The owners of the cafes and brasseries in the city center already saw it coming. ‘We were the best boy in the class,’ says Arwin Versteyne, owner of brasserie Brasa. “Yet we are being punished again.”
In March, Versteyne wanted to open the new section in Brasa, when covid-19 spoiled the party. After that he was able to receive thirty guests twice, but the 51-year-old owner calculates the losses at 150,000 euros. “And that amount is nowhere near covered by the government’s NOW scheme.”
With a ‘feeling of powerlessness’, Versteyne will lock the door again on Wednesday evening. Brasa has 26 employees and another 32 part-time employees. Versteyne does not dare to guarantee that they will keep their jobs after the second closure. ‘That new support package is a sham.’
Tunnel vision
He accuses the government of a ‘tunnel vision’, where the arrows are too easily aimed at the catering industry. Versteyne, also a board member of the Koninklijke Horeca Nederland: ‘I found Rutte convincing during the first outbreak of the virus, now he has lost control. It is safer in the catering industry than in the supermarket. ‘
According to Versteyne, the policy is now determined by the RIVM. ‘Rutte said six weeks ago: don’t party at home, do it in the cafes. We have done everything to guarantee safety. ‘ He points around. There is one and a half meters between the tables, guests must register and none of his employees have tested positive for the corona virus. “We can’t do more than that.”
In café Aad de Wolf, daughter-in-law and manager Judith de Wolf followed the press conference of Rutte and Minister De Jonge with her regular customers. The family business had already struggled to recover from the first lockdown in March. ‘After we were closed for three months, we could not go back to the old normal.
‘Young people come to us to celebrate until early morning on Friday and Saturday nights, when we have more than 480 people inside. That was no longer possible because of the 1.5 meter distance. And who says it takes four weeks? I’m afraid it will get longer again. ‘
Not surprised
Smiling, De Wolf says that this time she was not surprised by the disaster. ‘In March it came like a bolt from the blue that we had to close. People were having an appetizer at 5:30 when we were told to close at 6:00. It felt like a slap in my face, now we were considering the worst. ‘
The ‘wet catering industry’ will suffer the most, predict the pub owners in Purmerend. Will the otherwise crowded Koemarkt soon become a haunted square when companies collapse? Jeffrey Post can’t remember. The 33-year-old owner of Café Rooie Sien had already focused more on meals, now everything is gone. His mother has it just as hard at café Tante Fietje. “The piggy bank is now empty.”
Geef the hospitality industry perspective, says Versteyne. ‘This is the death knell for our industry. The consequences are incalculable. ‘
Read further
Once again the catering industry closed – but why?
Less than 5 percent of all traceable infections takes place in the catering industry. Still, the cabinet is temporarily closing the cafes and restaurants to reverse the virus. Why actually?
Back to basics: The Netherlands is again (partially) in lockdown
The cafes and restaurants will have to be closed again and the mouth mask will be mandatory in public indoor spaces. Which Prime Minister Rutte announced during the cabinet press conference on the coronavirus.
The most important questions about the new measures
The cabinet announced ‘tough’ measures for the next four weeks on Tuesday. What is still allowed and what is no longer allowed? A few pressing questions in a row.
—
–
