"7000 euros additional costs": Metzger pulls the ripcord - after more than 60 years

Created: 11/25/2022 8:23 am

By: Tanja Kipke

A Franconian butcher gives up and closes his shop at the end of the year.

The energy costs are no longer affordable, he is disappointed in politics.

Bamberg – “We had to pull the rip cord”: Oliver Helldörfer, the manager of the traditional Bühler butcher shop in Bamberg, puts it in a nutshell.

"7000 euros additional costs per month" were simply no longer bearable.

The energy crisis forces him to give up.

Already in August he decided to close his shop at the end of the year.

The costs have exploded since May, he explains in an interview with

Energy costs too high: Traditional butcher shop has to close - "It was difficult"

The decision to close before going into the red was anything but easy for him.

“It was difficult, you don't like to dismiss ten people you've grown fond of.

That cost us sleepless nights.” His employees show understanding, they know that it's no longer worthwhile.

In the Bühler butcher shop, almost everything is still produced in-house, “sausage, cooked cheese, cream cheese.

We do everything ourselves.” The traditional shop has been in Bamberg for 62 years.

Due to high energy costs: The Bühler butcher shop in Bamberg will close at the end of the year.

© Private

Attention was always paid to quality meat.

Therefore, the news of the closure causes great regret among customers.

"The customers are all very sad," explains Helldörfer to our editorial team.

Until December 31st there would still be everything.

And the popular vegetables from the butcher shop - such as savoy cabbage, kohlrabi and asparagus - will continue to be available in the region's supermarkets afterwards.

The prices haven't gone up yet.

He once calculated what he would have to charge to cover all the costs.

According to his bill, he would have to charge 3.50 euros for a meat loaf roll, which currently costs him 1.80 euros.

"Nobody pays for that anymore," the businessman is certain.

Traditional butcher's shop in Bamberg closes: "Politics should have reacted a long time ago"

Helldörfer's fate is not an isolated case.

In the region alone, he knows of several who are struggling with the costs or are also closing as a result.

Bakeries are also suffering enormously from the energy crisis.

The Rieß bakery in Eschenhofen, for example, is looking to the future with concern.

Electricity costs have increased by almost 400 percent.

Helldörfer does not believe that the situation will change in the near future.

"I assume it will take at least two more years."

Will he ever open a butcher shop again?

Helldörfer doubts it.

It's too hard to find people, the butcher's trade is a dying profession.

He would have wished for faster help from politicians.

"They should have reacted a long time ago, with relief funds for medium-sized companies." By the time help arrives, it's usually too late, he complains.

"The big ones always get it and the small ones don't."

All of this is “little difficult in our state”.

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