Dusseldorf Since those who have recovered and those who have been vaccinated twice have needed a corona test to visit a restaurant in many places, the guests have stayed away. “2G plus prevents spontaneous eating out,” says Torsten Petersen, managing partner of the Enchilada Group from Munich. The franchise chain with Tex-Mex, pizza, tapas and brewery cuisine, which includes brands such as Wilma Wunder and Aposto, is suffering from a drop in sales of up to 30 percent.
“It’s definitely not worth opening in all companies,” says founder and managing director Hermann Weiffenbach. Some restaurants have therefore introduced closing days. However, there is great uncertainty about what a closure means for the granting of corona aid.
“Without state aid, many of our companies would not have survived,” states Petersen. The reduction in VAT on food from 19 to seven percent also helps a lot.
Before the pandemic, the enchilada group had been on the up for more than 30 years. Founder Weiffenbach comes from a Munich family of restaurateurs. That’s why he never really wanted to get into the industry himself.
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“Our family always worked weekends and holidays. Even at Christmas, geese were pushed from six in the morning.” After completing his bank apprenticeship, he worked in restaurants while studying business administration – and still caught fire for the industry. “As long as I don’t have to be in the shop myself every day,” he emphasizes.
>> Read here: Innkeepers in need: “Rather lockdown than 2G plus”
In 1990, at the age of 25, he opened a Tex-Mex restaurant in Munich with Thomas Hirschberger, who later founded the “Hans im Glück” burger chain. Enchilada got off to a good start, and other branches followed. After Hirschberger left, Weiffenbach founded Enchilada Franchise GmbH in 1996 as the umbrella for several restaurants.
The founder of the Enchilada Group never actually wanted to work in the catering industry.
(Photo: Enchilada Franchise GmbH)
In 2001, the first inn was added by chance. “We absolutely wanted to run a property in Karlsruhe, but the landlord wouldn’t allow Mexican cuisine,” says the founder. “It wasn’t easy at first to get a nice crust on the roast pork.” Today, the enchilada group operates around 20 inns with modern German cuisine, such as Lehner’s Wirtshaus and Carls Brauhaus in Stuttgart. “Inn and brewery gastronomy is experiencing an unexpected renaissance,” says Weiffenbach.
In Stuttgart, the first tapas bar Besitos was added in 2002 because there was already an enchilada restaurant nearby. “Our diverse kitchen concepts have grown organically,” explains the multi-gastronomer. The restaurateur currently operates a total of 73 branches. Including Burger Hearts, in which Enchilada has a half stake, there are around 100 companies. Most are run by franchise partners – some in joint ventures.
Various kitchens under one roof
“Today, a restaurateur has to be a tax specialist, buyer, logistician, expert for corona aid and recruiter at the same time,” says Weiffenbach. “With us, he can concentrate on the essentials – his guests and employees.” However, he admits: “We had to put a lot of energy into the different kitchens and worlds of experience.” The advantage of the multi-concept: Accounting, IT, personnel and goods purchasing work everywhere same.
“The multi-concept business model is characterized by a certain resilience to trend changes,” explains industry expert Axel Weber from the Soda Group consultancy. Enchilada is the only German gastro group with multi-concepts, and it is more common abroad. “With its platform, the group always has the opportunity to adapt and roll out good, including international concepts.”
The enchilada group operates various gastronomic concepts: from Tex-Mex to tapas and pasta to tavern cuisine.
(Photo: Enchilada)
The successful salad and sandwich chain Dean & David was also part of the Enchilada Group until 2021. Founder David Baumgartner brought in Weiffenbach, nicknamed “Dean”, as a strategic investor in 2007. Together they made the chain big.
Weiffenbach sold his 49 percent stake in the company to Amrest founder Henry McGovern in the summer. “His entry into Dean & David came at exactly the right time, because Henry McGovern is the specialist for international expansion,” says Weiffenbach. He himself put the focus back entirely on the further development of the enchilada group.
Dean & David founder Baumgartner appreciates Weiffenbach as a creative doer: “I got to know him as a thoroughbred restaurateur who understands the industry and the business.”
But not all business ideas worked. “Our biggest flop was Take A Taco. We didn’t succeed in copying Taco Bell,” admits Weiffenbach. The idea of a delivery service was also not well received by the franchise partners. Only in the lockdown – when they needed it – did the delivery concept come out of the drawer.
Gastronomy is starving in the pandemic
The pandemic has hit the enchilada group – like the entire gastronomy industry – hard. Net sales fell from 127 to 83 million euros in 2020. Thanks to the good summer business, sales last year were around 89 million euros.
The Federal Statistical Office estimates that the hospitality industry (hotels and restaurants) turned over a good 40 percent less in real terms in 2021 than in 2019.
According to the Federal Association of System Gastronomy, restaurant chains are getting through the pandemic better than individual landlords. Before Corona, system providers generated almost every third euro in gastronomy, a total of around 25 billion euros.
>> Read here: Landlords desperate: “One evening not a single guest came”
The greatest concern of restaurateurs is and remains the shortage of staff. “Even before the pandemic, we had problems finding and keeping people,” says Petersen. Corona continues to fuel the main problem in the industry.
“Higher prices in gastronomy are overdue. But many hosts fear losing customers,” says the managing director of the Enchilada Group.
(Photo: Enchilada)
According to the Ifo Institute, 23 percent of employees in the catering industry were on short-time work in January. The industry association Dehoga calculated that around 242,000 workers have left the industry since the beginning of the pandemic.
After all, the corona crisis has pushed digitization forward. “Otherwise we might not have offered digital menus for a long time,” says Petersen. The work processes have also been digitized – especially with regard to the lack of staff. A trained chef does not always have to be at the stove.
The exploding costs are an additional burden for the crisis-ridden industry. Wages, food, energy – everything has become more expensive. According to Petersen, higher prices in the catering trade are overdue. But many innkeepers feared losing customers. “Maybe people will only go out to eat three times a month instead of five?”
That’s why the enchilada group completely overhauled the interior design of many restaurants during the corona lull. “Today, a feel-good ambience is more important than ever in order to be attractive to guests,” Weiffenbach is convinced.
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