In the new miniseries Gozers, AT5 follows the new owners of the Goos café in the Rivierenbuurt in Zuid. Six months ago, nine local residents bought the pub to keep it for the neighborhood. In this episode we see how difficult it can be to deal with nine different people when making decisions.
“Our designer had a serious cycling accident and subsequently went to Cape Town for rehabilitation.” One of the owners, David Kat, is looking for an excuse for why it is taking so long to complete the new menu for the eatery. Owner and manager Raymond has a slightly different vision. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s just bad luck.”
The nine Gozers took over Café Goos six months ago, there are already some new dishes on the current menu, but introducing the completely new menu and wine list has now taken months. Kat: “Yes, there are nine of us, so some decisions you make very quickly, and some things take a little longer than usual.”
The group of David, Raymond and also owner Casper look over the menu. The designer from Cape Town has just sent another update. The men meet for the umpteenth time in the cafe to view the latest version on the laptop. “The colors are very beautiful,” says David. Raymond immediately notices some errors. “Those euro signs are still there, they have to be removed everywhere.”
While it soon becomes apparent that there is still plenty to do with the appearance of the menu, Casper suddenly starts a discussion about the price of a Gin and Tonic. “I think twelve fifty is very pricey.” A little later, he, and not the designer, causes some extra delay: “Can’t we give the Gin and Tonic a different name?” The other guys look at him questioningly.
Garden on the awning
Another headache that seems to never end is the awning and the awning cloth. Owner Patrick Tijhuis briefly summarizes what is wrong with it. “It hangs too low, so you can’t see in the evening whether the business is open, it is not the right color, and it is very dirty.” Everyone can confirm the latter. David, who is also trying to replace the awning or have it cleaned, is also bothered by it. “We can’t ignore it, there are green moss plants growing on the canopy.” Guy Adriaan is pretty much done with it, as it turns out when he comes to the café. “There has been talk about that awning for months. Just fix it guys. I don’t care.”
Ultimately, it was decided to have the awning cloth cleaned, as replacing it is very expensive. When things finally seem to be moving – David has made an appointment with a company to clean up the place – it later turns out that things are not going to happen again. “No, it will be another month later, I have no idea why,” Raymond says resignedly. “Horeca is also a festival of errors,” Adriaan puts into perspective. “There are nine of us who do it and it is not our official job. So what you sometimes notice is that once a decision has been made about something, it is sometimes difficult who should implement it. And then things sometimes remain lie.”
The miniseries ‘Gozers’ is part of the Damsko programme.
Tags: Miniseries Gozers Festival errors
