A few days ago I wanted to get a small chocolaty gift at Siegen’s Naschwerk and read that “This Shop is Closed”. When looking online for which one was open, I learned that they had all closed due to bankruptcy. And Boom! Siegen’s already utterly bleak food scene has become even more barren.

What makes the end of a four generation era dating back to 1912 even more heartbraking is the end of the message Markus Podzimek, the owner of Naschwerk, posted online: comments were closed due to the harsh reactions they experienced on social media. WTF.

I don’t know Markus well, but when I asked him for a favour two years ago, he was extremely generous. I called because I needed impeccable chocolate to photograph on short notice, and not only did he make time to meet me one day before Christmas Eve (one of the busiest days of the year, if not the busiest day), he also halted production and squeezed in a batch of BOOM! because the ones he had were not in shape to have their picture taken.

I’m really sorry to hear Naschwerk is no more and it is a shame it got ugly on social media. Roosevelt called it “the man in the arena” and old Sam Becket said “Ever tried, ever failed. Try again, fail again, fail better.” Stumbling is part of building something, Boom! is part of the creative process.