Amsterdam residents sue city over TikTok-driven crowds at popular snack bar

A group of longtime residents in Amsterdam’s Negen Straatjes neighborhood has sued the city, demanding a review of the operating license for the popular snack bar Fabel Friet, Het Parool reports. They say daily crowds of tourists, drawn by viral TikTok videos, block sidewalks and film their truffle-topped fries, turning the historic area into a “carnival.”

“This is not the fault of the business owner—of course he wants to make as much money as possible,” 86-year-old Dick van Dam, who has lived in the Negen Straatjes for 45 years, told Het Parool. “The fault lies with the city, which refuses to intervene.”

Van Dam is one of 20 residents formally challenging the 2024 extension of Fabel Friet’s license, granted by the Centrum borough. Their goal is to force the closure of the shop, which opened in the Runstraat in August 2020 and has since become a viral hotspot on social media. According to the group, another 80 neighbors support the action.

The residents gathered at café De Doffer—Van Dam alongside Steve Malenka (74), Dingeman Coumou (74), Monique Koning (80), and Emmerique Moliere (71)—say the continuous influx of TikTok-fueled visitors is degrading their quality of life and making the area unsafe.

“The long TikTok queue is here seven days a week,” Coumou told Het Parool, with the others nodding in agreement. “They occupy a large part of the sidewalk, often stretching over the Keizersgracht bridge. It’s turned into a dangerous intersection.”

Fabel Friet co-owner Abel Klatser, 27, said the business deploys three crowd managers daily to manage the crowds, increasing to four on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. “They ensure the sidewalk remains accessible and that customers don’t eat in front of neighbors’ homes or shops,” he told Het Parool.

Yet neighbors say that’s not enough. “We live in cultural heritage, but most days I can’t even cross the bridge because of the line,” Malenka told Het Parool. “Why hasn’t the city taken steps to get this under control? Amsterdam has become a carnival.”

Moliere echoed those frustrations, saying trash from the popular fries—often served with Parmesan cheese and truffle mayonnaise—is found far beyond the immediate area. “They say they clean it up, but I wonder where they’re leaving all those bags,” she told Het Parool. “The garbage bins are always full.”

Fabel Friet’s other co-owner, 30-year-old Floris Feilzer, said managing the impact on the neighborhood has become their top priority. “The shop is doing well, so now we’re focused on minimizing disruption,” he told Het Parool. Feilzer explained that they work with Stichting Koffiehuis, a social enterprise supporting the homeless and undocumented, to empty public trash bins 24 times a day and collect litter three times daily.

Despite their efforts, the entrepreneurs feel targeted. “We sense that our queue has become a symbol of over-tourism in Amsterdam,” said Feilzer. “But the people standing in our line are not flying to Amsterdam just for our fries.”

Fabel Friet opened two new locations last year—on the Oude Hoogstraat and the Nieuwendijk—to ease pressure on the Runstraat. Still, the original location remains a flashpoint.

The municipality acknowledged the controversy. A spokesperson said the 2024 license renewal included a formal assessment of public interest and concluded that there was “no disproportionate impact on the living environment or public order” at the time. Extra measures required by the permit—such as crowd control—were being enforced.

The Centrum borough also tried to address congestion by imposing a conditional restriction: one of Fabel Friet’s two cash registers had to close if more than 10 people waited outside. The business filed for an injunction, calling the rule unworkable—and the court agreed. Fabel Friet claims to voluntarily adhere to the rule.

The lawsuit filed by the residents challenges the city’s judgment. Their objections to the license renewal were dismissed earlier, but the court will now decide whether the renewal was legally sound. A ruling is expected by the end of June. If the court finds the decision flawed, the city must reassess the license, taking the ruling into account.

If the court sides with the residents, they hope it will lead to Fabel Friet’s closure. When asked if they feared another TikTok-hit business would soon replace it, the group was unfazed. “Not without a permit,” they told Het Parool. “And we trust the city will be strict about that.”

Klatser, however, hopes it never comes to that. “We are local entrepreneurs, too,” he told Het Parool. “We employ 130 Amsterdammers, many of them young people from the neighborhood. We’re proud of what we’ve built and we want to keep doing this for a long time.”