23. November 2023
Matthias Wagener
The 15th anniversary of Vast Forward – is there a better reason to gather the team in Hamburg and pop the corks?
Our 15th anniversary called for a slightly different kind of end-of-year celebration – so those of the core team who had a longer journey took the respective train to Hamburg so that we could celebrate together.
We made ourselves at home! We took our time on arrival and enjoyed the first few hours together, chatting and having a delicious dinner at Tortue’s Brasserie. Maybe it’s our remote structure, maybe it’s the great team – in any case, we all really enjoyed the exceptional situation of simply sitting around a table and chatting at length! One fly in the ointment: the vegan options on the menu. We’ll do better research next time, I promise!
Thank you for the great days! It was very nice and I will remember it for a long time. We are a great team. It's always fun with you! Vanessa Bittroff
The next morning, after a delicious breakfast, everyone got ready for the first highlight of the day: the team photo shoot with our favorite photographer Dennis!
First we went to one of the Tortue’s “lounges”, where sofas, armchairs and the ambience provided a varied backdrop. The results? You can now find them on our LinkedIn and social accounts – compliments are very welcome, we made an effort! As a second location, we went to a small Hamburg photo studio – the neutral pictures were taken there.
As an aside: when the team turned up in the middle of the shoot singing “Happy Birthday” with cake and candles, Maren briefly thought she had forgotten someone’s birthday! A very nice surprise, garnished with a very heartfelt happy birthday video! Thank you lovelies!
The second highlight of the day was still to come, a *dinner at the “ZEIK” restaurant. That was really something special, and we can only warmly recommend this experience! We found everything we were looking for that evening: a beautiful, modern location, a simply perfect service team and exquisite cuisine, with dishes on the menu ranging from vegan to flexitarian, and matching drinks from wine to non-alcoholic (the non-alcoholic option was both creative and of course very tasty – the wine drinkers were almost a little envious and there was a lot of “tasting”).
Not for the first time, we were the last guests – and we would certainly have stayed longer if it hadn’t already been quite late. What a day with great people, a good mood and even better food!
We could mention another breakfast that we met up for on the day we had to let each other go – again in Tortue’s Brasserie, of course. Given that half the team “doesn’t actually eat breakfast”, this get-together, interrupted by the first project calls, was also relaxed. Maybe breakfast is worth considering after all, at least with the right people at the table!
So that was it, our little birthday party: almost two days with a fun team photo shoot, very good (and a little too much) excellent food and simply far too little time together!
And again, very briefly: the team surprise with cake and singing and the many good wishes from our network: simply great!
We loved it and still love it – so let’s move on to the next 15!
