Croatian Cafe Charging Extra for People to Sit by Outdoor Heaters
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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Will Government Allow Croatian Cafe Owners to Serve Coffee to Go?
January the 24th, 2021 - Will Croatian cafe owners finally be permitted to serve coffee to go as the country's epidemiological measures are reviewed on February the 1st?
As Poslovni Dnevnik/Ana Blaskovic writes, in the coming days, the state will present the new epidemiological measures for the economy after February the 1st in detail, during which consultations will be held with all those whose work has been suspended, such as Croatian faces, according to Labour Minister Josip Aladrovic.
"Certainly, as has been the case previous times, there will be consultations with all those who are involved. Of course, there is a special emphasis being placed on those in the hospitality and catering industry because of their number and because these measures have a significant impact on them,'' said the Minister.
He added that no measure will be adopted without consultations with all those whose work has been suspended.
When asked by journalists about the announcement of the National Association of Caterers, which, citing sources close to the Civil Protection Headquarters, said that hotels would be opened first, then restaurants would be next, opening their doors from early March, with Croatian cafes being allowed to open their doors few weeks later, Aladrovic said that in early February, a new set of measures would be announced.
Croatian cafe owners and others in the hospitality and catering sector are asking to be given the opportunity to sell coffee to go about which the minister said that there is definitely room for conversation and agreement, and finally some concessions.
For the increasingly frequent remarks that the payment of job support subsidies for November and December have arrived late, Aladrovic said that he admitted that there were delays for November, but that there were no more complaints and that the CES paid out a total of around 400 million kuna.
Almost 300 million kuna has been paid out for the month of December 2020 so far, and Aladrovic doesn't expect any further technical problems in that particular regard.
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