October the 22nd, 2022 - One Croatian cafe in the City of Zagreb has decided to start charging customers extra to sit by their outdoor heaters on the terrace, citing inflation and energy costs as the reason behind the unusual move.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, one Croatian cafe in Zagreb wants extra if you plan to be sitting and drinking your (probably) coffee outside on the terrace under the outdoor heaters. Coffee by the outdoor heater will cost you 14 kuna, and it will come at a cost of 12 kuna if you don't need warming up as well. In short, every guest in this particular Croatian cafe who wants to sit on the terrace under the outdoor heater must pay an additional two kuna for heating in addition to whatever their bill is for their order.
"I think that heaters are a luxury outside, in winter. We have enough interior space, if someone really wants to be outside in the fresh air, we'll turn the heaters on, but we simply have to pass that part of the cost on to the end user," said Ivan Oreskovic, the owner of this particular cafe. Oreskovic eventually decided on this move because of higher electricity bills, which grew by 200 percent and are now around three times higher than they were before. One kilowatt came at a cost of 55 lipa last year, it costs one kuna and 65 lipa this year.
"People sit outside for 30 minutes on average, so far we've borne that cost. Each heater consumes approximately 2 kilowatts per hour, that would be 2 times 1.6 which is 3.2 kuna - we used to pay one kuna for it. We passed the difference on to the customers, and we keep the main part of the cost to ourselves", explained the owner.
This is the only cafe in the entire country that includes a heater on its price list, at least so far, and people are divided about the idea. Some are ready to pay two kuna extra if they are satisfied with the service and the cafe, but others think that it isn't fair. As things stand, this kind of recipe for cost reduction and survival will be applied by many business owners working in the catering and hospitality sector, writes RTL.
"As for the amounts themselves - whether it's 2, 5 or maybe even 50 kuna, it definitely depends on the decision of the company owner who is responsible for the organisation of the business. I'm equally sure that business owners are definitely also taking into account the amounts that people can actually afford to pay,'' pointed out Ivan Tadic, secretary of the Association of Caters in Zagreb.
While this Croatian cafe has chosen this somewhat controversial model and others will likely follow, for most, charging extra for heating is the last thing on their minds.
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