'Personal attention and hospitality craftsmanship in danger of dying out'

Dirk van de Haar, director of hospitality at Creneau and hospitality globetrotter

Dirk van de Haar made his first hospitality pitch at the age of 16 in a café in his hometown Valkenswaard. Via New York and Curaçao, among others, he ended up in Dubai where he became director of hospitality at Creneau International. Recently, van de Haar and colleagues opened Roca House in Ibiza; restaurant, café, bakery and shop all in one, as well as a place where you can take yoga classes. In an interview with the hospitality crack about his methods, vision and threats and opportunities for the industry, he states bluntly. "If we are not careful, the unique hospitality business will die out and only uniform, efficiently run chains will remain where you order your food online, but all the personal attention and craftsmanship will have disappeared."

Van de Haar is a hospitality man pur sang. He did the Hotelschool in Eindhoven, later the Hogere Hotelschool in Leeuwarden, worked for cafés and restaurants such as Dikke van Dale, Hotels van Oranje in Noordwijk, but also for Intercontinental in the United States. In 2008, van de Haar landed in Dubai where he became director of hospitality at Creneau International, which runs restaurants and cafés in addition to interior design, interior design and branding itself. Van de Haar: "That is our strength and it is what sets us apart from our competitors. Because we run eating and drinking establishments ourselves, we know what is important and we know the challenges of our customers. In the Netherlands - we also have a Creneau branch in Eindhoven - these include companies like the Carlton Group, La Place, Vermaat, Albron, ING, Ahold, HMS Host and Center Parcs, but also unique restaurants like Chez Margot in Roermond, Saam in Maastricht and Zuiderzoet in Zeewolde, for example."

Timeless

In Dubai, van de Haar began modestly setting up his first Belgian Beer Café, which can now be found in 18 countries, including two in the Netherlands. "A timeless design and therefore interesting for investors," says van de Haar. He then helped two other Creneau franchise chains Maison Mathis (bistros) and Cho Gao (Asian cuisine) get their first establishments. Today, those restaurants too can be found all over the world. 

God is in the details

Asked about Creneau's success, van de Haar points to the important role of the pre-process in their way of working. "We do on-site research first, speak extensively with the client, frequently use the science of psychology as advice and really think everything out in advance. Not just the food or drinks, but also the decor, service, website, social media and marketing. In doing so, we look for a concept that is not only beautiful and strong in quality, but also wants to create a place where it is good and easy to work. A bar that is in the right and accessible place to reduce the number of walking metres, a compact kitchen arranged in such a way that you can still work in it efficiently and pleasantly. But also the so-called details like how the coffee is presented, in what crockery and what the staff are wearing that appear at the table." 

Star quality

Van de Haar: "Take Roca House in Ibiza as an example. We searched for a location for over two years and finally found the perfect spot next to the golf course in the middle of the beautiful island nature. Again, everything, from A to Z, was thought out in advance. The result is a restaurant with very reasonable prices, certainly for Ibiza, but with a former Michelin star chef behind the cooker and star-quality dishes. A place with super-service where you can enjoy yourself all day and on the off-chance you can do your shopping so you can leave the supermarket behind. In marketing, we deliberately moved far away from Roca House and wanted to celebrate Ibiza with beautiful images of the island. A mysterious approach where interested parties certainly didn't notice at first that we were a restaurant." 

Vision for the future 

Asked about his vision of the future for the catering industry, van de Haar sees a horizon full of challenges: 'On the one hand, you have my generation and older (Van de Haar is 42 years old, ed.) who still really appreciate personal service and attention. Then there is a younger generation that has very different wishes, likes to order online in advance, wants to eat as quickly as possible and doesn't appreciate a waiter who asks how things are going or explains how the wine got its special mineral flavour. For investors, generation Y and Z are no problem - after all, you can do with much less staff and thus reduce costs - but if we are not careful, the unique catering business will die out and all that will remain are uniformly efficient chains where you order online, but where all personal attention and craftsmanship have disappeared." 

Right staff

Furthermore, every year it becomes more difficult to attract the right staff, according to van de Haar. "When I was young, there was nothing more fun than standing behind the bar. The bartending profession had prestige. Party every day. Now it is difficult to find good staff who like to create a welcoming environment and are servant-like. As a hospitality industry, we partly have ourselves to thank for that. During Covid, the industry cut its staff far too rigorously. Good employees then thought: if my boss treats me like this and can't offer security, I better look for work elsewhere."

Hospitality chains

Ever-increasing purchase prices are also a future risk, van de Haar said. "Because of this more expensive purchasing, the hospitality industry is becoming increasingly pricey. If consumer salaries would grow along with it, no problem, but unfortunately that is not the case. People are increasingly unable to afford to eat out. This also threatens to affect diversity. The typical café borne by the charm of the landlord or the restaurant started by the novice and experimenting top chef with an extra mortgage on his house will disappear if we are not careful." 

Entertainment 

A final development that van de Haar detects is a trend that has been around for a bit longer and is gaining ground, and that is food or drink combined with entertainment. "Take the Flight Clubs Darts occasions in England or Swingers Crazy Golf in the US. Very successful concepts. We sometimes think about setting up something like that too. In a way, with the Hup Hotel in Eindhoven (the best running part of the Carlton Group in the Netherlands, ed), we have already thought of something like this. In this hotel surrounded by sports facilities, everything encourages sports and exercise. A hole in the tables, for example, with a basketball ring above it to throw your props through instead of a bin. Kids get frenzied when they come here, but of course Roca House also offers a lot besides food and drink."