Bakker Gerard Croonen (65) in Roosendaal stops because he can no longer pay his gas and electricity bill. His energy costs rise to 10,000 euros per month. “Then customers would have to pay five to six euros for a loaf of bread. That can no longer be done.”
Croonen has been in the business for almost half a century. In 1992 he took over the business from his then boss. The traditional bakery on Hulsdonksestraat is known in Roosendaal and the surrounding area for its sausage rolls.
“Customers are crying in the store.”
“We have customers who have been coming here for over fifty years. ‘How are you supposed to carry on, baker?’ they ask me. They are crying in the store. That hurts,” Gerard says in a soft voice.
Croonen has nothing good to say about the energy policy of the cabinet. On Prinsjesdag it was announced that private individuals will have a price ceiling, but entrepreneurs still do not know where they stand.
“What are they doing in The Hague? This company has been around for 120 years and is now being killed. This doesn’t appeal to anyone anymore. They are all sleeping together. I don’t think they have any idea what they are doing. Of the 3,200 bakers in the Netherlands, half are expected to stop.”
“This makes no sense to me anymore.”
Gerard would retire in a year and nine months. “Suppose there is an arrangement whereby you receive an allowance that you have to pay back in better times. Then I’ll be paying until I’m eighty-five. This makes no sense to me anymore.”
The baker’s staff sympathizes with him. Some of them have since found another job. “We try to help them as best we can because they can’t do anything about it,” says Croonen. The branch in Wouw is continued by another baker.
In addition to the heartwarming reactions from customers in the store, he is also showered with statements of support on social media. “I’ve had a few hundred responses. Even from people I haven’t seen or spoken to in years.”
“I’m going to miss this very much.”
Gerard does not yet know what he will do after October 1. “They ask people everywhere, but you just have to find something that suits you. But I’m going to miss this very much. I prefer to sit with my elbows in the dough all day long. I am now not a warm baker but a poor baker.”