As of: March 23, 2024, 4:50 a.m
By: Olivia Kowalak
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The deadline for the temporary VAT reduction in the catering industry has been over since the end of 2023.
The Germans are slowly losing their appetite when it comes to prices.
© Bihlmayerfotografie/IMAGO
The VAT for the catering industry has been back at 19 percent since January 2024.
Restaurant visitors therefore have to dig deeper into their pockets - or rather stay at home.
Munich - From seven percent to 19 percent - VAT in the catering industry has been back to pre-Corona levels since the beginning of the year.
However, things are different when it comes to the innkeepers' sales.
Despite significant price increases in January of the current year, these did not grow compared to the same month last year.
The industry suffered losses with a real loss of 2.2 percent.
Compared to the pre-Corona level, there is even a decrease of 14 percent.
In the past two years, around 25,000 businesses have had to close.
The industry association expected 12,000 closures in 2024.
Like many other industries, restaurants and bars are fighting for their existence.
The shock of the corona pandemic with the drastic drop in visitor numbers due to lockdowns was difficult to cushion due to the subsequent energy crisis.
Increased personnel costs as a result of inflation and a shortage of skilled workers as well as higher expenditure on energy and food are forcing most companies to increase prices.
Financially unmanageable: people go to restaurants less
Consumers will feel this at the latest during this year's holiday on the North Sea.
Local classics such as the fried fish roll with remoulade cost an impressive 10.50 euros in some places (previously 9.50 euros).
Meanwhile, statistics confirm the unstoppable price trend: According to
Destatis
, prices for main courses in restaurants increased by an average of 3.5 percent in January compared to December 2023.
Prices in restaurants are rising faster than inflation.
This can be illustrated using the example of the Germans' favorite fast food.
On average, kebab prices rose by 75 percent nationwide from 2016 to 2024.
Back then, the treat from the kebab shop around the corner cost just four euros - now German citizens pay seven euros for it.
The price rose from five euros in 2022 to seven euros in 2024, after a moderate growth phase.
The kebab inflation rate would therefore average 11.8 percent annually (source: Medium).
The rising prices also have an impact on the behavior of guests.
According to a survey by GfK on behalf of the
Bavarian Center for Tourism
(BZT), 52 percent of the 2,000 Germans surveyed said they were eating out less because of price increases.
On the other hand, consumer behavior is unchanged at 35 percent.
Consumers are now much more conscious about which restaurant they go to.
For a majority of 73 percent, the price-performance ratio is the deciding factor when choosing a company.
How much is on the plate and what you have to pay for it - guests now attach more importance to this.
People with lower net household incomes are most affected by price changes in their habits.
The study showed that almost a third of people whose net household income is less than 2,000 euros “never or almost never” eat outside the home.
In contrast, for people with a household income of more than 4,000 euros it is only eight percent.
Given the situation, the reasons are obvious: half of them simply can no longer afford the visit financially.
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Will the tax increases be passed on in full?
Companies in rural areas are most affected by the behavior of guests, as the managing director of the industry association DEHOGA, Ingrid Hartges,
told
ntv.de.
“The higher VAT is a big challenge for companies,” Hartges continued.
The reduced tax rate continues to apply to take-away and delivery meals.
“Tax fairness looks different,” said Hartges about the traffic light government’s decision.
“Some of the companies did not increase sales in January, which is already the month with the lowest sales of the year, and only do so between February and April,” confirmed Ingrid Hartges.
Others would have passed on the tax increases one-for-one in January.
If the increases were completely passed on to the guests, the price for a pasta dish worth 15 euros, for example, would rise to 16.68 euros.
However, economists rule out that all restaurants will pass on the full increase in VAT.
“Probably 70 to 80 percent of the twelve percentage points that VAT will now increase in the catering industry will be passed on to customers,” predicts economist and President of the German Institute for Economic Research Marcel Fratzscher to
Spiegel
.
According to this forecast, visitors would have to prepare for increases of ten percent.