Mario Schulz runs the restaurant “Zurgerichtlaube” in Berlin. The innkeeper needs to fill six positions, but he can’t find any employees. The employment office is no help, job advertisements come to nothing. Schulz would like to see more pressure on the unemployed.
It’s lunchtime, white towels and red runners over all the tables, gold candlesticks on top, heavy cutlery next to folded napkins. The “Ratsherrenstube” on the first floor of the old Berlin restaurant “Zurgerichtlaube” has space for around 60 guests. These guests could sit on dark wood chairs. You could look up and admire the bright vault, crossed by brick arches. But there are no guests there.
If Mario Schulz had his way, the councilor’s room would be full: “We could get started from one day to the next,” said the innkeeper. He sits one floor below, on the ground floor of the courthouse. Down here, the smell of sauerkraut is in the air, cutlery is clattering, two waitresses are carrying beer mugs and pork knuckles to the tables. However, there is emptiness at the top.
Pandemic not yet overcome
Because Mario Schulz has six positions to fill. He is looking for three cooks, two service staff and a kitchen assistant. If Schulz had that, he could also manage the first floor, beer would flow again in the councilor’s room and the income would flow: he loses three thousand euros in sales every day, the innkeeper estimates.
Schulz is unlikely to be alone with his needs. During the pandemic, the industry experienced an exodus, with many employees looking for new jobs while their workplaces were closed for months. The number of vacancies almost halved. When business started again, bar owners and innkeepers looked for staff who were often no longer there.
The employment agency will not record a record 20,000 vacancies in the catering industry in 2022, but it is an impressive figure given the decimated industry. According to the Federal Statistical Office, sales are still below pre-crisis levels. This also applies to the number of people employed in the catering industry.
“Personnel market at rock bottom”
A certain degree of fluctuation is common in the catering industry, but after Corona there was no supply, says Schulz: “The personnel market is at its lowest.” The landlord pays 600 euros every month for job advertisements on the Internet, so far without success. Before the pandemic, he never posted job advertisements. Schulz shakes his head in disbelief, almost as if he cannot believe that he has come to this.
Schulz’s restaurant is located in a side street in Berlin’s historic Nikolaiviertel, between the Red Town Hall and the Spree. He pays well, above the standard rate – even the dishwasher gets more than the minimum wage, says Schulz. Some of his employees also left during the pandemic and no replacement could be found.
The employment agency is no help, complains Schulz. The authority only asks every few months whether the reported vacancies are still current, apart from that there is no contact. With one exception: In September 2022, the employment agency contacted him out of turn, says Schulz. Content of the message at the time: A vacancy on the job exchange had been closed “due to a lack of success”. Schulz laughs bitterly.
“Obstacles were put in the way”
The authority’s press spokeswoman can hardly imagine that Schulz is so alone with his problem: they advise the unemployed and employers, look for individual solutions, suggest vacancies to the unemployed, visit workplaces, and consider together with those in charge whether, for example, employees should receive further training can.
But Schulz would like to see more pressure on the unemployed. For him, the financial gap between his employees and the people who receive citizen’s benefit is not big enough. Schulz is convinced that if unemployed people received less money, more people would be willing to cook, wait tables or clean in the courthouse.
The innkeeper has had good experiences with immigrants. “They work great,” says Schulz happily. But the spoilsport here again: German authorities. A young Syrian, a cook, applied to him, Schulz says: “Obstacles were put in his way.” The young man had to wait three and a half months for his work permit.
Schulz waited with him – successfully, at least: the man has been cooking in the courthouse since October. In the court arbor, where a fully equipped kitchen on the first floor is just waiting for things to sizzle, steam and hiss again. In the court arbor, where on the first floor Frederick the Great and his wife stare into the void from paintings on the wall and have been pretty lonely for quite a while.
“We could be doing really well”
Why doesn’t Schulz just pay more salary? After all, he would make more sales with additional staff. The calculation doesn’t add up for Schulz: “People come with demands that I have to make the meal ten euros more expensive.” But he wants his guests to come back. He can’t simply raise prices “just because someone wants to earn like a judge.” Applicants sometimes expect a net salary of 3,000 euros per month plus tips, says Schulz. His employees earned around 1,800 euros net full-time; Average for a job in the kitchen.
According to its owner, the courthouse has a turnover of two million euros a year. Schulz doesn’t want to say anything about profits, only this much: he can’t build up any reserves, but he’s far from having to close down. He also has the permanent staff to thank for this; Some of the people have been there for more than ten years and are a well-rehearsed team. He is doing what he can to ensure that these employees stay. Vacation, duty roster, S-Bahn tickets: “The really good people are mothered,” says Schulz.
In return, they save Schulz’s business. “We’re not doing badly,” admits the innkeeper, “but with enough staff we could be doing very well.” At least things are a little better on this day: a class of 1952 is having a class reunion, and because the ladies and gentlemen have been coming to the courthouse for twenty years, they are allowed to eat in the councilor’s room afterwards as an exception.
A young woman comes into the restaurant. Schulz asks: “Do we want to end my report with something positive?” He answers the question himself by introducing the woman. She’s starting over as a waitress and has her first day at work today. Does that mean the job advertisements were worth it after all? Schulz laughs and shakes his head: “Personal contacts,” he says.