MENU
+31 43 311 6438

Robert Vanhees swapped Apple for his favo restaurant Bouchon d'en Face

Say you have a good job in the corporate world, including an excellent salary. Yet for some time now, the desire to return to your old love, the hospitality industry, has been gnawing away. Maastricht-based Robert Vanhees, successful manager at Apple, found the solution: he bought his favourite restaurant Bouchon d'en Face in his hometown and started working as a host himself.

Text: Maarten van Laarhoven

In bistro Bouchon d'en Face, in the Maastricht district of Wyck, on this late Wednesday evening, there is a scent somewhere between spicy game dishes and freshly baked tarte tatin. French music sounds in the background. The atmosphere is loose. The many guests clearly feel at ease. 38-year-old Robert Vanhees views it with a mixture of pleasure and undisguised pride. Since 1 January, he has officially been the owner of 'de Bouchon', one of the best-known low-threshold restaurants in the Limburg capital.

REMOVE

After more than 12 years of carrying a relatively heavy responsibility as regional sales manager at Apple Netherlands, Vanhees made a rigorous decision last summer. He wanted to return to hospitality, the profession in which he started at the age of 14 as a dishwasher in De Twee Heeren, a well-known Maastricht student bar. While still studying Strategic Marketing at Maastricht University, he made it as a self-employed cook at the Preuverij, a location a few streets away.

'With my team, we make sure guests walk out the door satisfied'

In his new role as owner of Bouchon d'en Face, time flies by, smiles Vanhees, as he routinely brews one perfect double espresso after another. For the past 12 years, his work has largely consisted of training and supervising Apple employees at MediaMarkt branches in the southern Netherlands.

"What I do now may seem very different from what I have always done, yet there are many similarities: as in my previous job, here I am in charge of a passionate team, some of which consists of young people. Together with them, I make sure our guests go home feeling satisfied."

SPECIAL FEELING

Not that he had anything to complain about at Apple. "I had fun work, got along great with my colleagues and I earned a good salary. Still, I was afraid that I would eventually end up in the famous golden cage. In other words, materially speaking, I had everything just fine, yet I began to wonder more and more what to do if in the long run I would no longer get satisfaction from it?"

'I missed the special feeling I had when I worked in the hospitality industry'

In the car at half past five in the morning, only to get home at ten in the evening. "When you have two young children like me, there are times when you start looking at certain things a little differently. Did I really want to keep doing what I was doing for the rest of my life? When I talked to others about it, it was often: 'But you earn well, don't you?"

"You have every chance to progress at Apple! That may be true; somewhere I missed the special feeling I had when I was still working in the hospitality industry." Witty words from Apple founder Steve Jobs ("Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition") set him thinking further. When I heard last summer that my favourite restaurant was up for sale - the previous owners wanted to do something else after working in the restaurant for years - the choice was easy."

*The text continues below the image.

MANY OPPORTUNITIES

Together with his wife Veronique Pluymaeckers, Robert took stock. "Of course, we carefully weighed everything against each other, but we came to a conclusion relatively quickly: an opportunity like this would not come our way any time soon. What also weighed strongly is that the Bouchon was co-founded by one of my best friends, Gyan Vliegen.

He too disposed of his interest in the business a few years ago to leave for the Côte d'Azur with the love of his life - a Frenchwoman. He too followed his heart." Will he make any changes when it comes to the formula in the coming years?

Vanhees: "The business is running nicely, but I still see a lot of opportunities. I can be quite obsessive when it comes to things like experience. I am convinced that there is still a lot to gain in that area. Table preparations, for example. If you prepare crepes suzette or steak tartare at the table, that's fun for everyone sitting nearby."

FINE TEAM

He has adjusted to having to work even harder than before, while the salary - at least for now - will be significantly lower than he is used to. "Life is not just about money alone. I myself have chosen work that I enjoy. In doing so, I can fall back on a very nice team, consisting of people who care about the hospitality industry. I am not alone. If Steve Jobs had always done everything on his own, Apple would never have become so big."

 

ABOUT BOUCHON D'EN FACE
Bouchon d'en Face opened its doors in autumn 2013 and has been a staple in Maastricht ever since. The restaurant breathes France. Or rather Lyon, because Bouchon d'en Face has the look and feel of a typical 'bouchon', as a bistro in the 'capital of gastronomy' is called. The narrow restaurant carries an authentic French menu full of classic French bouchon dishes, including steak tartare, confit de canard, escargots and bouillabaisse.

LEGENDARY BOUCHONS

With more than a thousand restaurants of all shapes and sizes, the metropolitan region of Lyon boasts the highest concentration of restaurants per inhabitant in France. Some simple establishments - read bouchons - have legendary status and have become true culinary institutions over time.

Unlike most of the top restaurants out there - Lyon is also the city of chef Paul Bocuse, who died in 2018, and whose L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges boasts three Michelin stars to his name - the emphasis at a bouchon is on simple food, good wine, a cosy atmosphere and, above all, personal interaction between guests and the owner.

Source: Entree Magazine

 

Back to overview