Celebrating the Move

Our First Friday on the First floor, and what better way to celebrate, than with a Home made hamburger Grilled to perfection on the Weber!


Mixed grill: From left to right: Karel Willems (Sales), Douw Marais (Installations Manager), JT(IT), Pat Geroni (Accounts)


Smooth operators - Chris(BeeGee), Johan(IT) and Johan(JT) of JL Conradie IT services, the guys responsible for the unhampered move to the top, and installation of a new server!


Family(mostly staff) and friends(Monica) enjoying the new space!


Fanie showing the young guns how its done!

Moving up in life

Hello all!

Don’t we all love good news!

And with all the talk of recession in the current financial circumstances, with future growth being less positive than before, and Rating agencies getting a kick out of dissing the South African economy, it seems hard to believe that there is any hope left.

Yet at this troublesome time Fanie Marais, Managing member and co-owner of Optima - despite his shrewd business sense, and 38-and-a-bit years of experience in the industry - opted to raise the Bar, and to elevate us to a higher state of being.

In fact in this time of crisis he went as far as giving the entire sales team a raise! Lifting our weary spirits (and tired body’s) to the first floor above our showroom!

Optima is proud to announce that we have moved offices, upstairs that is!

The long awaited move happened suddenly after a collaborative effort of about 3 months from suppliers, management and staff alike, which turned a once dingy and dark factory into an incredibly creative interactive space, with room to grow

And here is proof – an office with a view!

This is but a one of several phases, in the process of adding and upgrading our showrooms to a modern lifestyle centre – watch this space for more!

And if the photos were not enough, please don’t wait for our Grand opening in the first quarter of 2009, pop in or swing by and say hi!

See you soon!

Optima

Bosch Siemens Gaggenau interactive training

Its Crazy season again. That time of the year when our production pulls out all the stops to manufacture a record number of kitchens, for all our customers who have invited their families over for Christmas, to their hope-to-be-completed-in-time new homes. Despite the high drama, and Sales Management attending the Robin Sharma leadership seminar - Optima was well represented at the BSH Home appliances Cook-up (Bosch, Siemens, Gaggenau) at their showroom in Midrand on Thursday the 6th of November















True to my nickname, the Lone Ranger, I flew the Optima flag high, as the BSH team introduced new dishwashing technology and some new and alternative cooking methods to various industry members.
In the Gaggenau kitchen we prepared steamed veggies in the counter top steamer, Prawns grilled on the Tepanyaki in lemon, butter and garlic, Pizza on the Pizza Stone and a beef fillet in the steamer.

















In the Siemens & Bosch showroom there was a pastry showdown, as industry members prepared an array of creative bread to be tested in both a Steam oven, and a regular oven. Needless to say it was Optima’s creative genius that won hands down; despite the other teams having the advantage of baking their bread in the steam oven, as the bread out of the steam oven was notibly both crispy-brown and moist.
An afternoon of learning about Ceramic grillers, quantum speed ovens, and EPS plus ovens, was hard work, as sausages, flapjacks, muffins and more pizza, fed more than our intellectual hunger.

















And alas, alls well, ends well, as the hard work of both the hosts and the attendees was rewarded with a swell sociable supper at the Grill shop in Monte Casino.
A big thank you, to the entire BSH team for a well rounded day!
Ciao,
Karel

Robin Sharma on Leadership

Stefan and Fanie Marais attended the "Leadership without title" this past Thursday at the Sandton Convention Centre.

Other companies can copy our product or our name but they cannot copy our culture (our people)

It is our people that sets Optima Kitchens apart from our competition.
I would like thank all our staff for leaving their family at home to be at work today, for giving us the best hours of their day.

Optima Kitchens is a passionate organisation because we are all Craftsmen at what we do.

Regards

Stefan