“Everything is allowed in war, in love and at the kiosk,” says Tobias Bauer, operator of the new Kruner kiosk not far from Westpark. Trying out new things, not just serving walk-in customers, but being a real neighborhood get-together, that is the idea. Bauer, 36, born in Regensburg, had 20 years of gastro experience, was operations manager in a café in Nuremberg, then spent years at trade fairs with a business partner as a café caterer until the coronavirus pandemic hit. All orders suddenly gone, major crisis, but also an opportunity. “Opening a kiosk, I’ve had this plan for ten years,” says Bauer. He found the one on Krüner Platz through a real estate website, spent months renovating the inside, erecting a luminous sign on the outside and painting the wooden facade dark green.
It opened a good three weeks ago, on the Saturday on which the Oktoberfest would have opened if there would have been an Oktoberfest this year. There was ice cream, bratwurst and homemade waffles, a band played, and because dozens of people were constantly standing in front of and around the kiosk when the weather was great, the whole thing came pretty close to a neighborhood hangout. “The people in the neighborhood are extremely grateful that there is finally something here,” says Bauer. In fact, cafes, bars and restaurants south of the Westpark are rare – typical, residential areas, lots of green, but little gastronomy.
Whether it’s a cappuccino and croissant in the morning or a drink after work in the evening, both can be enjoyed either sitting under round green umbrellas or standing at the counter, which, by the way, is made of real oak, as Bauer explains, “a tribute to the big tree behind the kiosk , one of the oldest oak trees in Munich “. Every lunchtime there is a warm dish of the day, often stew, and currywurst regularly on Fridays, which “has always led to a queue that is as long as it was on the opening day,” says Bauer.
“I want to sell products that I enjoy myself,” he explains. So the milk comes from a Bioland dairy farm in Freising, the Bio-Steckl ice cream from the Dachau hinterland and five wines by the glass selected by a sommelier friend.
In winter, Bauer wants to clear away the seating next to the kiosk and replace it with bar tables. There should be mulled wine and bratwurst, almost like at a Christmas market. It could well be that this will attract a few neighbors and passers-by again.
Address: Ehrwalder Straße 30, 81377 Munich, opening times: Monday to Friday 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.