The Netherlands’ biggest pub owner isn’t happy with the new measures
Although he is happy that they are allowed to reopen at least, hospitality tycoon Laurens Meyer still has his doubts about the announced hospitality policy, which—provided everything goes well—will take effect on 1 June.
A quick recap: Meyer—the owner of dozens of cafés throughout the Netherlands—announced at the beginning of May that he would fully reopen his establishments if the government failed to accommodate the hospitality industry. Big words, of course, with #OPHEF as the result. Precisely what Meyer wanted, naturally, because all that (media) attention did put the issue on the political agenda. And, honestly: if everything goes well, he may even follow through and open the doors on 1 June. Well, not yet ‘fully’, but at least somewhat.
The beginning is there
He is happy about that. “It’s a start,” Meyer says in the AD. “It gives us some sense of a future again, and everyone is starting to feel enthusiastic again.” “But,” he continues, “it remains very limited.” He mainly struggles with how the restrictions will be implemented. “Thirty people in a café, including staff, doesn’t generate enough revenue. And do those customers also have to have made a reservation? From what time?”
Confusing
He cannot quite picture it on the terrace either. “If people merely want to have something at a table for four, whether reserved or not, what do you do with a family of five? And do you work with shifts? In Switzerland, you are allowed to sit at a terrace table with four adults and the children. What do you do if one of them has a bad cough? How we are all going to handle such matters in the Netherlands will have to become clear in the coming days.”
Still a lot unclear
By the way, Meyer is not the only one who can barely imagine how the measures will work. Do households now also have to keep 1.5 metres apart? Nose to nose? Table to table? How does that work? Hilversum café Gulle Graef made a video that was both hilariously and confrontingly confusing:
https://twitter.com/MaartenWessels/status/1258803171775954944?s=20
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