business
Brau Union, Austria’s largest brewery company, is raising prices. For gastronomy, this means having to pay an average of 9.5 percent more for beer at the beginning of February. The innkeepers are alarmed: they are at the limit.
The reason for the price increase, which was also reported by the “Oberösterreichische Nachrichten”, is known from other sectors: increased raw material and energy prices make the higher prices necessary, according to Brau Union. Host spokesman Thomas Mayr-Stockinger describes this news as “bad news” for the catering trade.
More than five euros for half a beer
It is the second increase in six months. Mayr-Stockinger fears that many of the guests don’t even have the money in their wallets, so they won’t be able to support the price increase. However, the catering trade must pass on the price increase in order to be able to survive. “With the current price increase, it will be necessary in many establishments to charge five euros or more for half a beer,” says Mayr-Stockinger. Localities such as bars or pubs are particularly hard hit, but regular tables in farm houses are also at risk from the high prices.
Switch to bottled beer
Mayr-Stockinger suspects that, as is often the case in other federal states, more and more innkeepers might do without draft beer and switch to bottled beer. Switching to other, possibly cheaper breweries is difficult for the innkeepers. On the one hand, many small breweries also increased their prices at the turn of the year, on the other hand, guests are often very loyal to the brand and would not approve of a change in the beer brand.
