August 18, 2018 · Team HG
NNot 125, but 132 cafés received notification last week that they have advanced to the second round of the Café Top 100. Normally, the top 125 advance, but because a number of cafés scored the same number of points, seven extra cafés are now going through. In round 2, the mystery visitors will head out.
In the first round of the Café Top 100 2018, the expert jury set out to visit all the cafés anonymously. Each establishment was visited for at least 45 minutes, and food and drinks were consumed. Based on these visits, a report was compiled containing dozens of criteria.
Normally, 125 cafés advance to round two, but given that a number of cafés achieved the same score, the jury decided that 132 cafés may proceed to round 2. They will be visited by the mystery guests from Mystery Review in the coming weeks.
These visits will also be anonymous, and attention will largely be paid to the same points as during a professional jury visit, only through the eyes of the guest. After this visit, the second scores will be combined to arrive at a final total. In this calculation, the professional jury report counts for 80 percent and the mystery visit for 20 percent.
32 businesses are ultimately eliminated, and 100 cafés are notified that they are included in the Café Top 100 2018 this year. Their exact ranking will be revealed on Monday, November 12, during a festive event at Studio 21 in Hilversum. The Provincial winners, the winners of the best social media policy, the Public Award, and the Parel will also be honored there.
Incidentally, the top of the list receives another visit. They are called and informed that the Main Jury is coming by. This is a scheduled one-hour visit. During this time, the jury will speak with the entrepreneurs about their business, their vision, and anything else that comes up. They will also take a look behind the scenes and—confidentially—at the books.
Cafés from all over the Netherlands are participating again this year; every province is represented. Rotterdam performed best of all participating municipalities in the first round. No fewer than seven cafés from the city on the Maas survived the first round. Haarlem and Amsterdam traditionally also always do well and are fielding 6 cafés in the second round this year.
Groningen, home of former winner Café Wolthoorn & Co and former number 2 The Pintelier, also scores well with 5 pubs. The Hague, which secured second place last year for Huppel the Pub, Maastricht and Nijmegen (both also featuring former winners within their city limits) each have four pubs in the second round. Leeuwarden and Den Bosch each contribute three pubs this year.
If the café is among the 132 best cafés in the Netherlands, in addition to a spot in the Misset Horeca Café Top 100, it also stands a chance to win the Public Award!
The audience award is determined by public vote.
