Taat & De Regt
Anything was possible when catering was rock 'n' roll
DATE
20 May 2020
TEXT
Casper Postmaa
IMAGE
Piet Gispen
Catering firm Taat & De Regt was one of the tastemakers in 1980s The Hague. Anything went, the sky was the limit. Journalist Casper Postmaa wrote a fascinating book about these two entrepreneurs from the Bird District.
Alf the stories are to be believed, there was little to do in The Hague in the 1970s and 1980s. The wild years of the pop scene were over and the residency seemed to be dozing off again in dreams about the East Indies and the fin-de-siècle.
Spectacle
But rock 'n' roll was still there, albeit of a different signature. In 1979, two young entrepreneurs stood up to help define the face of The Hague in the 1980s. Dick Taat (1949) and Jaap de Regt (1951), with their catering company Taat & De Regt, immediately made a clean sweep of the dull landscape of receptions, receptions and parties. No more weak gravy, slices of cake and lukewarm wine, but spectacle!
Wassenaar 'garden parties' grew into parties that lasted until early morning.
Wassenaar 'garden parties' grew into parties that lasted until early in the morning, with bars and bands in the garden, lanterns in the trees and a new phenomenon in The Hague: the barbecue. The latter in particular proved to be a blockbuster; Dick Taat's father had designed and assembled them from old oil drums.
'The wonder years of Taat & De Regt'
Hague journalist Casper Postmaa wrote a book about the illustrious twosome, 'De wonderjaren van Taat & De Regt'. The book tells three stories: one about the historiography of the 1980s in The Hague.
Taat and de Regt were so well known that Jaap Vegter once made a cartoon of the catering duo
In addition, you can read it as a textbook for budding entrepreneurs who want to know what to expect in practice, and finally, it is a story about a unique friendship. For the close bond between Dick and Jaap, which developed around the age of 10, was the platform on which their business could thrive.
Young staff, dressed in brightly coloured, striped jackets, were soon the favourites with the ladies in the various Hague and Wassenaar circuits.
But there were more factors that made the dynamics between city and business so special. As unskilled newcomers to business, Dick Taat and Jaap de Regt relied mainly on their own circle of friends in the beginning.
Bird District
Young staff, mostly from the Vogel neighbourhood, dressed in brightly coloured, striped jackets - inherited from a cricket tour of England - whose energetic charisma and youthful enthusiasm soon made them the favourite with the ladies in the various Hague and Wassenaar circuits. It was quite common for certain party managers to top the menu that hostesses in the villa towns of the Randstad ordered from Dick Taat.
Rarely were clients resistant to the charms of the chatty salesman.
After all, Taat was the salesman of the pair. No doubt the division of labour between Dick and Jaap enforced by practice was also a key to their success. Jaap was the quiet, rock-hard worker who worked miracles in the background when somewhere during the many parties - thousands of covers per weekend in the peak years - things once again got out of hand because, instead of a thousand invitees, 15 hundred guests turned up.
Culinary brain
In addition, he distinguished himself in the numerous renovations the company often carried out itself. Taat was different in almost everything: rarely were clients resistant to the charms of the chatty salesman, but handy in the practical sense of the word he was not. 'What my eyes see, my hands destroy,' is a catchphrase of his, with which he also sold himself short. Because from a man who couldn't even fry an egg, he grew into the culinary brain behind the ever-renewing catering company.
Jaap de Regt in his younger days. The moustache he still wears
The history of Taat & De Regt is grand and compelling in every respect, and perhaps that was why Dick and Jaap sold the business in the early 1990s, because at the time they were suffering hard knocks despite their awesome commitment and creativity. They survived and after a brief respite, they each went their separate ways as entrepreneurs. And even then they were successful
Read also:
The best wine & food spots according to wine guru Nico McGough
And the friendship remained intact. Where else do you find that duos with an intensive working relationship don't break up in a quarrel?', Dick wondered when 'De wonderjaren van Taat & De Regt' was launched in the packed Paagman bookshop. 'Actually, I hardly know of any examples,' Jaap de Regt replied. 'Van Kooten & De Bie? So maybe it's a Hague thing.'
Cocaine as an amuse bouche
What has also survived is the endless stream of anecdotes. 'De wonderjaren van Taat & De Regt' contains all the stories: the intimate lunches with the prince, a shark in a Scheveningen fountain, cocaine as an appetiser and the night love was made under 'Potter's Bull'. Anyone who loves The Hague, and that certainly includes entrepreneurs, should read this book!
'The wonder years of Taat & De Regt'
Author: Casper Postmaa
Publisher: Primavera
Price: €19.50
ISBN: 978-90-5997-306-0
Click here to order the book
text Casper Postmaa / image Piet Gispen
Catering firm Taat & De Regt was one of the tastemakers in 1980s The Hague. Anything went, the sky was the limit. Journalist Casper Postmaa wrote a fascinating book about these two entrepreneurs from the Bird District.
Alf the stories are to be believed, there was little to do in The Hague in the 1970s and 1980s. The wild years of the pop scene were over and the residency seemed to be dozing off again in dreams about the East Indies and the fin-de-siècle.
Spectacle
But rock 'n' roll was still there, albeit of a different signature. In 1979, two young entrepreneurs stood up to help define the face of The Hague in the 1980s. Dick Taat (1949) and Jaap de Regt (1951), with their catering company Taat & De Regt, immediately made a clean sweep of the dull landscape of receptions, receptions and parties. No more weak gravy, slices of cake and lukewarm wine, but spectacle!
Wassenaar 'garden parties' grew into parties that lasted until early morning.
Wassenaar 'garden parties' grew into parties that lasted until early in the morning, with bars and bands in the garden, lanterns in the trees and a new phenomenon in The Hague: the barbecue. The latter in particular proved to be a blockbuster; Dick Taat's father had designed and assembled them from old oil drums.
'The wonder years of Taat & De Regt'
Hague journalist Casper Postmaa wrote a book about the illustrious twosome, 'De wonderjaren van Taat & De Regt'. The book tells three stories: one about the historiography of the 1980s in The Hague.
Taat and de Regt were so well known that Jaap Vegter once made a cartoon of the catering duo
In addition, you can read it as a textbook for budding entrepreneurs who want to know what to expect in practice, and finally, it is a story about a unique friendship. For the close bond between Dick and Jaap, which developed around the age of 10, was the platform on which their business could thrive.
Young staff, dressed in brightly coloured, striped jackets, were soon the favourites with the ladies in the various Hague and Wassenaar circuits.
But there were more factors that made the dynamics between city and business so special. As unskilled newcomers to business, Dick Taat and Jaap de Regt relied mainly on their own circle of friends in the beginning.
Bird District
Young staff, mostly from the Vogel neighbourhood, dressed in brightly coloured, striped jackets - inherited from a cricket tour of England - whose energetic charisma and youthful enthusiasm soon made them the favourite with the ladies in the various Hague and Wassenaar circuits. It was quite common for certain party managers to top the menu that hostesses in the villa towns of the Randstad ordered from Dick Taat.
Rarely were clients resistant to the charms of the chatty salesman.
After all, Taat was the salesman of the pair. No doubt the division of labour between Dick and Jaap enforced by practice was also a key to their success. Jaap was the quiet, rock-hard worker who worked miracles in the background when somewhere during the many parties - thousands of covers per weekend in the peak years - things once again got out of hand because, instead of a thousand invitees, 15 hundred guests turned up.
Culinary brain
In addition, he distinguished himself in the numerous renovations the company often carried out itself. Taat was different in almost everything: rarely were clients resistant to the charms of the chatty salesman, but handy in the practical sense of the word he was not. 'What my eyes see, my hands destroy,' is a catchphrase of his, with which he also sold himself short. Because from a man who couldn't even fry an egg, he grew into the culinary brain behind the ever-renewing catering company.
Jaap de Regt in his younger days. The moustache he still wears
The history of Taat & De Regt is grand and compelling in every respect, and perhaps that was why Dick and Jaap sold the business in the early 1990s, because at the time they were suffering hard knocks despite their awesome commitment and creativity. They survived and after a brief respite, they each went their separate ways as entrepreneurs. And even then they were successful
Read also:
The best wine & food spots according to wine guru Nico McGough
And the friendship remained intact. Where else do you find that duos with an intensive working relationship don't break up in a quarrel?', Dick wondered when 'De wonderjaren van Taat & De Regt' was launched in the packed Paagman bookshop. 'Actually, I hardly know of any examples,' Jaap de Regt replied. 'Van Kooten & De Bie? So maybe it's a Hague thing.'
Cocaine as an amuse bouche
What has also survived is the endless stream of anecdotes. 'De wonderjaren van Taat & De Regt' contains all the stories: the intimate lunches with the prince, a shark in a Scheveningen fountain, cocaine as an appetiser and the night love was made under 'Potter's Bull'. Anyone who loves The Hague, and that certainly includes entrepreneurs, should read this book!
'The wonder years of Taat & De Regt'
Author: Casper Postmaa
Publisher: Primavera
Price: €19.50
ISBN: 978-90-5997-306-0
Click here to order the book
