What does the youngest café owner in the Kempen teach us?

FUN FACT. This Wednesday, September 3, Jonas Mertens will reopen the Sint-Jan café in his Flemish village of Gerheide. He's only 19 years old. What lessons can we learn from this?

© Stig Husby / Unsplash

Jonas Mertens won't be starting higher education this year. The young man swapped his studies in SME management in Antwerp to "seize an opportunity": to take over from the retiring managers of Café Sint-jan, a sixty-year-old institution in the hamlet of Gerheide (Balen). His takeover application stood out among the half-dozen other candidates, notes the Gazet van Antwerpen , without his age being an issue, the only requirement being legal majority.

© Raymond Lemmens / GVA

What can we learn from this falsely anecdotal case?

• A masterful initiative: At 19, he became the youngest café owner in the Kempen region, he was careful to verify. An entrepreneurial initiative he financed with his own funds, after having accumulated student jobs in numerous cafés and bars in Antwerp.

• Supportive entourage: Another notable element, Jonas Mertens specifies that his business entourage proves to be decisive, and cites a "good accountant", a brewer he has known for a long time as well as advisors "experienced in the hospitality industry".

• Realistic approach: The young café owner says he is aware of the challenges and difficulties that this particular business and sector hold for him, but he expresses a marked enthusiasm for negotiating with suppliers, personnel management and service.

• Regular customers: In his business analysis, the junior café owner identified a loyal clientele: nineteen associations used the room adjoining the café, but also that the Sint-Jan served as a meeting point for cycling clubs, billiards and darts players.

• Refined adjustments: An additional argument is that the establishment is "ready to use." To broaden the customer base, in an attempt to attract an audience outside of Balen, Jonas Mertens plans to offer "more contemporary drinks, like Aperol," as well as snacks like bitterballen and cheese. Without betraying the soul of Sint-Jan by risking becoming too "fancy."

• Social dimension (third place): Last point of interest, the young boss claims a “great coffee culture” in his native region, underlining the unifying and intergenerational dimension of the establishments, a sort of unofficial living heritage of several communities.