Sitting people on a terrace with foam rollers on their heads to maintain social distance does not seem like a brilliant idea to attract customers. But it occurred to a cafe owner in Germany and, if there is no record of increasing customers, it served at least to catapult a cafe from Schwerin, a city in the state of Mecklenburg-Pomerania, to fame: from RTL to Euronews, passing by CNN, the foam rollers catapulted Rothe Café to world fame.
Euronews, the owner of the establishment, Jacqueline Rothe, explained that she reopened the doors last week after six weeks of closure and found the idea funny, after a period that “was anything but funny”. Subject to tight rules to reopen, with disposable menus, without flowers or candles, Jacqueline Rothe says that the environment is no longer the same and foam rollers, five feet wide and attached to a hat that is distributed to customers, have emerged as a way to make the environment more lively. The initial idea was, in fact, of an RTL team that was doing work on the reopening of the restoration and took the hats with the rollers to see if people kept their distance. And Rothe, 52, decided to adopt her.
Judging by the photo he later posted on Facebook, the cafe owner seems to have achieved the goal. “It’s a perfect method for keeping people away, and it’s fun”, he told CNN, adding that with the restriction measures imposed by the pandemic, the coffee capacity was reduced from the usual 56 tables to 20. But he has not lacked customers and journalists at the door either. Rothe is said to be surprised by the popularity that coffee has achieved in the meantime.
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