Gregor Lemke knows the catering industry well in Munich. From the restaurant of the “Augustiner Klosterwirt” you can look directly at the cathedral of the Isar metropolis and the famous Frauenkirche, the landmark of the Bavarian capital. When the weather is warm and sunny, the beer halls are full.
At the beginning of the year, however, even the restaurants here were “nervous”. The German government had decided to increase the VAT on food again to 19 percent.
During the coronavirus pandemic, the tax rate had been temporarily reduced to seven percent.
The new increase came after conditions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, increased energy costs and soaring inflation had already taken a heavy toll on profits.
Now, professionals and visitors were wondering if there was also the threat of declining visitor numbers.
Crowds of tourists from all over the world
“It’s going to be a good year,” says restaurateur Lemke in an interview with t-online, citing his own experience and conversations with downtown colleagues.
Fears that diners will stay away because restaurateurs have been forced to pass on the VAT increase to the prices of pork knuckle, Leberkäs and Käsespätzle have yet to be confirmed in central Munich.
For Lemke, who is a representative of the Munich city center restaurant association, this is mainly due to the attractiveness of the city and the influx of tourists from all over the world.
“We are in the fortunate position of being visited by all the residents of Munich, the residents of the surrounding area and visitors from further afield.
We are like in a hot glass: everyone who comes to Munich wants to be in the city center”, he explains, citing factors: “We have concerts from world stars, for example Taylor Swift or Coldplay. There are six games in Munich for the 2024 European Championship. The American ice hockey league NHL will come to the city for the first time this year with the Buffalo Sabres. We have an unrivaled number of events. Every FC Bayern home game is also good.”
What about regular players?
“In January, the people of Munich were a bit more cautious because they did not yet know how much the prices would rise. But our patrons know that we didn’t want to raise the prices, but we had to. They understand that”, explains the Munich-born.
So those who appreciate and like traditional Bavarian restaurants keep coming back. Although Lemke – like many other restaurateurs – raised prices at the beginning of the year.
In numbers: Roast pork in beer sauce with potato pasta and bacon and cabbage salad is still €15.90 in December.
From January, the Bavarian dish is priced at 17.90 euros. Wiener schnitzel with wild blackberries and warm potato salad now costs 27.90 euros.
Therefore, the limit of 30 euros is not far away. Nevertheless, Lemke’s team serves an average of 150 portions of Wiener schnitzel and 200 roast pork per day.
According to Lemke, the lavish prices are ultimately meant to cover the high costs of his business.
“It will be interesting to see how the financial valuation will be at the end of the year. If you don’t raise prices, you have to wait and see what the net result will be,” says the 61-year-old.
Personnel costs increased by 13% in one year
Personnel costs increased by 13% between March 2023 and March 2024, says Lemke and confirms: “The development is in line with the performance. All our employees work in shifts, on Sundays and holidays.
It is physically demanding work. It’s the least you can do to get paid fairly. In the past you couldn’t achieve this in the market”.
If you want to understand how Munich’s catering trade is sometimes literally overcrowded despite the higher prices, you could do so at the Viktualienmarkt during the last weekends with summer temperatures.
Crowds crowded between Heiliggeiststraße and Blumenstraße, for example.
Here, on Blumenstraße, the beloved Italian from Giesing, Stefano D’Amato (“Feinkost Cannova”), opened another restaurant, “Barissimo”, at the turn of the year.
After just a few weeks, you need to book early to get a table.
And so the culinary boom in central Munich continues unabated – despite the fact that prices for roast pork and other delicacies have been rising significantly for years.
