The hospital traffic light is red, 3G-plus applies in gastronomy – how are the innkeepers in the region? During a broadcast, the mood ranges from optimistic confidence and cheerful serenity to fatalism and even touches of despair. “The phone has been on since this morning and Christmas parties are being canceled in a row because the number of people can no longer be guaranteed,” said Markus Steinberger when he called on Monday after the head of Marktblick in Glonn had sounded fairly confident less than 24 hours beforehand. when he reported on the expansion of his restaurant with an additional room with space for 50 people, a separate entrance and a private toilet. He put everything on one card with this renovation, which is very well received for celebrating meetings and birthdays. And now that.
But just as one has experienced the versatile landlord so far, he will not let himself be thrown off course by this sequence of current developments, which he describes as a “brutal endurance test for the catering trade”. Right at the beginning of the pandemic, he was one of the first to have high-quality separating discs installed, to which “new, expensive ventilation” was added – convincing arguments, even if some people are now out of uncertainty.
Korbinian Kugler does not expect a situation like before the pandemic, in which one celebration after the other in the run-up to Christmas. But also not with the fact that everything is now omitted. The boss of the homonymous estate in Ebersberg rather believes that people will make their decisions relatively late this year, especially since the situation is still fresh. He has not yet noticed any decrease in the number of guests, but this is also due to the fact that the Kugleralm was even able to use the beer garden last Sunday.
At the “Zum Haberer” inn in Purfingen, host Max Mack relies on the glass partition between the tables.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
Anyone who has also benefited from the in-house beer garden is the lust for the countryside. The inn at the Reitsberger Hof in Vaterstetten, according to boss Anna Link, was always full all summer long. “Sometimes we couldn’t accept any more bookings for the weekend on Friday.” Even now, the occupancy rate is still good, especially since it has alternatives for those who prefer not to sit in the guest room. In the past few years, four shepherd and circus wagons have been added to the grill hut, which has been around for a long time, some of which they have converted themselves. This not only pleases the regular guests, who, as Link reports, her clientele mainly consists of. “70 percent definitely come once a week.” Knowing each other is now an advantage, because at the entrance, in addition to the vaccination certificate or test, the identity is now also checked.
“When we weren’t allowed to check the IDs, we just checked whether the name on the test matched the person and whether there really was a Maria and not a Josef in front of us. In addition, we know each other here in the country,” recounts with cheerful serenity Stephanie Propstmeier. The owner of the Weinbeißer in the municipality of Anzing says that her guests find both the 3-G plus and the 2-G regulation, which is used at events in her restaurant, very good. Nevertheless, she noticed that people are more hesitant when going out, “which is on the one hand understandable, on the other hand it is a shame for the effort we put in”. Incidentally, your staff is fully vaccinated “except for one who is currently not working”.
This also applies to the employees at Grafinger Kastenwirt, as tenant Martin Bayerlein emphasizes, who is confident that “our shop with its honest, down-to-earth cuisine will continue to be well attended.” It’s just a shame that some people didn’t understand that it wasn’t the landlords who made the regulations, “we just enforce them”.
Kostantino Akrivis from Taverna Orfeas takes the permanent changes in this regard with pragmatism. He always calls the district office to inquire, feels that he is in really good hands with the responsible authority. The feedback from the guests about the strict rules was consistently positive because people felt safe.
In the Landlust in Vaterstetten there are special booths in the Schäferwagen around the beer garden.
(Photo: private)
Maximilian Mack from Purfinger Haberer can confirm this. His house is full, which you can see for yourself. He regularly opens the doors and the large sliding windows to ventilate, and between two larger tables he had a stable partition with a logo installed, which will remain after the pandemic. In his opinion, the pandemic has brought greater appreciation to the hospitality industry. In addition, sustainability has found its way into many companies that, like Mack, use the “Rebowl System” for the “to go” business. The food is filled in sturdy and visually appealing fir-green containers that you can get for a deposit and return to all participating inns.
In the end, the bottom line is that the vast majority of the guests are apparently vaccinated, and the restaurateurs also expressly welcome people with tests. “We don’t want a two-class society,” one hears several times. However, the concern remains that there could be a decline in larger events such as family or company celebrations, because the effort and costs for any PCR tests that may be necessary have to be taken into account. And should such tests become mandatory for the staff, you can lock up, nobody can pay for it, according to several hosts. “But we have to work with those we have – it’s harder to find good employees than guests,” says one of the Ebersberg restaurateurs.
On one point, however, there is great agreement among the hosts in the region: only through a vaccination will you be able to return to your core business in the long term, namely to make guests happy with products and service instead of ensuring maximum safety for guests and Personnel to implement constantly changing rules and to check that they are adhered to.
Otherwise it becomes very clear during the discussions: In order to run a catering business, you need composure, creativity, sometimes a thick skin – but above all a certain basic optimism. Or, as the Ebersberg landlord Korbinian Kugler emphasizes: “I am firmly convinced that gastronomy will get through the winter well. If restaurateurs and guests continue to be so sensible, I am in good spirits.”