Straußwirtschaft; Advertisement

In principle, you require a catering licence in accordance with Section 2 (1) of the German Catering Act (GastG) to operate a catering business that serves alcohol.

However, the serving of home-produced wine or home-produced cider is privileged under certain conditions and only requires notification to the municipality (§§ 4 ff. of the Bavarian Catering Ordinance - BayGastV).

Only the serving of self-produced wine or self-produced cider for a period of four consecutive months or in two consecutive periods totalling four months per year is permitted without a licence.

You must observe the following specifications in particular:

• Only wine or cider made from fruit that has been produced by the company itself may be served.
• The serving of wine in a wine tavern is only permitted in rooms located in the municipality of the producer's business.
• The serving of drinks in a wine tavern may not take place in rooms that have been rented specifically for this purpose.
• A wine tavern may not be combined with another pub or restaurant.
• There may be no more than 40 seats in a wine tavern.
• Only cold and simply prepared hot dishes may be served in a wine tavern.
• It is not permitted to sell bottled beer, non-alcoholic beverages that are not served by the Straußwirt on the premises or tobacco and confectionery on the street.

Only the serving of home-produced wine or home-produced cider is privileged. If you also want to serve other alcoholic beverages, you require a catering licence. The same applies if you want to operate the business for longer than a maximum of four months a year.

You must notify the competent municipality at least two weeks before the start of operation and provide the following information

• the period during which the serving is to take place,
• the place where the fruit used for the wine or cider was pressed and the wine was matured,
• the rooms intended for the operation of the wine tavern.