The catering industry is coming up with a special issue where entrepreneurs can share their problems and stories now that energy prices are skyrocketing. The number was set up by the Horeca Alliance and is a response to the government’s bill of millions. According to the entrepreneur’s lobby, it says nothing about alleviating the energy needs of thousands of restaurants, cafeterias and other catering companies.
Many restaurants are having a hard time. The chairman of the Eindhoven department of Koninklijke Horeca Nederland recently showed us in his household book: “Oil and mayonnaise, for example, have become one hundred and thirty percent more expensive, butter has risen sixty percent and for gas and light I first paid around €2600 each month, which is is now €3600. Per year that is more than €12,000 more. In addition, I also pay ten percent more in personnel costs,” he calculated. And after the long corona years, many entrepreneurs no longer have that much fat on their bones.
Closed the doors for good
The first catering companies have therefore already closed their doors for good because of the high energy costs, says the collaboration of Chinese-Asian restaurants (VCHO), snack bars (ProFri) and the hospitality guild NHG, which represents approximately 3000 catering entrepreneurs in the Netherlands.
The entrepreneurs point out that the energy bill rose sharply at the beginning of this year. Sanctions against Russia have pushed the bill further. “The sanctions are understandable, but the catering industry can no longer bear the direct consequences alone,” it sounds. “It is now clear that any government measures to alleviate energy suffering will not be known until November at the earliest. For many catering entrepreneurs it may already be too late.”
Open less often
There are already entrepreneurs who are forced to open their business less often in order to save costs, Bakker knows. “There are already cases that are only open five out of seven days due to the high costs,” he says. “Fortunately, we had a nice summer, but there are major concerns about the autumn.”
The emergency number will initially remain available for five weeks, depending on the number of reports. The responses received will be published and bundled for political The Hague.
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