Dutch people don’t want to pay for tap water on terraces
Many restaurants have it on the menu: a carafe of water. Just tap water, but you have to pay for it. Research shows that 94% of Dutch people don’t think that’s OK. So why does it still happen?
For years, the Netherlands has held the belief that tap water should be served free of charge on terraces. Why? Simple: tap water here is of excellent quality, available everywhere and practically cost-free for the hospitality industry. Many Dutch people therefore see free tap water as a matter of hospitality, just as in countries such as France or Spain, where a glass of water often appears alongside an order as standard.
And if you’ve already ordered an expensive coffee or an €8 glass of wine, an additional charge for a glass of tap water – and quite a hefty one at that – quickly feels unnecessary or even stingy. Still, it is (not yet) legally required for hospitality businesses to serve free tap water with an order – and that remains a topic of debate on summer terraces.
Free air too
When Mara Grimm had just started writing restaurant reviews for Het Parool, she was determined: tap water is part of basic hospitality and should therefore be free. Did a restaurant charge for it anyway? Then half a point was deducted. Two years later, in the same newspaper, she wondered whether charging for tap water was still a hospitality crime, or whether she was simply a grouch who urgently needed to let things slide a little.
AD asked Alain Caron, television chef and owner of restaurants in Amsterdam, for his opinion. ‘There should be no profit on tap water,’ he believes. ‘You don’t pay for air either, do you?’ But he does understand when colleagues charge for a carafe of tap water. The hospitality industry has had (and continues to have) difficult years, and every little bit that hospitality entrepreneurs can earn counts.
Plastic bottles
KRNWTR+ has been campaigning for free tap water in restaurants for years. They do so mainly to reduce the unnecessary use of plastic bottles. Dutch tap water is of excellent quality, so why bring mineral water from abroad in a fancy bottle? It doesn’t really make sense. Nor is it hospitable to refuse people water, says the Consumers’ Association. ‘Restaurants are free not to serve it, but guests are then equally free to leave if they don’t like it,’ they say.
Washed up
Charging for tap water is not allowed in France. Just as in Spain, hospitality establishments there are required to serve free tap water. You do get water with a taste as if you accidentally took a sip from the hotel swimming pool. In the Netherlands, there is no such generous law; here, a restaurant can decide for itself what to charge for and what to provide for free. If a guest orders only tap water and nothing else, then perhaps it isn’t so strange to charge for it. After all, the glass has to be fetched and brought, and washed, and hospitality staff certainly don’t work for free.
Filtered water
Besides: many restaurants do serve tap water, but filtered and chilled. In a glass bottle made for the restaurant. And such a bottle and water filtration system also cost money. Charging a small amount for filtered water seems fine to me. I do think it should be communicated clearly, so that as a guest you aren’t faced with surprises at the end of the evening. And a small glass of water with your espresso, or to wash down a paracetamol; of course, you shouldn’t have to pay for that.
What do you think about paying for tap water in a restaurant?
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Source: AD.nl
