"The delivery was almost as fun as the party itself!"

Before the coronavirus outbreak, Café Forum hosted a party with a VJ once a month. What can you do when guests aren't allowed to come to your venue? You go to them, of course! John Paulus and his colleagues created a concept to give their loyal customers a fantastic evening. The music was streamed, a chat function was provided for good conversations, and the snacks were delivered to people's homes in advance. Thanks to the green wheels provided by Maastricht Bereikbaar!   

Spectacular party

‘We can fondly look back on a spectacular party,’ explains John Paulus. He is the owner of Café Forum, which hosted a rather unusual activity on Saturday 25 April. ‘We delivered 80 parcels, many of which went to our loyal customers. A company also treated its employees to a parcel. We managed to surprise someone with a birthday song and a parcel on their special day. The response was great! Then again, everyone on delivery duty was treated to a smile at every door on their route. That's why the delivery was almost as fun as the party itself!’  

Company in the virtual space

‘Our VJ mixes video clips together. Normally, they do it live on location, but this time they did it via online streaming. People watched this from their own homes, in groups of two or sometimes four. Thanks to the chat function, my staff and I finally felt like we were interacting with guests again. Ultimately, that's what working in hotels, restaurants, and bars is about. The next edition has already been scheduled for Saturday 9 May! My other business, Café Paulus, is scheduling drinks on a Friday. The advanced scheduling and delivery to homes is very labour-intensive, but gave us a positive feeling.’

Green wheels

The e-bikes and e-cargo bikes of Maastricht Bereikbaar were used to deliver the parcels to peoples’ homes. Lending out ‘green wheels’ for inner-city transport is one of the aspects of the sustainable urban logistics programme. Business owners now have the opportunity to experience using different types of sustainable transport. ‘Now that the coronavirus outbreak created more demand for delivery options among business owners, we are happy to help,’ says city centre project leader Jelle Ummels. 

Worth doing again! 

John Paulus is grateful that he could borrow the bikes. ‘Otherwise, we would have had to use cars. Our approach was more fun and produced less CO₂ emissions. An added bonus was that you can fit a lot of stuff in the cargo compartment. We were told in advance that the bikes would take some getting used to, but using those electrical bicycles was a breeze! As we can see from the messages, photos, and videos we're being sent, our guests really enjoyed themselves! We're looking forward to the next edition.’