Eat, sleep, and dream meat

A butcher has opened a sausage-themed hotel in Germany.

AN enterprising butcher in Germany has come up with a novel way to boost sales of his home-made sausage varieties: the country’s first “bratwurst hotel”.

Claus Boebel, a butcher in the Bavarian town of Georgensgmuend, is more than aware that his place won’t be the first choice for those who prefer to go meat-free. “Polarisation is my business model. Either the guests find it cool, or they say ‘Never again’.”

The hotel has seven rooms, with wallpaper featuring colourful bratwurst drawings, along with a string of sausages dangling over the bed and a large wiener pillow to lay one’s head on.

The hotel, which is on the same plot of land as Boebel’s hip butcher’s shop, is in a quaint sandstone building that used to be an inn. Boebel sank about US$800,000 (RM3.28mil) into renovating the building.

On entering, guests are greeted with the butcher’s assortment of canned sausages as soon as they go to reception. Inside the rooms, the walls are covered with pictures of sausages and instructions on how to make them. In room No 1, reserved for hardcore sausage fans, Boebel has hung plastic bags of raw meat and fat – the main ingredients. Even the staircase features the butcher’s top-selling meat products.

To continue the experience, you can also head over to his butcher shop for a “Wurst Experience” and learn how Bavarian delicacies are made and even make your own.

Behind the marketing strategy is Boebel’s belief that in order to differentiate his products from sausages in supermarkets across Germany, he has to offer something more. “Our principle: Customers should experience the product, instead of just buying some sausages.” – dpa