Will mobile catering be an alternative model to a traditional tavern in the future?
Increased costs make many cringe at the thought of maintaining large properties and buying new kitchens. Rent out infrastructure temporarily, take advantage of vacant spaces and revive old taverns here and there with new concepts: These all seem attractive opportunities to get off to a good start with fresh access. You can call it a pop-up, bring catering to different locations, wandering around with the culinary offerings individually or as a collective, or diversify a fixed room with mobile catering. If you leave the fixed space behind and become independent of location, new (immaterial) spaces open up for trying out and for synergies. But entrepreneurially profitable? Even if short-term interventions with their “one-time-only” appeal suggest better capacity utilization (and of course you often have to reserve for them in advance), official requirements in Austria would make it difficult for this to actually pay off, according to the tenor. Mobile concepts certainly cannot be a substitute for the tavern anyway, everyone quickly makes that clear. The cozy space is simply part of the tavern culture. A tavern is an institution, a trusted point of contact that is always there when you need it, not just for eating and drinking. This does not rule out — and the different concepts and approaches of the interviewees suggest that it is definitely time — to expand and revive the tavern space itself on the one hand and the catering scene around it with mobile kitchens on the other hand.
As a reliable institution, does a tavern always have to be tied to a location? Or can it also move on — with rentals, catering or pop-ups, with new concepts, ideas and synergies? We asked restaurateurs for their thoughts on this.
In the following posts”Mobile tavern #“You can read the suggestions and experiences of:
Felix Schellhorn, part of the Healthy Boy Band and artist cooking collective, has been running the Seehof Goldegg family business since the end of 2023
Simon Kotvojs, chef, recently self-employed and temporarily out and about in foreign kitchens with his bookable concept Back and Again
Studio Schmaus, culinary duo from Berlin that focuses on regional vegetables, creative catering, events related to art and pop-ups — Amelie cooks and Alan serves
Peter Fetz, Is the tenth generation of the Hotel Gasthof Hirschen Schwarzenberg in Vorarlberg and is always on the move with mobile catering concepts
Javier Mancilla and Xaver Kislinger, operator of Döner Brutal at St. Charles Alimentary in Vienna
Photo gallery © Ian Ehm and Manuel Peric | friendship.is
