As of: February 16, 2024, 9:00 a.m
By: Elke Robert
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The tenant of the Ballenhaus remains: Hermann Gleich with his daughter Franziska Deininger.
Christmas market for almost 25 years © ROBERT
Hermann Gleich remains the tenant of the Schongauer Ballenhaus Café.
There were two other applicants, but one dropped out at short notice.
Now it's about the Christmas market, which Gleich would also like to continue - but he doesn't want to apply specifically.
Schongau – It was only three years ago when the Schongauer Nachrichten headlined: “New tenant found for the Schongauer Ballenhaus-Café”.
Hermann Gleich signed the contract in the town hall with Mayor Falk Sluyterman for the first time.
Truly no stranger to Schongau, he has been running the Schongau Christmas market for almost 25 years.
The lease was only valid for three years
Of course, he had known at the time that the lease was only for a period of three years.
However, when a new tenant was officially sought for the Ballenhaus Café in the heart of Schongau's old town in mid-2023, Gleich was still quite astonished, as he had simply assumed that the contract would simply be tacitly extended, as with its long-standing predecessors.
As the owner of the property, the city of Schongau took a different approach this time - because they want to bring a breath of fresh air with new concepts and new applicants, as the town hall explains.
This also applies to the Schongau Christmas market, whose annual contract for Gleich, just as surprisingly, did not continue as usual in 2023, so he may have organized his last Schongau Christmas market in December.
Applications for the Christmas market are open until the end of February
The city of Schongau is serious: a reminder of the announcement of this year's Christmas market has just gone online.
"One time chance!
Organizers (m/f/d) wanted for our Christmas market in the beautiful old town of Schongau!”, it says on the city’s website.
The way it is formulated, one would like to see, among other things, a diverse integration of clubs, schools, kindergartens, restaurants, retailers and arts and crafts.
Anyone who has “new approaches and opportunities to enliven the old town during the Christmas season with an attractive, diverse market” should apply quickly.
Gleich has received approval for catering
At least for the catering in the Ballenhaus, Gleich, who runs the café together with his daughter Franziska Deininger, has already received a confirmation.
Together with another applicant, he was on the main and finance committee last week and apparently convinced the majority of its members and the city representatives - the contract should be signed these days, now that some calm has returned with the end of carnival.
There were three applicants in total, says location promoter Tina Birke, who took charge of the application process.
However, one had just withdrawn shortly before.
Gleich did not expect much competition
Gleich didn't really expect that he would have a lot of competition for the catering industry.
And not for the Christmas market at Marienplatz either.
“No one came to see the rooms or ask questions.” Apart from that, he receives a lot of encouragement, even in years when things don’t go as planned, like at the recent Christmas market.
And: Running the café is one thing, using the area in front of it is a completely different matter.
“You need good contacts and a core group of good people,” says Gleich.
Last but not least, he has accumulated a lot of material for the Christmas market over the years: “Pyramid, fountain, sky of lights: everything is mine.” He has also supported clubs or children who sell cookies - so he is happy to charge less or even no stand rent for them the stalls, work with a mixed calculation.
“Income is crucial – if you earn a lot, you have to pay more.” The catering industry finances the Christmas market, so small vendors of jewelry, hats or dried bowls or home-made candles have to pay less stand fees.
“You can make everything nicer and better, but it's a question of the budget.” So far, the city has not been involved in financing the market - it bears the financial risk alone.
“Equal doesn’t want to make a great application: the city knows what it has in me.”
The application deadline for the Christmas market runs until the end of February.
“We are already in the process of holding discussions with some applicants,” said the location promoter.
Hermann Gleich can also apply.
But what he doesn't want to do.
“The city knows what it has in me.
And if they take it away from me, I’ll be fed up.”