interview with Nicolas Herlitz, founder of MilchHalle

One perk of working at Scout24's Berlin office is simply just that – a coffee perk! Thanks to the MilchHalle, we have a corporate café on-site, providing us with high-quality coffee, cakes and sandwiches, purely for our Scouts and their guests. Since inception, the team at MilchHalle has become a part of our extended Scout24 family. And since the Covid-19 lockdown, they've been greatly missed! MilchHalle just recently reopened at our Berlin office, so we sat down with Nicolas Herlitz, the founder and operator of MilchHalle, to learn more about his corporate café concept at Scout24, especially during recent corona times. MilchHalle started as a single café in Auguststr. 50 in Berlin Mitte and has since become a Berlin-wide well-known name for high-quality coffee experiences in public and corporate spaces. Today, beside the MilchHalle café in Auguststraße, Nicolas is running another public café in Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 34 and three corporate cafés throughout Berlin of which Scout24 has been the first one to have MilchHalle as its very own corporate café.

Hi Nico, Thanks for taking the time to speak with us. We're all very happy to have you and your team reopen at our Berlin office. Before we dive into the topic of recent times, could you please tell us: When did MilchHalle first open at Scout24? How did it get started? 

Nico: Our venture at Scout24 started in 2016. Serving high quality coffee has always been our primary goal. Over the years we have not stopped learning and training and thanks to this we have attracted real coffee lovers and connoisseurs. Four years ago we were lucky enough to get a proposal from the former CEO of Scout24 who was at the time a regular at our location in Auguststr, to open an in-house coffee bar within Scout24 premises and thus give the employees the opportunity to drink real coffee. His idea was immensely inspiring and is what has positioned us today as the first to offer real coffee shop experience in corporate spaces in Berlin. 

MilchHalle at Scout24 is seen as an on-site "corporate café". What does this concept mean to you? How did you decide to expand from a single café in Berlin Mitte to moving inside companies? 

Nico: Corporate cafés are independent oases created inside of corporate spaces where real coffee shop experience takes place. The idea of bringing great coffee to the corporate space was just fascinating and we saw a great future. We began to analyse our surroundings, thinking how difficult it is to actually drink a decent coffee not only in companies but at airports, train stations. Corporate spaces are the beginning of our journey. 

Besides offering coffee, home-baked goods, sandwiches and snacks in the corporate café, you have also at times been called upon to provide catering at our office. Most recently, you offered a special lunch pack for Scouts who had voluntarily returned to the office (this was prior to your café reopening). How was your experience in cooperation with Scout24 to set this up? What was the response from the Scouts you made sure were fed each day?  

Nico: We were very thankful for this opportunity, the situation was critical and this chance helped us to keep on going even though the coffee bar was closed. The feedback was great and people kept on asking us when we were reopening again. 

What's been a highlight for you during your time at Scout24? Do you remember a special event or occasion you (& your team) were involved in at Scout24? 

Nico:  The biggest highlight has been the feedback from our customers and the appreciation of our job. When we heard that accroding to a Scout24 survey, we were one of the things the employees wanted to take with them to the new building we almost burst into tears with excitement. 

 

How would you describe your time running MilchHalle at Scout24 in three words?

Nico: Best customers ever! 

Now, as everything is slowly returning to a more normal routine, MilchHalle is back and we are all very happy about finally enjoying best coffee, sweets and snacks with our colleagues and friends again. 

https://www.scout24.com/en/news-media/social-media/detail/interview-with-nicolas-herlitz-founder-of-milchhalle
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2020-07-28T14:57:40+02:00
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