A new chapter in the mandatory Sunday morning closure of the Broodje van Eigen Deeg bakery in Groningen: they are starting a petition to be allowed to open again. But not everyone thinks that’s a good idea.
“When we started the business, we didn’t open until twelve o’clock on Sundays,” says Tineke Plagmeijer, who owns Broodje van Eigen Deeg together with her husband Menno. “But other sandwich shops such as Bakker Bart, Doppio and the former Bakery Blanche opened their doors earlier. That is why I asked the municipality at the time what we could do.”
According to Plagmeijer, the municipality replied that the same rules apply to them as to other daytime restaurants. They then moved the opening time to Sunday. At the end of January 2023, the municipality received a complaint and enforcement was on the doorstep at Plagmeijer. Since then, the bakery has had to keep its doors closed on Sunday mornings.
Petition started at the insistence of loyal customers
And so Tineke and Menno, at the insistence of their loyal customers, started a petition. That petition has now been signed almost 2000 times. Plagmeijer: ,,The main reason for the petition is that we want clarity in the regulations in Groningen. Then we can also see what we may be allowed to do within those rules, such as delivering sandwiches. It is absolutely not the intention to have fellow entrepreneurs close their business on Sunday morning, but we have noticed that there is a lack of clarity among several entrepreneurs about the rules of opening hours.”
Politicians in Groningen are drawing the discussion to Twitter. “What a fuss about a yuppies sandwich baker who has been able to benefit for years from a tolerance construction,” tweets Terence van Zoelen, council member of the Party for the Animals. “As a member of parliament, it is not only about whether policy is well on paper, but also whether it is feasible and fair,” D66 council member Tom Rustebiel replied on Twitter.
Opening hours change for all entrepreneurs
“One entrepreneur, a baker, is being hung with a whole problem,” explains Van Zoelen in his earlier tweet. “But how representative is their problem for the entire industry? If you change the opening hours for that bakery, it may have to be changed for everyone in the industry. There may be entrepreneurs who do not want to, or who do not have the manpower to open on Sundays. You have to deal with that in balance.”
Although, according to Van Zoelen, there is still plenty to be gained in the provision of information from the municipality to entrepreneurs, he does not think that this is where the full responsibility lies. “I can imagine that the rules are complex for entrepreneurs, especially because of all the conditions that you have to meet as a catering industry. But many other entrepreneurs manage to get those rules clear. The municipality cannot always estimate in which sector a case falls, as far as I am concerned, that lies with the entrepreneur.
‘Rules are no longer correct’
Rustebiel of D66 thinks differently about the Broodje van Eigen Deeg case and believes that the policy is no longer comprehensive enough: “Many entrepreneurs no longer fit within the boundaries of the past. The hairdresser wants to serve a glass of wine, the bookstore sells coffee and the baker wants to sell a sandwich on Sunday morning. The standards between daytime catering and regular catering are also fading. It’s not all so black and white anymore. We want these regulations to be examined, because we have also seen that entrepreneurs run into this.” In 2021, D66 submitted a motion asking the municipal executive to come up with an evaluation of this policy by the end of 2022. The college has not yet done so.
“The best thing would of course be if the municipality says that bakers are allowed to open the business on Sunday morning,” says Plagmeijer hopefully. “The turnover of a Sunday morning is equal to the turnover of a whole Monday. With the current energy prices and rent increases, we really need Sunday mornings. That is why we hope that the mayor will talk to us.” According to Van Zoelen, questions should be asked: ,,How is it possible that a baker in such a prime location is dependent on the turnover on Sunday morning? So we also have to look at how we can better support entrepreneurs as a municipality.”