Alfons Schuhbeck: From star chef to prison

Alfons Schuhbeck was born in 1949 in Traunstein, Bavaria. At that time he was still called Alfons Karg.
He first completed an apprenticeship as a telecommunications technician and played in a rock band.
During a band outing, he meets the innkeeper Sebastian Schuhbeck, who adopted him and with whom he is training to be a chef. Sebastian Schuhbeck also bequeathed his Kurhausstüberl to him.
In the years that followed, Alfons Schuhbeck gained experience working with renowned chefs in Geneva, Paris, London and Munich.
In 1980, Schuhbeck took over the Kurhausstüberl and won over the guests with his culinary art, so that the former village inn became a top-class restaurant. In the 1990s, Schuhbeck creates his own empire at the Munich Platzl – with a restaurant, wine bar, cooking school, spice shop, ice cream parlor and and and….
In 2003 he opened the “Schuhbecks in den Südtiroler Stuben” restaurant, which even had a Michelin star until 2017. He also appears regularly on television cooking shows and has authored several cookbooks.
More than twelve companies bustle around Schuhbecks Holding GmbH & Co. KG. Schuhbeck operates other companies, some with partners.
His private assets were estimated at around 5 million euros in 2021. And yet Alfons Schuhbeck filed for bankruptcy in July 2021. That means he was insolvent.
The star chef was sued for tax evasion. The verdict: He has to go to prison for three years and two months for tax evasion in the amount of 2.3 million euros.