Heidelberg mourns: Restaurant Herrenmühle closes due to illness!

Heidelberg mourns: Restaurant Herrenmühle closes due to illness!

In Heidelberg there are sad news from the catering scene: the "Zur Herrenmühle" restaurant has closed permanently. The reason for this is the serious illness of the operator Joachim Heß, which, according to information from Heidelberg24 is to run the operation. A member of the Facebook group "Heidelberger" announced the news about the closure. Concerned guests found the restaurant's website without content, and telephone inquiries only ended with a band announcement.

The closure of the popular restaurant is particularly painful for many Heidelbergers. Joachim Heß had only taken over the management of the Herrenmühle in 2020 and relied on creative “cross over” cuisine, which united Far Eastern, Mediterranean and French flavors. For the region, this loss represents a further setback, especially since the Schwan pharmacy, a traditional company with over 300 years of history, had to close not too long ago.

Another local restaurant affected

The closure of "Zur Herrenmühle" is a trend in the worrying trend, which heavily stresses the gastronomy in Germany. According to Creditreform have been closed since 2020. These serious effects are due to a combination of inflation, increased costs and sunken income. The head of Creditreform Economic Research, Patrik-Ludwig Hantzsch, reports that sales in the industry are still below the 2019 level.

crisis in gastronomy

Another look at the numbers shows that the bankruptcies in the catering trade rose by 27 percent between 2022 and 2023. The caterer and catering service provider is particularly affected, in which the bankruptcies have increased by over 67 percent. Restaurants and restaurants have an increase in bankruptcies by 32 percent. These tendencies are alarming for many companies, especially for young companies: Almost half of the bankruptcies affect companies that are a maximum of five years old.

Baden-Württemberg is in an unfavorable trend, with an increase in bankruptcies by 45 percent. This reflects the crisis of the gastronomy, which was not exactly improved by increasing sales tax for dishes at the beginning of the year. While the entrepreneurs concerned are fighting for their existence, the catering scene in the region is increasingly decreasing.

It remains to be hoped that the loss of the men's mill and other restaurants does not mean the end of the culinary diversity in Heidelberg. The city will have to make an effort to stop this trend and support the remaining restaurants. Because what would Heidelberg be without his lively gastronomy culture?