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Preparing a doner kebab: a special verdict from Berlin
Photo: Adam Berry/Getty Images
Doner kebabs are considered a Turkish-German specialty - but that doesn't make a kebab shop a specialty restaurant: A planned employment as a chef in a kebab shop is not to be regarded as employment in a specialty restaurant for which a visa can be issued, the Berlin administrative court decided, according to information from Wednesday.
A Turkish citizen and trained chef had applied for a visa from the Consulate General of the Federal Republic in Izmir, Turkey, to work as a specialty chef in a self-service restaurant in Munich.
Only traditional dishes typical of the country based on original recipes are offered there, he explained.
The restaurant also has a significant need for chefs.
However, the Consulate General refused to issue the visa on the grounds that self-service snack bars and fast-food restaurants are not specialty restaurants.
The man appealed against this before the administrative court.
However, with its verdict already passed at the end of December, the latter confirmed the opinion of the consulate general and dismissed the lawsuit.
The court explained that it could remain open whether kebabs and Turkish pizza are typical and genuine Turkish dishes.
Because the business in question is not a restaurant.
According to the general sense of language, this should be understood as a restaurant in which food is served and in which guests generally stay for a certain amount of time.
The self-service kebab shop does not meet these requirements.
Rather, meals are "prepared in openly visible production areas and sold to take away or to be eaten on site at the available seating".
The food is not served or the guests are not served at the tables, nor is the business “recognizable for guests to stay longer than short-term food intake,” it said.
The judgment is not yet final, the cook can apply for admission to appeal to the Higher Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg.
File number: VG 14 K 139.19 V
mic/AFP
