I have been assigned the task of checking out chocolate fountains to purchase for our hotel. One of our catering competitors has purchased one of these fountains. They have suddenly become all the rage. My own mother went to a wedding last month and she can’t stop talking about how wonderful it was.
I think they look beautiful, but I am concerned that they are terribly unsanitary. All that gooey chocolate sitting there for three hours collecting dust particles, sneeze fragments, dirty fingers dipping the fruit, double-dipping of said fruit—yuck! I don’t think I want to partake (I admit this sort of thing probably bothers me way more than it does most people).
Has anyone had any experience with them?
I snagged this picture from a web site that sells them. They are very expensive - $2,000 - $3,000, depending on the size. (update: I just got their catalog in today's mail. The smallest one - 27" is $3700 and then you still need accessories making it well over 4 grand - Yikes!) They would rent for $400 (not counting the fruit and other dippers). I think that once people realize how unsanitary they are, there won’t be many renters. What do you all think?
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I think definitely NOT! I agree, the thought of multitudes of people all dipping (and especially double-dipping)together really puts me off. Who knows where they have been beforehand? And the cost? Could feed a good many starving families for that. Or am I just being a spoil-sport?
ReplyDeleteIt was very popular at my brother's wedding at the Four Seasons in Washington, DC. last October. I personally don't like fruit dipped in chocolate, so I went for these teeny intensely chocolate mousses instead. Most of the things they offered for dipping were small enough they couldn't be double-dipped. I did try it with a non-fruit dipper, and as a chocolate fanatic I thought the chocolate wasn't dark enough--not chocolately enough for my taste. My niece also had a chocolate fountain at her not-nearly-as-fancy wedding. I think they are quite the fad for weddings, which as I am sure you know, is not a thing people are usually trying to economize on. (Well, maybe Dad is, but the bride-to-be . . .) Have you brought up your concerns about sanitation with the company that sells them? It seems to me you wouldn't be the first one to have such concerns and they would have a sales pitch to address them.
ReplyDeleteIsn't the chocolate warm and constantly flowing? Like my little pond with a filter maybe? : )
ReplyDeleteOn the opening show of 'The Biggest Loser' this season, the contestants were allowed to pig out before they went to 'boot camp'. They had a chocolate fountain there and a woman stuck her face in it.
I like sanitary things around my food, and this looks like it would be hard to manage and clean.
I'm sure the chocolately smell would overwhelm any reservations I had about germs.
ReplyDeleteBTW, the picture looks like a doody fountain. :)
That totally grosses me out! Mind you I have a germ thing. I don't eat at buffets or touch railing on stair cases, door knobs etc. We all have our quirks and germs are mine. Plus having worked as a waitress for 15 years I'm very picky about food service and presentation.
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