"I decided not to drink a drop of alcohol anymore"

When you stand at the bar as a landlord, you automatically deal with alcohol. And then a gradual process sets in which, over the course of decades of working in the catering trade, has led to me becoming an alcoholic and ultimately suffering from pancreatitis. That's ten years ago now. I decided not to drink a drop of alcohol anymore. I couldn't have done that as a host. So I gave up the restaurant business. Some time ago I heard the television chef Frank Rosin in an interview, he spoke about the country inn in Werdohl - and about the fact that this restaurant could not be saved because the guests had to travel by car - and therefore could not drink as much as would be necessary for sales.

Then I thought: This is the chance. I started researching. Discovered that young people in Münster celebrate parties without alcohol. I found pages and pages of non-alcoholic beverages: beer, wine, sparkling wine, even spirits – everything is available, but unfortunately mostly abroad. The Dutch are very active on the subject – and unfortunately the Germans are very much behind. We opened on October 14th. It's going very well, except for the fact that, like all restaurateurs, we're having trouble finding staff.

Some of our guests come from far away. We get messages from all over Germany in which people congratulate us and wish there was something like this in their city. It's like this: In a normal restaurant you are always confronted with the topic of alcohol - even if you, as a dry alcoholic, can't be sure whether there is wine in the sauce. You can feel safe with us. Unfortunately, there are also people who think they have to scold us, that we coerce our guests and that a beer with alcohol goes with a schnitzel. What else is there to say?

Protocol: Andreas Fasel