2023-04-25 08:45:00
Earthquake in the Brussels catering industry: the operator of the Monk, a very popular café on rue Sainte-Catherine, announces on 25 April 2023 that it is “fired” of the establishment. “I received a registered letter on April 18. May 18, I’m out”laments Filip Jans, at the head of the iconic brasserie in the center of Brussels. “The beverage wholesaler Horeca Logistic Services (HLS), owner of the place, refuses to extend the lease. I have to leave without any compensation”. 27 people will lose their jobs as a result of this closure.
Filip Jans has managed the Monk for 10 years. He takes over the place following bankruptcy. The manager then pays €120,000 in key money and invests €150,000 in the premises, “as agreed with the owner, to refresh the building. I then do it with great pleasure because I thought I would settle for 27 years”. This is the usual duration of brewery leases, 9 years renewable. It is therefore following the first third of this expected duration that the ax falls. Officially: the owner will carry out demolition-reconstruction work worth “greater than 3 years rent”.
“The real objective is to capture a bigger monthly rent”
But for Filip Jans, there is no doubt that the construction site is just an excuse: “the real objective is to capture a larger monthly rent while imposing a new key money of several hundred thousand euros on the next operator. They will also recover my own investments”. The rent for the famous bruincafé is “in neighborhood standards”, a tourist spot with a huge passage between the Stock Exchange and the quays. In addition, it is usual in brewery contracts, HLS also imposed the presence of its beers and other products on the menu “without my being able to decide on the prices, which have been increased several times”. Other source of income for the owner: “They pocket the commissions promised to the brands while I receive nothing”.
In the eyes of the café owner, brewery contracts “offer all the elements to breweries and horeca merchants facing operators. The profitability of these contracts is immense and the freedom of lessors is limitless”. By publicizing his misadventure, Filip Jans also wants to put his finger on these dysfunctions. “There are more than 2,000 annual procedures in Belgium which denounce brewery contracts, which generate a lot of discussion”. The owner of the Monk himself has repeatedly mentioned his situation in court: “I denounced the renovations at my expense, the 100% payment during the covid outside of all reality, the unilateral purchase prices of the goods, and of course this possibility of putting us out without compensation”. During these procedures, “the justice of the peace of Bruges himself recognized that the texts of the law must be reworked as the big players in the sector have so much power”.
One last party at the Monk
By May 18, Filip Jans is planning one last party “to thank everyone, customers, artists, DJs and staff”. It is scheduled for Saturday, May 13, to blow out 10 candles on a cake that tastes much more bitter than the bitterest of beers. “After that, I’ll recover from all the energy I put into saving the place. We were still overtaken and we will not find a place in a month”knows the operator. “But the goal is to relaunch something elsewhere, yes”.
Contacted, Horeca Logistic Services declines to comment “regarding a very confidential file”. The company is the Belgian importer of Carlsberg. HLS book “everywhere in Belgium” from 3 depots and makes 300 daily deliveries on board more than 40 trucks. Its building stock includes dozens of cafes and brasseries. In Brussels, HLS notably owns the Wolf food hall, in the former bank on rue Fossé au Loup.
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