The showdown was scheduled for March 15: Until then, Schuhbeck’s spice shop on the Platzl should not be cleared if the Schuhbeck Company pays the outstanding rent debts. And it seems like there could be a happy ending for at least the last flagship of the former celebrity chef. “The rents up to and including March have been paid today,” said Joachim Borggräfe, lawyer for the Schuhbeck Company.
It is up to the landlord, the Messerschmitt Foundation, to vacate the shop anyway. At the same time, an action for eviction under tenancy law against Alfons Schuhbeck’s private apartment is pending at the Munich District Court.
The Spice Bazaar remains open.
(Photo: Alessandra Schellnegger)
The ginger advert is still running on the screen in the shop window, the spice that Alfons praised above all else. The employees in the shop are conscientiously on their places, on Tuesday everything seems as usual in the sprawling spice shop of the former star chef in the heart of Munich city center. The shop is practically the last thing left of the former Schuhbeck empire on the Platzl.
Schuhbeck was sentenced to millions in prison last year for tax evasion, and his appeal against the verdict is still pending. At the same time, his restaurants and catering services gradually closed, and only the spice shop remained. At least 200,000 euros in rent debts are said to have accrued since June 2022.
The owner of the house, the Messerschmitt Foundation, obtained an eviction order against the company in court. This means that even if they have now settled the arrears, they can be cleared. But they will try to come to “a continuation in agreement”, said Borggräfe of the SZ.
In any case, there is still no enforcement order for the spice shop on the square, confirmed Martin Swoboda, spokesman for the Munich district court. Günther Volpers, legal representative of the Messerschmitt Foundation, explained that his clients had not yet released him from his duty of confidentiality. How things will continue remains uncertain.
At the same time, however, an action for eviction under tenancy law for Schuhbeck’s private apartment at Platzl 4 is also pending at the Munich District Court. Because of rent arrears, says court spokesman Swoboda. Joachim Borggräfe says because “the tenant has become unreasonable”. Negotiations will begin at the beginning of May, and here, too, Schuhbeck is dependent on the goodwill of the Messerschmitt Foundation.
Other investigations against Alfons Schuhbeck have less to do with benevolence: As senior public prosecutor Anne Leiding confirmed, investigations are still ongoing against the cook for delaying insolvency in connection with his companies, “including Schuhbecks Gewürze GmbH”. The investigations are not yet complete and will certainly “take some time”.