Smiling Gecko Educational Campus
Financing parts of the school with Wienerli?
More than just an idea.
Hannes likes my Wienerli so much. (laughs). But they needed a heatable smoking chamber, which didn’t exist in this form. So, I drew up the plans for a smoking chamber. Hannes and Leap then decided to build it on the campus. I purchased a smoking heater element here in Switzerland and had it shipped to Cambodia. My role was to set it up in Cambodia and explain to the team how it worked. I was able to show the team how they make not only Wienerli and Thuringian sausages, but also beef sausages for a customer at the Rosewood Hotel in Phnom Penh.
Did you like it the second time?
Very much. Overwhelming. It was like coming home. It was very emotional and I was immediately touched.
A lot happened at Smiling Gecko in three years. Have you noticed any changes since your first visit?
Yes, definitely. There have been big changes in the farmhouse, for example. There is a new locksmith’s shop. The butcher’s shop has also been enlarged. And there is now a slaughterhouse where the fish is processed. They built it at my suggestion after my first visit. Fish and meat used to be processed in the same place, which is obviously not possible. As for the team, I met many familiar faces. Sai Pheareak, the manager of the local butchery, is still there, as are most of the rest of the team. I thought that was very nice.
So the fish is processed in the slaughterhouse and the pork?
In the butchery. The pigs, for example, are delivered warm from the slaughterhouse and then cut up for further use. Nowadays, a whole range of products are produced. As well as the aforementioned wieners and bratwursts, there are pork chops, ham, meat loaf, salami and, of course, what Mariya needs for the farmhouse restaurants. And the bones, of course, go into the soup.
Do you see market potential for these and other products from the campus in Cambodia?
I think there is. The whole country has potential for development. I spoke to a banker in Phnom Penh. He confirmed my impression. His organisation also sees potential in the country. At the moment, some of the products (in addition to meat products, including herbs and fruit) are already being supplied to various hotels in Phnom Penh. There is also a shop in the city that sells the butcher’s products. I visited it myself. If I understood the (distribution) list correctly, there are at least 25 different customers. And the products from the campus are definitely better than what’s available elsewhere. I tried the hotel buffets in Phnom Penh and Kampot out of curiosity. It’s nowhere near as good as on campus.
Unfortunately, there are a few. The cold rooms are definitely too small for the volume of goods currently produced in the butchery and other production facilities. Much of the machinery is also very old and should be replaced. There is an urgent need to invest in both. The same goes for replacement materials such as cutting knives, of which the campus butchery has too few. Unfortunately, according to Hannes, there are few investors willing to support this important area of Smiling Gecko. I would like to start an initiative to look for money in the industry. Machines that no longer sell well here would certainly be an asset to the campus. And there are other things too. For example, it would be great if we could find a producer of butcher’s spices who would give Smiling Gecko their raw materials for free.
Gladly! Now a question about your own challenges. How do you communicate with the local team?
(laughs) It is quite a challenge. It’s less of a challenge at work, where it’s demonstration and imitation. But when things get more complex, you need an interpreter. I was lucky that Richard, a volunteer from the Farmhouse Resort, was able to translate for me. You can also use Google Translate if you need to. Fortunately, it also translates from German to Khmer. Somehow it works.
Let’s move on to the topic of ‘on-campus training’. In the next 24 months, the first children will leave our school with a diploma. Do you think they will be able to learn a trade such as butchery?
Yes, the core team in the butchery are very willing to learn and are now very experienced in the production of meat and sausage products and can certainly pass on their knowledge of cutting up animals. The training may not be comparable to that in Switzerland, but the children can certainly learn their basic craft here. Yes, they can.
What are your wishes for the future of Smiling Gecko?
First of all, of course, that Smiling Gecko continues in the future. In general, that is. And as for the products that I have introduced in the butcher’s shop: Of course I hope that they can be marketed well. So that there is money again for the school, which still needs to be financed. Because education and training are simply the most important tools. Definitely.
One last question: Could you imagine going back to the campus for a third time?
If I can make a difference again: Sure. I’ve already discussed it with my wife (laughs). Saying goodbye was so emotional this time. For me, the Campus Butchery is like a branch of my own business. I completely identify with it. I give it my all.
We would like to thank Hans for taking the time for this interview. If you want to try the wieners and other meat products from the Höhn butcher’s shop, you can do so in Untersieggenthal, near Baden in the canton of Aargau. During the barbecue season they serve a really delicious bratwurst with Cambodian Kampot pepper, which Hans regularly receives from returning Smiling Gecko team members.
