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Italian restaurants in Germany combine Italian taste and German love for Italy. It would seem a winning combination but it is good to pay attention to the procedure to follow.

It happened to everyone, at least once in their life, to give in to the temptation to eat in one of the Italian Restaurants abroad.

Who for nostalgia of a good dish of pasta with meat sauce, who out of curiosity, we all entered an Italian Restaurant outside the borders of our country. We ate and were disappointed. The causes of the disappointment of expectations are numerous. Sometimes the Italian Restaurant abroad has only the name of Italian. At other times the disappointment is due to the choice of products, which are often presented as Italian, but they are not.

It is the so-called “Italian Sounding”, or the use of images, geographical names and brands that evoke Italy to promote non-Italian products to represent a real business of counterfeiting.
It was therefore necessary to adopt a measure that would recognize the real Italian restaurants abroad and certify them.
Objective, transparency, honesty and recognition for those who work with passion, commitment and honesty.

Find out what German customers are looking for

The world of commerce generally does not allow complete authenticity. There will have to be tears to the very strict Italian culinary rule to satisfy customers. It is necessary to pay due attention to local tastes and arm oneself with mental flexibility.

Italian restaurants in Germany: A long culinary history

Italian restaurants in Germany

The market in Germany is full of Italian restaurants that have been working there for many years. After all, the first Italian immigration dates back to the 1960s. Certainly the success of these restaurants ensures appreciation for our cuisine by German customers.

Italian restaurants in Germany, where to open them?

Germany is a rich country, but with different realities. Opening up in a city rather than another makes its difference. Which are the most popular cities?

• Hamburg is an administrative division and is the richest area in Germany. Opening here would allow you to try your hand at restaurants with excellent ingredients or even street food.
• Bremen: here too the Hamburg speech applies. It would not be difficult to open a quality place.
• Baviera: location closer to Italy, both geographically and culturally.
• Berlin would seem the ideal destination but the market is very competitive. Generally, here, very little is spent on eating out. Keep that in mind!
• Stuttgart presents itself with many of our compatriots established in the made in Italy trade.
• Frankfurt is rich and also frequented by important people. Let us not forget the ‘important density of banks including the European Central Bank.

The German customer who visits Italian restaurants:

• He generally knows the quality of our products;
• It requires a medium / high level;
• he is used to spending without excesses.

The German bureaucracy

Italian restaurants in Germany
There are three important points:

• VAT number: for your restaurant you can choose between a sole proprietorship, a partnership or a limited company;
• food sector authorizations;
• legal and fiscal management of personnel: simply consult an accountant.

What kind of restaurant do you open?

Here are some possible ideas:

• Italian Street Food: wallet pizzas, trousers, arancini, light fried;
• regional cuisine with DOP products and DOC wines;
• cuisine for celiacs;
• pizzeria.

Italian restaurants in Germany: Business plan?

Italian restaurants in Germany

Planning before opening our restaurant is fundamental: from the financial to the furniture, from the choice of suppliers to the offer on the menu and let us not forget marketing and competition.

A good business plan must include:

• The target
• A study of competition;
• Marketing;
• Financing;
• Providers.

The tongue

Italian restaurants in Germany

Let’s not forget the language, very important if you want to open an activity abroad. It can be learned in Italy in specialized schools, and also in Germany.

Conclusion

To open any business you want commitment and luck. Only in this way will it be possible to have the deserved suffocation, as for everything.

Read also: The best 4 Italian restaurant chains in America

Open a restaurant like business is becoming a common choice for many people and the phenomenon is growing more and more. We have already seen in a previous article what it needs to open a restaurant or a smaller business in the catering field.

Now we will analyze together whether it is more satisfying to open a restaurant abroad or in our beloved country.

The Italians and the kitchen: a love story that has lasted for a lifetime. Despite our thousand faults, food remains among the characteristics of our culture that we cannot help but talk about it and for which we love to compete, both in Italy and abroad, thanks to our ancient culinary tradition.

Open a restaurant

After all, the Mediterranean cuisine is one of our glories and is recognized as the best in the world.

No wonder, that our kitchen is successful in foreign territories. So then , therefore, was putted the idea of ​​opening a restaurant abroad.

But which are the best locations to open a restaurant abroad?

Open a restaurant

Certainly it is not easy to answer this question. However, the most sought after locations are Malta, Zanzibar, the United States, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, the Canary Islands, Russia and Romania.
But also London, Miami, Zurich, Barcelona, ​​Berlin and New York.
These are just some of the most renowned places in the world where several people have started successful restaurants.

Nevertheless we must not forget that without passion you cannot get anywhere. There will always be difficult moments and today the market is really very competitive.
Is it better to open an activity in the catering sector?

The answer of course is yes!

Demand in the sector is very high and continues to grow both in Italy and abroad despite the periods of crisis.

In any case, managing a restaurant is a complex activity that cannot be undertaken unless you are aware of the commitment due.

Know the territory

When deciding to open an activity abroad, it is essential to know the area. You can contact the National Institute for Foreign Trade, thanks to which you can get all the information you need about the social and economic situation in the country where we want to open an activity.

Contributions to open activities abroad

Each Provincial Chamber of Commerce can distribute information on the possible contributions offered to those who want to open businesses abroad. To find out about this type of funding, contact the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Development Cooperation site.
The possibilities of development have increased in recent years thanks to the web that has facilitated trade and interrelationships.

To open a restaurant abroad it is advisable to evaluate and inform yourself about the country chosen. It must be related from the territorial point of view, the competition and the real job prospects.

In order to open an activity abroad, public funding has been set up for the internationalization of companies both nationally and internationally.

One of the most interesting opportunities created in recent years is offered by Erasmus for young entrepreneurs. This is a European Union program designed to create opportunities for meetings and trade relations between citizens of different EU countries.

Open a restaurant: Where to start

If you have a decent budget, it might be interesting to take over an activity that has already started. There are several agencies and several online sites that deal with providing a whole range of information “for sale” activities in different parts of the world.
Among the present offers, very interesting are those ones relating to the sale of land in the Caribbean, where it is possible to open commercial activities abroad dedicated to tourism.

Erasmus Opportunities Young Entrepreneurs

The Erasmus period is about 6 months. In this period we choose to work in a structure present outside the Italian borders, at the end of which we can continue to carry out the same activity in Italy. On the other hand, thanks to the contacts acquired during the period, it will be possible to try to open the same type of activity abroad.

Conclusions

Opening an activity abroad certainly needs a good dose of courage. It is necessary to inform concretely based on the country where you choose to start this professional adventure. The possibilities or the success that cames from the choice to stay in Italy or open an activity outside national borders, are directly linked to the commitment that you will employ. A perfect recipe does not exist.

Read also: Take a restaurant into management: mistakes to avoid

Covered. It is one of the most annoying things, especially for tourists: not by chance, it exists only in Italy. But what is it?

It is the cost of provisioning. It is the space with all the objects that are prepared for a single diner: it includes crockery, cutlery, glasses, tablecloth, napkin and, in the case of formal equipment, many other pieces. Also add the necessary cost for the subsequent cleaning and the bread, in order to give a greater justification to the additional cost required. It also includes the qualitative type of service provided, meaning the peculiarity of the restaurant itself, the professionalism of the staff and the additional services not quantified in the account.

Covered

The origins of this “tax” date back to the Middle Ages, when it was intended to contribute to the owner of the inn those guests who consumed food brought from home using tables, chairs and cutlery from the restaurant. If, on the other hand, foods prepared by the innkeeper were consumed, the “cover” was already included in the final bill.

Do not confuse, in any case, the cover with the service, which varies from 15 to 20% of the total and originates from the past when there were no work contracts and the staff was paid as a percentage of the orders of customers and tables that served. At the time, the service was, in fact, the salary of the waiters: it is paradoxical that this item has remained even today, despite the waiters being regularly paid.

Covered at the restaurant: is it legal?

Covered
The dilemma that has been affecting consumers for years is: is the cover legal?

The problem is that, although it is a charge that may seem pretentious, no rule prohibits it, as long as it is specified in the price list.

The question must be regularized at the local level, by the Regions or by the municipal administrations: some have dealt with them, others have not. Any examples?

A subsequent regional law of 2006 still prohibits the so-called “bread and cover”, but allows the “service” item: if the delivery service is performed at the table, the price list must be made available to customers before ordering and must indicate the possible component of the service in such a way as to make the price clearly and easily understandable to the public, prohibiting the application of additional costs for the cover.
At a national level, the rule is that exhibitors must display their license, authorization and price list in a room that is visible to the public .

Until then, the cover must be paid, it being understood that, if there is a suspicion of wrongdoing by restaurateurs, the possible report must be presented to the traffic police.

How much do you ship to the restaurant?

Covered

How much do you spend at the restaurant? And if we could automate the cost of a delicious meal to make it rise only whenever there is a new menu, or because of inflation.
I’m not saying that this will happen soon, but imagine that you can order your food from anywhere without needing human interaction!

Want to go out for dinner but don’t know where? Well, there are many places in town that have great food. One way is to check online reviews and see what kind of ratings they get from users like you! If everything else does not work, just ask someone who has already been there, who will be able to tell you which restaurants always keep their word (and even more).

Covered

Eating in the restaurant is not only delicious but also convenient. You can take your time to enjoy a good meal without having to worry about cooking or cleaning afterwards, because it is already made for you!

As mentioned at the beginning of our article the covered only exists in Italy, but despite this magiare at the restaurant remains super convenient.

Read also: What is the electronic receipt?

How to get more customers.

When people go out to eat out during the week, they have to come to you!

All your competitors continue to do the same things they have always done to win customers, that is, nothing, so you just need to implement a few simple but targeted initiatives, to deserve the entire stake.

It will be enough for you to develop good marketing, online and offline, to be light years ahead of them and you can no longer afford to stay in the media and limit yourself (not) to do what (others) don’t.

With a well-developed online communication and a large audience of a few thousand people, to whom you can turn, and with your target customers, you wouldn’t have the problem we’re talking about.

1 Associate with other external events

How to get more customers

People go out and spend a lot less during the week and therefore they need to be motivated and encouraged to do it, because the simple and self-contained “going out to eat”, however well or very well, is no longer a sufficient reason to get out and give you their money.

Make agreements with all the gyms, associations, companies, hotels, cinemas or theaters closest to you and the various entities targeted with your type of clientele. Establish conventions, make profitable agreements for both and make sure that their customers become yours too and, possibly, vice versa.

For example, instead of simply leaving your business cards and promotional flyers at the aforementioned attractions, you could invest a few hundred euros and offer you to create or redo and develop their Website or Facebook page at your expense, in exchange for the inclusion of a banner with the advertisement of your restaurant or your ads and ad hoc communications, which will impact and intercept their customers.

How to get more customers

In addition to this, you would have the advantage that the more your partners grow and proliferate, the greater the flow of people induced by them and of which you can also benefit.

Think about the difference between having a gym or a cinema a few meters away from you that, instead of having an average of 30-50 people on weekdays, had 100?

And if, thanks to your previous trade agreements, at least 10-20% of those 100 people came to eat with you every night, how much more money would you make in a year?

If you neglect this possibility and think that the stimulus come to your restaurant to leave home is enough, you risk spending many evenings “admiring” your empty tables and chairs, as much as your restaurant and kitchen can be exceptional .

The same applies to points 2 and 3 below.

How to get more customers

How to get more customers

2 Be yourself the Event or its See
It means first of all creating special events in your venue, such as theme dinners, tastings, musical evenings or some other form of entertainment, so that your customers have both the opportunity to eat and to spend a special evening.

If you can, it is good to study a fixed schedule, so that people know and get used to your events and remember that every week or month, on certain days, they will be able to find that kind of proposal.

How to get more customers

If you have one or more rooms separate from the rest of the room equipped to host meetings, presentations, association meetings, prize-giving, table games, speed-dating and the like, as long as online and compatible with your type of venue and without penalizing the normal restorative activity in the remaining space.

From direct experience, we know that the rooms of the hotels dedicated to the purpose are very expensive and often oversized compared to the needs and possibilities of most companies or associations.

For less than € 200 per hour nothing decent is found and the minimum available capacity of the conference rooms is 50-70 seats, but often less would be needed.

How to get more customers

Furthermore, when you want to combine a buffet service or a seated dinner with the meeting, there are almost always problems, because there is no restaurant in the hotel or its availability is incompatible with the meeting times and needs.

In your case, investing just over a thousand euros in a good video projection and audio system, in addition to the WI-FI network, if you don’t already have one, you could offer to host this type of meeting.

You can ask for a fair amount or even zero for the rent of your space and arrange a buffet or a dinner for all guests, with a fixed menu at set price or a la carte. The general sense is that you can see your place, not just as a place to eat and just, but as a place of entertainment, where one can (even) eat.

A container in which, on certain days and situations, other interesting activities can also take place. As is said, you must maximize the rate of employment and exploitation of your structure, otherwise, considering the fixed costs that you have, you will not be able to stand up and give yourself the due profit.

How to get more customers

3 Exclusive conditions during the week

How to get more customers
In everything we have said so far, we have assumed that your kitchen and service are impeccable. Nevertheless, as mentioned above, today they are no longer sufficient, on their own, to “pull out” the people of the house, take them off the TV and induce them to spend their hard-earned and saved money in your restaurant.

It is equally true, however, that for lovers of good food and the specialties of your restaurant, it could be stimulating to know that that dish can be found only from Monday to lunch until Thursday evening.

The reason could be that during the weekend there are too many people to be able to prepare, serve and appreciate it as it deserves or present it as a prize for customers, who will come to you during the working week.

You could also think about economic incentives before evaluating them carefully.

To promote the weakest day of the week, you could offer a 20% discount to fill the rooms.

How much could you be cheaper from Monday to Thursday night?

Or, more simply and if your place is suitable, you could adopt the formula of some franchises, so that children, on certain pre-established days, do not pay or offer everyone the dessert or the aperitif for free or similar promotions, provided they communicate effectively, as we will see shortly ..

To launch and run suggested or similar initiatives, you need to have a public to communicate to them.

The larger your audience will be and with your proposal on target, the greater your return will be.

Start now to develop mentioned strategies and at the same time to develop an automatic contact acquisition system to communicate with and you will no longer have to complain about the low turnout in your restaurant.

Read also: DO YOU WANT LOYAL CUSTOMERS?