Of emotional rollercoasters & the value of consistency

The German restaurateur is still afraid of the guest.
-Thomas A. Imbusch

You’re not insulting us, are you?
In fact, we have already been insulted in the past few days, ranging from wishing bankruptcy to starving our children.
The curses and insults reached us on the social web and by email, it was a tone that should be forbidden in a civilized society.
But they are not really insults.
Because neither Sophie and Thomas, nor the great team at 100/200, nor the wonderful guests can take such things seriously.

What happened?

For all those who don’t know us yet: The 100/200 is a restaurant in Hamburg, awarded 2 stars in the Michelin Guide, a green star for sustainability and 3 black toques in Gault Millau.
We offer four seasonally changing menus a year.
However, guests do not know exactly which dishes they will be served if they book with us in advance and pay directly.
An article appeared in the “Hamburger Morgenpost” on October 9, 2023 with the headline: “35 euros! If you want to eat in this Michelin-starred restaurant, you have to pay in advance!”.
It is hidden behind a paywall so that most readers can only see the lurid headline.
Since then, neither our phones nor our mailboxes have been idle.

And does the 100/200 now take admission?

No.
Since May of this year, guests can also drop by spontaneously.
In this case, however, they don’t get the menu, but can order individual dishes from a separate menu.
This menu is small and strictly follows one of the convictions of the 100/200: we don’t waste food.
This is not easy to maintain, but it is possible.
Only guests who opt for this à la carte option pay a cover charge of €35.00.
For this, they receive sourdough bread, yoghurt butter and water – as much as they want, and many a guest who has already stayed with us says that this alone is worth the trip.
Most people will be familiar with this from their vacations: In Spain or France, cover charges are part of everyday life, while in the USA or the UK, “service fees” are added to the total bill.
In other words, the €35 is not an entrance fee, but the equivalent value for food and service.
Why does a restaurant charge a cover charge?
The question of “why?” is a complicated one.
Each approach to explaining the issue raises further questions and these lead to topics such as appreciation, nutrition, lifestyles and social models.
In the end, the biggest question of all is: How do we want to live together in the future?

So here is our very subjective view of gastronomy in Germany…

Voluntariness

Nobody is forced to eat and drink outside the home in their free time.
Nobody is.
Honestly.
It’s not an obligation.
Gastronomy is not education, is not clean water, is not healthcare or public transportation.
That’s why no one is forced to eat at “100/200”.
But what gastronomy is: a place where different people come together – and unfortunately we don’t have very many of those any more.
Gastronomy creates moments that clear our heads, take us away for a few hours from our personal worries or the crises in the world.
As a guest, you allow yourself the luxury of not having to write shopping lists, buy food, prepare it and then wash up.
Seen in this light, there is no reason to be so angry about offers or prices in restaurants.
You don’t have to be a guest.
But if you want to be, you have almost endless possibilities to look for and find a suitable place for yourself, depending on your own interests and financial willingness and ability.

Basic respect

There is also no reason to drop what a society cannot function without: Respect for one another.
Of course, the definition of respect is always subjective.
But let’s ask ourselves the question: why do we resort to insults if we ourselves are not personally harmed, no one is disadvantaged or hurt, and we can ignore what we don’t like with a clear conscience, without it having any consequences for us?

Value and price

Restaurants are businesses.
They are run by founders who put their heart and soul into their restaurants.
And they employ people. For example, XXX people work at 100/200, from XXX, the dishwasher, to XXX, our accountant.
In order to pay them, 100/200 – like any other company – has to be profitable.
In addition to the running costs, we need reserves for bad days or for investments.
If the cooling system breaks down tomorrow, we need a new one.
And once the goods are new.
Some things are then irretrievably lost.
Likewise the work that has already gone into it.
This must also be taken into account.

But how are prices created?

Initially, they develop in the minds and computers of restaurateurs.
They try to reconcile costs with the value that time in the restaurant has for the guests.
This is a difficult task, and unfortunately many fail.
The restaurant industry has distorted its prices extremely in recent years, and in both directions.
It has been cross-subsidized, losses have been made, restaurateurs have screwed themselves and often their own guests.
Just think of the price differences for favorite orders such as Aperol Spritz, beer or bratwurst: the closer the water, the more beautiful the view, the better the weather – the higher the price.
This is not a pillorying and whining, but proof that the price is the result of much more than mere cost calculation.
Just as decisive is the guest’s willingness to have a special experience in a special place.
Taking this into account is good entrepreneurship: because the sun terrace, which is packed when it’s 25 degrees, is empty when it’s drizzling and the sky is gray.

The cost of goods sold

Meat, vegetables, herbs – all this has to be bought.
Sounds simple at first.
But if you don’t work with wholesalers to support small producers, you have to put in a huge amount of effort and be more flexible.
After all, small producers cannot guarantee that the desired products will be available in the desired quantity at the desired time.
All this costs time and time is money.
But the difference in quality can be tasted and experienced.

The staff

The employees of the 100/200 do not receive manager salaries.
But they can make a good living from their job and we give them salary increases whenever we can afford it.
We also work in a shift system that allows them to live out their personal preferences and for legally compliant working hours that still leave enough room for private life.
Anyone who watches series like “The Bear” or “Chefs Table” knows that this is not the case everywhere.
We also train them ourselves: The 100/200 has set up an academy where we provide advanced, professional as well as social training in gastronomy.
Every member of our team can obtain all basic foodstuffs from us free of charge, work clothing is provided and our colleagues can eat with us as our guests once every season.
Just to name a few things that you have to finance if you want to build a real team.
All this must also be reflected in the prices.
If you as a guest want to have a good and sustainable restaurant, you have to follow up the sentence “We need fair wages” with action.
This includes our cover charge, for example.
We could certainly include this in our calculations.
Then I’m sure no one would be bothered by it.
However, it is also a kind of appreciation and honesty to show this cost item individually in order to create a sensitivity for what this food, the craft and the service must be worth.

The workload

From system catering to Michelin-starred restaurants – the amount of work involved in gastronomy varies greatly.
In the 100/200, real food and real craftsmanship are combined on the plate with individual ideas based on numerous failed experiments.
This requires highly trained, motivated staff, long preparation times and long-term relationships with producers and suppliers.
All of this adds up to the time factor and, as written, that is money.
If you are interested, you can watch the old training course for the Hamburg vocational school on YouTube to get an idea of what this means.
You can taste and feel these differences.

The expertise

At 100/200, as in many, if not all, restaurants, you will meet hosts with a passion. Restaurateurs and restaurateurs with a heart are involved in high-performance sport every day – both physically and emotionally. They turn a good evening into an unforgettable one, and a bad one into a good one. They can create unique flavors and compositions. You can do something that neither a robot nor an AI can do. It can happen that guests still rave about a certain plate or moment in (Michelin-starred) gastronomy years later. That doesn’t happen if a restaurant chain heats up dishes from pre-made products in the same way every time and serves them as efficiently as possible. And that also costs money, whether in high-end gastronomy or in a passionately run restaurant. Restaurateurs make sandwiches, stir drinks, flambé at the table – together you have your expertise and this must finally be valued again. In view of this situation, we find it strange when our industry association DEHOGA finds our cover charge “sporty and courageous” and adds succinctly: “After all, we have a free market economy.”

The ambience

Things are as beautiful as you make them.
There are a thousand little things at 100/200 that make up the place and the atmosphere, our crockery, our glasses, a counter where guests can see the products that are prepared for them.
And these things are special, some simply work, others are handmade and of the highest quality.
That is also necessary.
After all, utensils in the catering industry are exposed to maximum stress.
Their quality determines their longevity and therefore their sustainability.
However, this also makes them more expensive to purchase.
Every detail in a restaurant with passion is bursting with love.
We even think about the sound a plate makes when it is placed on the table.
And the guests?
They notice.
It’s worth making the little things big, because that’s what creates that special experience that takes us away from the worries of everyday life.

The future

Gastronomy is not very important in Germany.
People are a little ashamed of their love of indulgence.
Intoxication doesn’t belong in the culinary world, but in the stadium, in the car, in… whatever.
For the 100/200, it is part of life because we humans need it from time to time.
Without places where we can enjoy ourselves to the point of escalation, the future of our society looks bleak.
We will drift further and further apart and live out our intoxication in the comment columns.
In order to preserve these places or create new ones, we need new people, new training and a lot of passion.
An academy was founded in 100/200 for this purpose.
Other companies spend a lot of time in discussions with vocational schools, chambers of commerce and DEHOGA.
But all of this costs money, for example in the form of a cover charge if you don’t want to or can’t afford a menu.
And that’s why we have a request: Don’t go to heartless and soulless places to eat.
Seek out the gems of restaurateurs with passion.
And if you can’t appreciate that, that’s perfectly OK.
But please refrain from judging people whose actions create memorable moments for others and at the same time give people a job with fair pay.