Silver, Kaspar and Katriin thought we’d do it! It would be nice to go to different events myself, to meet people from wall to wall. Thought – done! We were supported by the Unemployment Insurance Fund, which helped us to get our first wooden counter, a website and a trailer to transport our stuff. It was enough for a launch pad! What was missing was a brand name. We spent days generating, walking in the woods, trying out the wine to see if it would help, scratching our heads at the table – nothing. Until Kata’s mum said, HULKUR – after all, it’s going around everywhere. The name seemed so pleasantly dead and manly. By the way, to this day we’ve only had one person tell us we had a wicked name – so I guess we can call it a success.
Let’s get going, but…
Where to get events? Hulkur’s first “gig” was the opening of the Pärnu Motorhome Season, which put some pressure on us to have all the inventory ready by a certain date. With the first event, it became clear that we weren’t going to make ice cream cones, no way!
The ball started rolling, event marketing agencies found their way to us. Thank you Jolos, Orangetime, Elamuspank for trusting us from day one. Fortunately, the first challenges – how to plan the merchandise needs and logistics of a party with several hundred people – were surprisingly successful. Let’s face it, we jumped in head first. Having been part of more than 1,500 parties to date, ranging from 10-guest house-sits to 75,000-person festivals: surf camps, Beer Summer, Weekend Festival, WRC Rally Estonia, these first parties seem so amateurishly green. The baggage of experience started to grow by leaps and bounds.
At one point, we discovered that, although we had used the help of bartenders we knew on a few occasions, we needed more manpower. We ordered new, more comfortable bars and launched a competition to find a new Hulkur. And sure enough – people wanted to join us. The very first “stranger” new Hulkur was Reio, who is still with us today. At one point, the recruitment and training took on a whole new dimension when 35 bartenders were needed for the WiseSummer Days. We created a system to find, engage and train new Hulkers to speak the same language as us.
We quickly realised that one event in one day was not sustainable, we grew our fleet, brought in extra pallets and today we can easily cater for 3-4 events a day.
People are demanding cocktail training – we were not suited to an academic format where the trainer speaks and others listen. About as unexpectedly as all of our plans came to fruition, we found a workable solution where each guest makes their own sophisticated cocktails with homemade tools. Fun, developmental and bringing the crowd together!
Hulkur’s footprint extends beyond Estonia. We consider the opening of the Kiev Lift99 to be the most powerful event. The car and trailer ride there was a tricky one, as we had a lot of theatre costumes and confetti. It was quite difficult to explain to the border officials that only funny coloured bits were flying out of the sticks, probably due to an above-average language barrier. Miraculously, we managed to procure goods from Ukrainian alcohol importers and a local ice-cream producer brought us hundreds of kilos of ice. We very much hope that this will not be our last venture in Ukraine and that we will soon be able to have fun with the Ukrainians again.
In 2020, we took a particularly crazy adventure to Mexico and supported the Teenage Trust cancer fund while driving in the Dumball Rally, when the world’s tiniest margarita bar opened its doors under the bonnet of our VW. Where next? Invite and we will come!
When we were in our infancy, Rally Estonia entrusted us with the management of the VIP bars. Thank you Tarmo Hõbe, Urmo Aava and the whole team for this trust! At one point we were part of the WRC carousel, which has left an unforgettable experience.
When it comes to major events, a big round of applause for the Jolos agency, with whom we have been co-managing the 2 000-3 000-person Wisefestival on several consecutive days, in addition to smaller events. The challenges of planning and putting on these events are of a different order. It’s cool to see that we have creative people on the team, all seemingly impossible problems have always been solved in a peaceful way.
The corona also had a shocking effect on us. The more than 100 events that had been agreed for the summer were out of orbit, and the situation looked very sad. There was time, we thought of what to do and we built a bar & restaurant at the Baltic station, Chungel, where we put our souls, blood and tears, both physically and mentally. Anyone who visits will be able to judge how it turned out. We’re pretty happy with it ourselves, especially obviously because we see ourselves in every detail.
A big thank you is certainly due to our partners who have trusted us at every stage. Whether it is the pickle season, where we have asked for longer payment terms for our invoices, the unexpected end of the ice that needs to be brought from Premira NOW, or finding glass from the rental companies when Estonia is seemingly empty of glass. We’ve been of the mindset that we also keep our own partners, who have always helped us uncompromisingly. Thank you Pernod Ricard Estonia, Premia, Tridens, Reserv Rent, Funrent, Balmerk, Prike, Gemoss, Anora, Saku Brewery, Coldservice, Punch Club, A. Le Coq. Oh, the list could go on and on!
We are delighted to have introduced a new word into the Estonian language , ‘travelling bar’, which is now used by many. In addition to wandering, we’ve also built a permanent salbar in Lasnamäe – you’re more than welcome to join us, as it looks like you’ve reached the end of the post 😉.
Is an event coming up? Contact us and let’s talk more!
