Is the brilliant sunny weather outside making you wish you were sitting on a terrace drinking a biertje? Restaurants, bars, and cafes know it — and after four months of coronavirus-mandated closures, the owners are fed up.
Catering entrepreneurs are threatening to reopen their terraces from March 2, after a number of groups from catering union Koninklijke Horeca Nederland (KHN) called on owners to take a stand.
Of 244 KHN departments, 65 have signed on to support the move. The national KHN office does not support the action, but chairman Robèr Willemsen says he understands it. “It is a dire necessity for entrepreneurs,” he tells RTL Nieuws.
“We are not calling for civil disobedience, nor are we calling nationally for the opening of the terraces, but I do expect more KHN departments to join in,” Willemsen explains.
No longer possible to continue
“Enough with the rules,” says initiator and catering entrepreneur Johan de Vos, who is also chairman of the Breda catering department of Koninklijke Horeca Nederland.
“A lot of catering people indicate that it is no longer possible in this way,” he tells RTL Nieuws. “Something has to be done and all colleagues in the Netherlands are welcome to join.”
After seeing the full parks over the weekend and in recent days, De Vos says that the rules imposed on restaurants, bars, and cafes, can no longer continue.
“We are sure that we can open our business safely and responsibly. We’ll start with outside terraces. Of course, at a meter and a half distance.”
The same threat was made about early January but didn’t go ahead at the time due to high infection numbers.
Do you support bars and restaurants reopening their terraces? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
Feature Image: Louis Hansel @shotsoflouis/Unsplash
Yes i do support the opening. The Corona virus is not going away and we cannot be kept locked up forever. If people are afraid, they should stay home. Its unfair to impose this rule on everyone when the death rate is so low and there is now a vaccine and HCQ and Ivermectin is also being used to stop Covid. Time to let people look after themselves.