The Röhrl restaurant not far from Regensburg has been tried and tested in crises.
After all, it has been around for almost 400 years.
But now you're fighting on several fronts.
Sinzing - Brauerei Gaststätte Röhrl - behind this commonplace name hides an inn with a long history.
Officially even the longest history in the world.
The Guinness Book of World Records recognized the restaurant as the oldest of its kind in the world.
Hungry and thirsty people have been fed here since 1658.
In the eleventh generation, Muk Röhrl runs the good, middle-class inn in Sinzing in the south-west of the Upper Palatinate metropolis of Regensburg.
Increased energy prices, expensive groceries and the aftermath of Corona are now making life difficult for the traditional company.
Röhrl is combative in an interview with our editors: "Our family has survived so many crises, it won't fail because of this one."
Gastwirt Röhrl got through the Corona crisis with creativity
Family man and tavern owner Röhrl is tried and tested in crises.
Above all, he is creative.
He proved that during the corona pandemic.
"Of course you have to distract yourself mentally at a time like this so that you don't think about death and destruction all the time.
I always look on the sunny side of life.” During the first lockdown, the resourceful entrepreneur turned his guest room into a photo studio and photographed food for the bucket folder.
In the second lockdown, the broadcast was live from the kitchen.
Röhrl established a food stream on the Twitch streaming platform, which still exists today.
Corona restrictions are no longer an issue, at least in gastronomy.
Röhrl also managed to get through the difficult time well because he remained true to his goal: “How can I position myself so that I will still exist after the crisis?” But the pandemic has not completely let go of him, because now he wants to state his money back.
"At the beginning of the Corona crisis, there was an emergency aid package from Bavaria of over 30,000 euros.
A few weeks ago we received the repayment request.” Apparently his company was not eligible.
"It's not all very funny and it hurts because the account is empty," Röhrl sums up disappointed.
(By the way: Our brand new Regensburg newsletter will keep you regularly informed about all the important stories from the World Heritage city and the Upper Palatinate. Register here.)
Constantly changing electricity prices make life difficult for innkeeper Röhrl
While the shadows of the past crisis are still falling on the inn in Upper Palatinate, it is already being shaken by a new one.
The electricity prices make Röhrl to create.
Not only have they shot up to astronomical heights in the past few weeks and months, they are also difficult to calculate.
“We buy electricity on a daily basis.
So of course we can't say what we have to pay for the next day.” In addition to the cold store and kitchen appliances, the neighboring hotel, which is run by Röhrl's brother, also has to be supplied.
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In the kitchen of the oldest inn in the world, wood is still traditionally used.
© vifogra / Tiedemann
You don't want to commit yourself in the long term because you're hoping for a drop in prices in the coming months.
But it is difficult to be able to precisely determine the costs for a large wedding, for example.
Röhrl can only pass on the prices to his customers to a limited extent, because he is aware that everyone is currently “cheating”.
However, Röhrl has one advantage.
In his kitchen there is still a wood-burning stove from 1929.
At least he doesn't have to fear the increased gas prices.
Röhrl's wish for politicians: VAT should remain at seven percent
Röhrl is most worried about the uncertainty of the future.
"You can't plan and you don't know what's going to happen next," he says in an interview with our editors.
He's just glad that food prices are now moving back towards pre-crisis levels.
Nevertheless, guests would have to adjust to higher prices.
Of course, he cannot pass on all his additional costs to his customers.
"I can't offer a pork schnitzel that I offered for 15 euros before the crisis for 30 euros." But Röhrl is sure that people appreciate the quality and service in his restaurant.
"Then people just don't go out to eat as often.
But when they leave, I'm sure they'll appreciate it more."
If the owner of the world's oldest public house could wish for one thing from politics, it would be for VAT to remain low.
"The most important thing is that the reduction in VAT from seven percent is made permanent," hopes Rörl.
Because that's the only way, he says, would he be able to build up a small financial buffer that could possibly get you through the next crisis without state aid.
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