Anyone who asks Till Weiß these days why he is moving from the banks of the Wörthsee to the Munich district of Harlaching will immediately feel two emotions: great joy, but also a little excitement. Because the landlord of the “Augustiner am Wörthsee” certainly didn’t make the decision to turn his back on the Five Lakes Region in order to take over the Menterschwaige estate that easily. It was only in 2018 that he and his wife Pamela took over the then newly rebuilt restaurant right on the lake with a beach, kiosk, pub garden and ice cream parlor. And since then, what else can you call it, the place has been booming.
But that’s not all that surprising: the Weiß couple had run the golf club in Wörthsee four years previously, so they were no strangers to many people in the small community in the Starnberg district. On the contrary: Till Weiß, who is currently almost 44 years old, was considered then as now as a guarantee of tasty cuisine. He shares the tasks with his wife Pamela: while he stands at the stove and takes care of culinary operations, she is responsible for the staff and service part. Till Weiß’s sister Esther took over the accounting. His older son Maximilian, 21, completed a cooking apprenticeship with his father and has been working in the service for two years. Son Felix, 17, is also currently learning the restaurant business from scratch with his parents. The Augustiner am Wörthsee is firmly in family hands – and that alone should have earned Till and Pamela Weiß a lot of brownie points at the brewery.
They also managed to fill a completely new property with life back in 2018: Like the “Menterschwaige”, the former Augustiner on Wörthsee was closed due to structural defects. The municipality as the owner then decided to lease the property to the Augustiner brewery, which rebuilt it for this purpose. Initially, this decision by the community sparked all sorts of discussions in the town: Not everyone, including every local council, liked the idea of handing over a piece of meat in a prime location on the lake for 99 years. These discussions have now long been forgotten and are now likely to give way to others: Who will now take over the Augustiner am Wörthsee, will he or she be just as accepted in the community as the Weiß family? According to rumors, several applicants are already in discussion for the inn and the operation of the lido, but there is currently no word from Augustiner itself.
This is what the “Menterschwaige” could look like in the future. A significant expansion for the Weiß family: the beer garden alone will have more than 1,600 seats.
(Photo: Visualization: Bernstein Group/Qcoon Real Estate Development)
But there is still time for the relevant contracts to be signed. Weiß does not expect to move from the Wörthsee beach to the high bank of the Isar in the Harlaching district of Munich until spring 2025. Hard work is currently being done on the listed estate: it is to be converted and expanded after it was closed a good four years ago due to structural defects, such as fire protection. After lengthy negotiations between the new owner, the Hamburg-based “Qcoon Real Estate”, and the city since autumn 2020, the previous operator and Wiesn innkeeper Christian Schottenhamel decided to give up the Menterschwaige after more than 20 years. Since then, the new tenant, the Augustiner brewery, has been responsible for finding new landlords for the restaurant.
Were already seen as the successor to Christian Schottenhamel in the “Menterschwaige”. In the end, there was no agreement between Kathrin Wickenhäuser-Egger, her husband Alexander Egger and the brewery.
(Photo: Florian Peljak)
Apparently many people applied. For example, Kathrin Wickenhäuser-Egger, who, with her husband Alexander Egger, runs the “Münchner Stubn” on Bayerstrasse, directly opposite the main train station, and a small Oktoberfest tent with 440 seats, was also discussed. But no agreement was reached: “The conditions have to be right, they didn’t suit us,” says Kathrin Wickenhäuser-Egger, who now wishes the Menterschwaige’s new landlords good luck: “They’ll definitely do well,” she says convinced and sounds a little disappointed that he didn’t win the contract.
This may also be due to the typical Munich brewery policy: The “Münchner Stubn” are located in a building that belongs to the Schörghuber Group, which also includes the Paulaner brewery. That’s probably why those responsible at Augustiner approached their own landlords as Schottenhamel’s successors in Harlaching. In this case to the Weiß family: “Yes,” says Till Weiß, “we were asked whether we could imagine it.” And they could. “Even though I wanted to run the Augustiner am Wörthsee for ten years, the idea was always that we would change again.”
Augustiner also knew about this wish – and had an additional trump card in his hand: the new “Menterschwaige” should also have 28 overnight rooms. And that’s exactly what Till and Pamela Weiß had dreamed of for a long time: of a small hotel in addition to a restaurant.