At luther’s bratwursthausla the moss is very busy. Despite lockdown, one car after another stops in front of the bratwurst stand. The customers order and then take their food with them. "It’s a bit quieter today, but people are still coming", says gunter georg, who has been working for four years as a sausage fryer at the traditional luther butcher’s shop in neustadt.
As the neustadter reports, the first lockdown had a stronger effect on sales: "many craftsmen generally come during the lunch break – they were no longer customers during the lockdown in the spring. The businesses were closed because their occupations were not considered systemically important." georg is all the more relieved that the craftsmen were allowed to work this time despite the lockdown.
Customers have been coming for years
Some of the customers have been coming since the 57-year-old started working here. "Our neustadters are loyal customers", he tells us about his day-to-day work. After people were rather more reserved at the beginning of the pandemic, everything has leveled out again since may. "The customers look out for each other and are considerate", georg tells us. Especially the older customers are a bit more cautious.
Cevdet kurt’s "kebap house" is much less busy at the burned bridge. "Normally there is more activity around lunchtime now. There are far fewer people on the road here today" regrets kurt. He has been running his snack bar since 1994. "I have never experienced such a terrible year as this one since then. Without support, it would have been difficult for us after the first lockdown."
Food only to go
At the first lockdown, neustadter sometimes had to wait three hours for a customer to show up. "At times there were only ten men a day. I hope that now that people are better informed, it won’t get this bad again", says kurt. At the beginning of the pandemic, he had to point out to some customers that masks were compulsory in his snack bar. "Now everyone knows that masks, hygiene and cleanliness are important."
Before the second lockdown, kurt had set up two tables two meters apart in his snack bar. Now there are doner, pizza and salads only to take away. "At the first lockdown, i put the food on a table where the customers also put their money – so everything could be done as contactlessly as possible", he remembers.
Kurt hopes that soon everyone will be able to get back to normal and that he will be able to bury the customers in his restaurant again. "My regular customers were also very unsettled by the first lockdown and came less often", the neustadter admits.