Price hammer at the grill: Wiesn guests are threatened with chicken leg

Created: 05/08/2022 05:15

Hendl-Hammer: If there's an Oktoberfest this year, the delicacies will be significantly more expensive.

© Sammy Minkoff/picture alliance

This week it's all about the sausage, in a figurative sense - and about crispy grilled chicken and beer, in the literal sense.

Because: In these days Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) wants to decide whether the Oktoberfest will take place this year after two cancellations in a row.

Wiesn speaker Clemens Baumgärtner (CSU) has already taken a position: “There is no argument against the Wiesn 2022.” The doctor Christoph Spinner from the Klinikum Rechts der Isar also sees no reason to cancel the Wiesn because of Corona: “The probability of transmission is there although high.

But step by step we will get there so that we can again allow major events with a good feeling..." So it could well be that the Oktoberfest will take place - but a lot is different than usual. And that doesn't mean Corona.

But the thing with the chickens.

Oktoberfest in Munich: The next crisis is casting its shadow

Because the next crisis is casting its shadow.

Energy prices have skyrocketed since the Ukraine war – and according to Toni Roiderer from the Hackerzelt, a good 200,000 cubic meters of gas are consumed over the 16 days of the Oktoberfest.

Among other things for chicken grills.

On average, more than half a million chickens are eaten at the Wiesn... "Of course, we don't know how much more expensive gas will be by autumn," says Roiderer.

"But you will have to transfer that to the product." Means: Hendl will cost a lot more than before.

Most recently, you could get half a chicken for about 13 euros at the Wiesn.

For comparison: This year's Mass beer should cost up to 14.50 euros (in 2019 it was 10.80 to 11.80 euros).

So now there is also a clear jump in the price of chicken.

One thing is for sure, one way or another: the grill specialty has to exist.

Because, according to Roiderer:

Munich: price explosion at the Wiesn due to raw material shortages

Steffi Spendler from the Löwenbräu tent agrees.

She is "nervous" because of the price explosion and raw material shortages.

It's also about fries, for example - because cooking oil is becoming scarce because of the Ukraine war.

"Of course, we ask ourselves whether there will still be enough visitors with the increased prices for the whole thing to pay off," says the landlady.

The answer is there - if Reiter gives the green light - from September 17th: That's when tapping is planned.

Peter Inselkammer, spokesman for the innkeepers, is optimistic.

He says: "The Wiesn will definitely take place.

I am convinced of that.” And: “The people of Munich have a deep longing for the Wiesn.” The hosts are thinking of a festival without a mask, without distance and without a limited number of visitors.

Inselkammer: "That wouldn't be an original Wiesn anymore." Kab

Munich billionaire magnet: Hotels, dealers, taxi drivers & Co. - everyone earns at the festival

The Oktoberfest is big business for the whole of Munich.

Overall, the turnover generated by the Wiesn is over one billion euros per year - and almost everyone benefits in some way.

For example the taxi drivers.

Thomas Kroker, CEO of Taxi-München, says his drivers made up to 60 percent more sales during the Oktoberfest.

The Wiesn is also important for the hoteliers.

Max Schmidramsl, who runs the Gasthof Neuwirt in Ismaning, already has a lot of inquiries about the Oktoberfest time.

"The Italians," he says, have reserved a lot.

And: "At some point we have to earn money again..."

Markus Höhn, Managing Director of Lodenfrey, firmly assumes that the Wiesn will take place this year: "We have already bought all the goods," he says.

Lodenfrey generates about 15 to 20 percent of sales through traditional costumes, the Wiesn accounts for eight to ten percent.

Maybe even more this year because many want to change their clothes.