In a central street in Salamanca, a bar has placed a sign that has caught the attention of customers and neighbors: “Friday night and Saturday night, minimum consumption of a drink and a lid.” The measure is applied both on the terrace and inside. The objective, according to the owner, is to avoid “the ruin” of his business.
The owner, Luis Miguel, has attended to the ‘Let’s see’ program, issued in Telecinco, and among his claims he explained that in his bar he demands that each person who between having a minimal consumption of cover and drink, without exceptions.
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A drink and a lid, the minimum consumption
The owner of the premises has indicated that many people “sat on the terrace for two hours with a water or a wine. In the end, the account was five or six euros. Meanwhile, there were people of people waiting to sit. And of course, with those numbers it is impossible to keep a bar afloat,” he explained.
According to the hotelier, the measure of his bar is mainly applied on Fridays and Saturday nights, the moments of greatest influx in the premises. Here, each person must request at least a complete consumption (a drink and a lid) and each table must exceed a minimum expenditure that ranges between six and ten euros. The objective, underlines, is to ensure the rotation of tables and sustain the business at a time marked by the increase in costs.
It is for this reason that this standard is always applied, until a group of more than 10 people enters the premises. If one of them does not want to consume drink and lid, then the rest of the diners must look for another place to take, gather or consume.
“I don’t force anyone,” he said. Although Patricia Pardo, of the ‘I am waiter’ platform, and present in the Telecinco program, I did not agree too much. “If the condition to be able to sit is to ask for a lid and a drink a bit forced yes, right?” It has been there when the owner has stressed that he has to look for the viability of his business.
Although the pulse has not trembled too much when the television program asked them more questions: “If you don’t like it, there are many more bars in Salamanca,” he replied with a roundness, making it clear that in this bar they do not care to lose a table of 10 people even if only one of them does not want to consume: “They would not sit down, it is announced by the entire place.”
The head of the bar details that the fixed expenses have shot. Well from municipal fees for the use of the terrace, or for the rise in supplies, personnel costs and growing competition in the hospitality of the city of Salamanca. “If a table is busy for a long time and does not consume enough, money is lost. And that, with the current situation, we cannot allow it,” he said.
How the standard is communicated
The bar decided to place a poster at the door a few weeks ago, so that all customers see it before entering. It also appears in the letter and in visible areas of the premises. The message is clear: in certain stripes, each person must ask for at least one drink and a lid.
The reactions have been different. “At the beginning there was surprise, but when we explained the reason, the majority understands it,” he says. In his opinion, it is in a “honest” way to communicate to the client the rules of the service.
What the OCU says
If we stick to the validity it has, it really is right. In fact, the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) recalls that these types of measures are legal as long as they are reported clearly and before the client consumes.
In statements collected by ‘La Gaceta de Salamanca’, according to the organization, the bars have the right to establish minimal consumption or limit the time of stay at the tables, as in this case, provided that customers are reported clearly.
“It cannot be imposed after the person is already sitting and started asking,” they say. The OCU insists that these types of conditions should appear in a visible place, such as the entrance, the letter or an outstanding poster.