Harry's Bar aids poor Americans
2008-04-08 12:52
Rome - Harry's Bar, the famed Venice watering hole where Ernest Hemingway held court over hearty food and stiff martinis, is offering a discount to "poor" Americans suffering from a weak dollar and sub-prime blues.
The decision by the owner of the restaurant, one of the most-expensive even when the US currency is strong, underscores the growing concern about the weak dollar among tourism operators in Italy and elsewhere in Europe.
A sign posted outside the restaurant at the weekend read: "Harry's Bar of Venice, in an effort to make the American victims of sub-prime loans happier, has decided to give them a special 20% discount on all items on the menu during the short term of their recovery."
Drop in trade
When the euro was introduced as the continent's common currency in 2002, a dollar bought about €1.10. Today it gets about €64 cents, making prices seem astronomically high for most Americans.
Arrigo Cipriani, 76, Harry's owner, said: "Since the start of January, we noticed a drop in (American) customers of between 5% and 10% and now that we are in April it looks really frightening."
Enit, Italy's national tourism board, said in a report this month that the "strong devaluation of the dollar compared to the European currency and signs of a recession are the greatest obstacle to American tourism toward Europe".
Harry' Bar was founded in 1931 when Giuseppe Cipriani, a barman at a Venice hotel, opened it with money an American named Harry Pickering had given him to pay off a loan.
He named the bar and his first son Arrigo (Italian for Harry) - the present owner - in Pickering's honour.
Hemingway made Harry's Bar his Venice headquarters. He mentioned it in Across the River and Into the Trees, which was published in 1950 and which he wrote on the lagoon island of Torcello while living in an inn owned by the Cipriani family.
Cipriani, whose family company owns high-end restaurants and food shops in New York, Venice, Hong Kong, London and Sardinia, says even well-heeled clients look for discounts.
A pricey portion
"You would be surprised how people like to have a discount on their bill whether they are rich or poor," he said.
A full meal with wine at his Venice restaurant could set someone back more than €200 (about R2 500).
Cipriani, who said the discount would apply only to the restaurant part of the tab and not the bar, said Americans in Venice need not bring their passports to his restaurant in order to get a discount.
"We will judge by the accent and if we make a mistake, we will give a 20% discount to the English as well," he said.