Mulled Wine Cup Pool

Because the market stands have no water connection, all cups are brought together to the washing station for cleaning. If you are picturing a couple of helpers with a sponge and brush, you're mistaken. Thousands of cups are cleaned here each day in a modern automated washing line. Its functional capacity is regularly checked by the Office for Public Order. The clean cups are taken to a laboratory and tested for cleanliness. The washing line costs approximately 100.000 €. Its purchase and operating costs are paid for by proceeds from the cup pool (sale of mulled wine cups).

Each morning at 5 am, the washing starts - because by 10 am, when the Christmas Market opens, all stands must have clean cups. As soon as the market begins to fill up, it becomes impossible to safely deliver these breakable goods through the narrow aisles. Every evening the mulled wine merchants can order as many cups as they need the next day. It is rare that a booth will run out of cups, but in an emergency, they help one another. And in the last 30 years there has never been a time when they've run out of clean cups.

The decision which motif will be seen on next year's mulled wine cup takes place the year before. The design has to be completed no later than February, so that the contract for the cups can be awarded in March and so they are delivered by October. How many mulled wine cups are ordered is dependent on many factors and requires some instinct. The annual motif is the main reason that a cup will be taken home and therefore determines how many will remain for the following year. And of course there are always some that are broken: One calculates that about 5.000 - 10.000 cups break each year! And in the archive of the cup pool there are always approximately 10 examples stored.

During the Christkindlesmarkt Andreas Schillinger is on his feet around 16-17 hours each day. Hours before the market opens - at 7 am - he's there to prepare and make sure everything is running as planned. As the joyful pre-Christmas activity begins at the market, Schillinger has office and logistics work - everything that must take place behind the scenes so that everything works well at the market. At 9 pm, there's time for a bratwurst bun and a half cup of mulled wine (can't drink any more as the night is over in just a couple of hours) and a chat with customers and colleagues at the market. After a last stop at the office (because world-wide trade sleeps as little as he does), Andreas Schillinger gets home around midnight. And the next day? More of the same.
If you think that after Christmas Eve there's time for a break and he can rest until the next holiday season, you're wrong. For Andreas Christmas isn't a season - every season is Christmas. In January there's clean-up and billing on the schedule, and in February the first preparations for the next Christmas Market begin.