Berlin – An option model now applies to restaurants in Berlin. The hosts can therefore decide for themselves who they receive: For example, they can only let in vaccinated guests (1G) or they can focus on those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered (2G). Daniel Rüdiger from Schöneberger Restaurant Rüdiger’s also welcomes guests who only have a test certificate (3G). A conversation about why he can receive fewer guests as a result and whether his restaurant would survive another lockdown.
Mr. Rüdiger, you were free to choose. Why did you choose the 3G rule?
So that, for example, those people who cannot be vaccinated because they have an illness can also go to eat. Or because there are vaccinated parents who do not want their children over the age of twelve to be vaccinated. They are then allowed in with a test.
How much time does it take to have to review the tests?
At the entrance it takes about three to four minutes for each guest, because we actually check the tests and the other evidence. I know that there are colleagues who don’t do it. But we are extremely correct there. Also because we know that the regulatory office controls.
The advantage of 3G is that you can address and receive a wider audience, right?
Yes, but I am not allowed to let in more guests. Because with 3G we have to have a lot more distance between the tables and everyone has to meet with masks when they are not at the table.
image/photo2press
The vaccination certificate on the mobile phone currently opens all doors.
And how is it with 2G?
Quite simply: I can fill the place up there.
Why don’t you do it?
There are still too many unvaccinated people and we don’t want to exclude them.
What is the percentage of guests who are not vaccinated?
If we have 40 to 50 guests per evening, then there are 10 to 15 who only have one test. That is an amazing amount.
At 2G, all employees must also be vaccinated or recovered. Are you allowed to ask your employees?
I am legally not allowed to do that. But I set a good example in vaccinating and everyone later said they were vaccinated. I think that gives us all more security in our daily dealings.
In a posh restaurant, the boss said he had chosen 2G because in his upscale cuisine he almost only had older guests who were all vaccinated anyway. How is it with your customers?
I recently had a diamond wedding and there were some who were only tested and not vaccinated. It is unclear whether they do not want to or are not allowed to.
Large restaurants in particular with a large number of guests now seem to want to switch to 2G. How about you
The turnover is of course much higher and you have a full hut. But 2G also has a disadvantage. Everything takes much longer at the entrance because every vaccination certificate has to be scanned. We’ll stay with 3G for now. But if someone at a Christmas party wants only those who have been vaccinated and recovered to enter this closed society, then we will do that too.
A recent survey at the Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga) states that 49.3 percent of restaurateurs currently see their existence as threatened and 28 percent are even considering giving up operations. How did you survive the state-mandated closing times?
In the end it was pretty good. But of course it only worked after the aid money flowed in. And they came three to four months later. All employees were on short-time work. Most of them are back. But I still have – just like most hosts – a real shortage of staff. I have two restaurants and sometimes have to close two days instead of one because I simply don’t have the staff.
What about another lockdown?
There mustn’t be. In the lockdown we made our meals to go, that went well too. But if everything were tight two years in a row during Advent – after all, the time of the year with the highest turnover – then innkeepers would find it difficult to survive economically.
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