Due to the ever increasing energy prices, snack bar owner Gerard Tesselaar from Schagen saw no other option. A month ago he raised the prices of snack bar Smularia in Schagen. He has to pay more than 5000 euros more per month in gas and electricity costs. And that while the catering industry is just recovering a bit after corona.
For Gerard, it feels like the umpteenth blow that he has to deal with as an entrepreneur. After two tough years with less income due to corona, he finally hoped to have a ‘normal’ year again from last spring. But the invoices he receives are clear: “The final bill of the month has gone from 2000 euros to 7200 euros”, says the snack bar owner.
And that once again makes for a difficult time for the entrepreneur who recently owned snack bar Smularia and Bistro Smul for 25 years. He therefore makes a decision that he would rather not have made, namely increasing his prize list. “All snacks have become thirty cents more expensive,” explains Tesselaar.
In the video below, snack bar owner Gerard Tesselaar explains which measures he had to take due to rising gas prices (text continues below the video).
Snack bar owner Gerard Tesselink is forced to raise his prices – NH Nieuws
Although Tesselink chose to increase his prices by 30 cents, that certainly does not cover all the extra costs he has to pay. That is why he also tries to reduce costs in other ways. For example, he leaves one of the three deep fryers – in which he bakes his fresh fries – permanently switched off and he no longer uses both cold stores. “Everything to reduce costs”, says Gerard Tesselaar.
Government support
Tesselaar visibly still enjoys his work, but he does look with surprise at the wait-and-see attitude of the government. “The government thinks too little and I blame them for that,” says Gerard, “because too little account is taken of the entrepreneurs.”
“Entrepreneurs are a gold mine for the government”
According to Tesselaar, this is mainly due to the various taxes that he has to pay, which are also increasing due to the rising costs. “Entrepreneurs are a gold mine for the government, they also benefit from the taxes,” he says. That is why the entrepreneur hopes that the government will only offer help to the entrepreneurs.
Until then, Gerard hopes not to have to raise his prices again, but he cannot guarantee that either. “I can’t see that until we have the figures for this quarter,” he explains. And that time, the snack bar owner hopes to make many people happy with a snack. “We remain positive, but my joy is decreasing a bit.”
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