Television chef and entrepreneur Frank Rosin is feeling great fear for his existence in the catering industry in view of the rising VAT on food. “It really makes you cry,” Rosin told the German Press Agency at the weekend. For many of his colleagues and gastronomy friends, the mood barometer is currently approaching zero, despite all their passion for the job.
The past few years have been the toughest ever for the catering industry with extensive restrictions in the corona pandemic such as the lockdowns. The industry is currently in a recovery phase, “where people are gaining courage again and perhaps have certain goals in mind again,” in which many restaurateurs are trying to restructure or rebuild their businesses.
Rosin fears the death of restaurants
“And then at the same time you get a stick in the legs and say no, no, that’s not possible, because we ultimately have to use the money here and there to finance other things that are perhaps more important to us,” he criticized. The VAT on food in the catering industry, which will rise from 7 to 19 percent at the beginning of 2024, is an “absolute catastrophe” and a “breach of trust”.
Rosin fears that restaurants will die out and that needs to be prevented. He points out that companies are already faced with significant increases in the major cost areas of personnel and purchasing of goods. If VAT were to rise sharply, this would no longer be feasible for many restaurateurs because citizens would still have to be able to afford the food.
Rising VAT is a “milkmaid bill”
“And I’m starting to feel like I’m at “Rosin’s Restaurants”, where the car mechanic sometimes wants to become a restaurateur. And that’s how I feel about politicians, that they really have the opportunity to make any decisions completely outside of their job and reality “hit that they can’t hit at all,” he criticized. In his television show “Rosins Restaurants,” the celebrity chef helps restaurateurs in need.
The rising VAT is a “milk maid’s bill,” said Rosin: If restaurants die, tax revenue on the other hand will be lost.
The VAT on food in restaurants was reduced from 19 to 7 percent during the pandemic – originally limited to the end of 2022. In view of an impending energy crisis, the regulation was extended in October 2022 until the end of 2023. Drinks were again excluded from this. The federal traffic light coalition has agreed that the VAT on food in restaurants will rise again to 19 percent at the beginning of 2024.
