appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Inflation has driven up the cost of living across Europe, a conclusion that people often come to after seeing a rise in the price of something they often buy.
In many countries, that is the price of eggs. But in Germany, each summer people check the price of a scoop of ice cream.
Join the queue at an ice cream parlour anywhere from Bavaria and Berlin to the Baltic Sea, and you will be sure to hear grumblings about how prices have risen yet again.
It is hard to explain this fixation on the cost of a scoop of ice cream in Germany.
They are all surprised, but also in a positive way
Michael Boehmer of Café Brezels on its ice cream pricing strategy
Perhaps it is because people are determined to enjoy summer – which, in this region, is often marred by rain or the early arrival of autumn – to the fullest, and the ever-increasing price is a reminder that we live in less carefree times.
Or perhaps it is because a scoop of ice cream is often one of the first things people paid for when they started receiving pocket money as children.

Michael Boehmer, who runs Café Brezels in the town of Gaggenau, to the west of Stuttgart near the French border, believes that everyone should be able to treat themselves to a scoop of ice cream.
With more people struggling to make ends meet, this conviction prompted him to take a different approach – his cafe charges ice-cream lovers by the gram.
Boehmer believes this concept is fairer, as it allows customers to adjust their order according to what they can afford. Parents can order a smaller scoop for their children, for example.
He believes the new system “is a chance to show solidarity” with others. After all, it is up to businesses to decide how much they charge for their products, which brings a certain responsibility towards society.

The new concept also helps with bookkeeping, Boehmer says, since his staff all scoop slightly different amounts of ice cream – varying by up to 30 grams (one ounce).
Café Brezels charges €2 (US$2.20) for 100 grams of ice cream, a fair price considering that a scoop from one of Berlin’s hip ice cream parlours will usually cost you at least €2.
In Gaggenau, a conventional-sized scoop weighing 80 grams would cost €1.60.
On average, ice cream is still cheaper in Germany than in Spain, Italy or France, where a scoop averages between €3 and €4.50, according to Uniteis, an association representing ice cream manufacturers.

Boehmer says his customers needed time to get used to ordering ice cream by weight. “They are all surprised, but also in a positive way,” he says.
Sergis Givargis is among those impressed with the change. “You only pay for what you get.”
Steffi Wick agrees. The concept is designed “so everyone can afford it, which isn’t a given any more these days,” she says. “That’s why I think it’s great.”
Boehmer realised that his customers tend to go for smaller scoops now, weighing less than 80 grams, which means sales are down, but he is fine with that. “It’s about fairness, which is much more important.”
The new approach has not overcomplicated things either, he says. Instead of ordering a scoop weighing exactly 91.5 grams, most customers simply ask for either a small or a big scoop.


Hong Kong’s pizza scene heats up with new spots Vincenzo Capuano and The Pizza Bar on 38th

Drink in Focus: Bamboo at Bar Anima

Why do we need so many pots and pans in Hong Kong’s tiny kitchens?

Your Hong Kong weekend drinks guide for June 4-6

Food and Drinks

Ice cream scoops priced per gram? Cafe owner says it makes summer treat more affordable

In Germany, people view the price of a scoop of ice cream as a gauge of inflation. One cafe owner is now charging customers per gram of ice cream to keep it affordable as they cope with rising prices. Photo: Shutterstock 

A vendor of street food and ice cream in Rostock, Germany. Inflation has driven up the cost of living across Europe, and that includes the price of a scoop of ice cream. Photo: Bloomberg

An Instagram post by Café Brezels that reads: “At Brezels we weigh your ice cream.” Photo: Instagram/@brezels_cafe

A selection of ice cream sold at Café Brezels. It charges €2 for 100 grams of ice cream. Photo: Instagram/@brezels_cafe

Asian photographers tell stories another way at Berlin roast meat restaurant Rice Service

Rice Service co-founders (left to right) Thu Thuy Pham, Kenneth Lam and Thao Westphal are bringing contemporary Cantonese siu mei to Berlin, Germany. Photo: Rice Service

Roast duck from Rice Service in Berlin, Germany. The new Cantonese restaurant offers a more casual siu mei (roast meat) experience than the traditional Chinese restaurants common in the city. Photo: Rice Service

Rice Service co-founders (from left) Thu Thuy Pham, Kenneth Lam and Thao Westphal. Photo: Rice Service

A poster for Rice Service. Pham and Lam studied fashion photography and are bringing a touch of creative storytelling to the siu mei restaurant. Photo: Rice Service

Roast pork from Rice Service. Photo: Rice Service

Lam’s family members at the Wok Inn, his parents’ restaurant in Northampton, in this undated photo. Photo: Rice Service

Why sunflower oil has replaced olive oil as Spain’s main cooking oil

FILE PHOTO: Olive and sunflower oil bottles are displayed for sale, protected by a padlock and a chain to prevent theft in a Tu Super Suma supermarket in Malaga, Spain, October 23, 2023. REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo

Olive oil and sunflower oil bottles are protected by a padlock and chain to prevent theft in a Tu Super Suma supermarket in Malaga, Spain, on October 23, 2023. The price of olive oil has reached record highs in Spain as droughts continue. Photo: Reuters

Costa Blanca residents wait to get drinking water as their tap water is unfit for consumption due to the drought, in Moraira, Alicante, Spain, on August 19, 2024. Photo: Reuters

A cook uses bottled water to make paella as the water from the tap is not drinkable due to the drought in the Costa Blanca, in Moraira, Alicante, Spain on August 19, 2024. Photo: Reuters

For Hong Kong’s next generation of chefs, people skills are as important as knife skills

Samantha Tam (second from right) teaches a class at Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s School of Hotel and Tourism Management. She hopes her students start out with an interest in food, but assumes she is working with a blank slate. Photo: Polytechnic University

Tam was born and raised in Hong Kong. She says “some youngsters cannot even tell apart vegetables”. Photo: Polytechnic University

Wilson Lee is the general manager of Hyatt Regency Hong Kong, Sha Tin. “Serving is only a task and a part of connecting with people,” he says. Photo: Wilson Lee

Tam (right) guides students through basic kitchen skills. The premise she operates from is that with most students she is starting with a blank slate. Photo: Polytechnic University

Per Henrik Jonsson is the programme director of the International Culinary Institute in Hong Kong. For him, “communication is probably the number one thing” that a chef needs. Photo: Per Henrik

Why you must eat bread in Uzbekistan, where the humble loaf is ‘life itself’

A loaf of bread - known as “non” in Uzbekistan - with intricate designs, baked in the artistic Fergana Valley style. Photo: Anne Pinto-Rodrigues

A loaf of bread - known as “non” in Uzbekistan - with intricate designs baked in the artistic style of the country’s Fergana Valley. Photo: Anne Pinto-Rodrigues

Non for sale at Chorsu Bazaar in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Photo: Anne Pinto-Rodrigues

Master baker Hofez Nuritdinnov prepares a large portion of dough at his bakery in the Konigil Tourist Village on the outskirts of Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Photo: Anne Pinto-Rodrigues

A non featuring intricate designs baked in the artistic Fergana Valley style. Photo: Anne Pinto-Rodrigues

Nargiza Shodieva sticks non dough inside a tandir at the Konigil Tourist Village. Photo: Anne Pinto-Rodrigues

Festive non, decorated with colourful toppings, is broken at engagements. Photo: Anne Pinto-Rodrigues

On Ukraine war front, TikTok soldier-influencer chef shoots recipe videos between missions

Ruslan Mokrytskyi poses for a TikTok recipe video while cooking pasta all’Arrabbiata. What sets him apart from other chef influencers is that he is a soldier on the front line of Ukraine’s war with Russia. Photo: AFP

Mokrytskyi has 131,600 followers on TikTok. Photo: AFP

Mokrytskyi cooks pasta as his fellow soldier records video of him for TikTok. Photo: AFP

Mokrytskyi shows a bullet casing containing spices while cooking pasta. He strives to make the content entertaining but war-related. Photo: AFP

Mokrytskyi tastes the pasta he cooked in an undisclosed location in the Donetsk region. Now a recognisable face, some businesses are getting interested in him. Photo: AFP

Mokrytskyi’s video sessions offer “an hour or two” of lightheartedness – he knows his videos help keep up Ukrainian spirits. Photo: AFP

Lifestyle

Food & Drink

News

World

Europe

Germans gauge inflation by how much ice cream costs. A cafe in Gaggenau sells its ice cream by the gram. It’s fairer that way, owner says


In Germany, the price of ice cream is a bellwether of inflation. To keep the summer treat affordable for all, a cafe owner in Gaggenau charges customers for scoops of ice cream by the gram.


Germany

Ice cream scoops priced per gram? Cafe owner says it makes summer treat more affordable

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Germans gauge inflation by how much ice cream costs. A cafe in Gaggenau sells its ice cream by the gram. It’s fairer that way, owner says

Germans gauge inflation by how much ice cream costs. A cafe in Gaggenau sells its ice cream by the gram. It’s fairer that way, owner says