Key points at a glance
- Regional is not a protected term, but every origin claim on your menu must be true and provable. Keep your invoices and delivery notes.
- For restaurants and inns, stating origin is generally voluntary in Austria and Germany. In Austria, an obligation for meat, milk and eggs currently applies only to institutional catering.
- Voluntary schemes such as AMA GENUSS REGION or “Gut zu wissen” in Austria make origin verifiable. Germany's Regionalfenster labels products, not venues.
- Regional produce often costs more. A seasonal menu, whole-animal use, fixed seasonal prices with suppliers and careful costing make up for it.
- Tell your suppliers' stories on your website, on the menu and on Instagram, with names, places and photos, but only with their consent.
This post is general information and does not replace legal or tax advice. Rules change and some differ between federal states: check the details with your chamber of commerce (WKO) or IHK, the competent authority or your tax adviser.
Why regional cuisine pays off and what it costs
Guests associate regional cuisine with freshness, quality and trust. For an inn it is also part of its identity: roast pork, Backhendl (Austrian fried chicken), dumplings or Maultaschen taste of the place where they are cooked. Regional suppliers bring stories that no wholesaler can deliver, and they make your venue unmistakable, on the menu as much as online. Anyone repositioning a traditional house often makes regional cuisine the core of its new profile, as described in the guide modernising an inn without losing regulars.
To be honest: regional cuisine is also more work. Small farms do not deliver every day, quantities vary, some ingredients are only available for a few weeks a year, and the purchase price is often higher than at the wholesaler. If you plan for this from the start, you can turn these limits into a concept: a smaller menu that changes with the seasons instead of a large menu that stays the same all year.
Finding suppliers: straight from the farm and through regional traders
Buying regionally does not necessarily mean negotiating with every farm individually. Different routes suit different products and quantities. Many inns combine a few direct partners for their main products with a regional trader for everything else.
| Sourcing route | Good for | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Direct from the farm | Meat, eggs, dairy, vegetables, game | Delivery days, minimum quantities, invoice stating origin, cold chain |
| Farmers' markets and farm shops | Small quantities, seasonal produce, first contacts | Usually too much effort for day-to-day supply |
| Producer cooperatives and culinary regions | Larger quantities from one region, bundled delivery | Which farms are behind it and how origin is documented |
| Regional wholesalers and butchers | Wide range, daily delivery | Ask for origin per product on the delivery note or invoice |
| Breweries, winemakers, cider makers | Drinks with a story | Supply contracts, minimum purchase, exclusivity |
Write down your needs
Which products do you need in what quantities per week? Meat, eggs, dairy and potatoes make up the largest share of food cost and have the biggest impact on the menu.
Look for farms and traders
Good places to start are the chamber of agriculture, farmers' markets, directories of direct sellers, culinary regions and tourism boards. Regular guests and your team often know farms nearby, too.
Visit and taste
Go there. Look at how the animals are kept, the fields and the processing, taste the produce and ask about capacity: can the farm supply your quantities all year round?
Make an agreement
Put delivery days, quantities, prices, quality and replacements for shortfalls in writing, even if it is only an email. Fixed prices for a season give both sides security.
Collect proof
Have the origin confirmed on the invoice or delivery note. This backs up every claim on your menu, towards guests and during an inspection.
Origin on the menu: voluntary, but honest
There is currently no general obligation for restaurants and inns in Austria or Germany to state where their ingredients come from. In Austria, since 2023 only institutional catering, meaning canteens, hospitals, schools and care homes, must state the origin of meat, milk and eggs. Extending this to restaurants is being debated politically. Check the current situation with the WKO or with the IHK or DEHOGA (German Hotel and Restaurant Association).
Voluntary does not mean arbitrary, though. Food information must not mislead guests, including about origin and production. In both countries this follows from the EU Food Information Regulation (FIR), in Austria also from the LMSVG (Food Safety and Consumer Protection Act), and in Germany from the LFGB (Food and Feed Code). If you write “beef from the Mühlviertel” or “asparagus from the Maier farm” on the menu, you must be able to prove it with invoices, for every portion and not just in peak season.
How to get it right
- Be specific: name the farm, village or region next to the dish
- Only state what you can prove permanently
- Adjust the menu or the claim right away when supplies run short
- Keep a list of suppliers on the menu or the website
- Write “from Austria” or “from Bavaria” instead of vague words like “from the region” if the region is unclear
Better not
- Write “regional” across the whole menu if only a few ingredients come from nearby
- Keep naming the farm when it is currently not delivering
- Show pictures of farms you do not buy from
- Use seals or logos without being certified
- Claim origin verbally without proof on the premises
Voluntary schemes in Austria and Germany
- AMA GENUSS REGION (Austria): a state-recognised quality seal that is also open to restaurants. Participating businesses specify which regions raw materials such as meat, dairy, eggs, potatoes, fruit, vegetables, fish or game come from, prove this with invoices and are inspected externally.
- “Gut zu wissen” (Austria): a voluntary origin label of the Austrian Chamber of Agriculture for restaurants and institutional catering, mainly for meat, milk and eggs.
- Regionalfenster (Germany): a voluntary, inspected label for regional products such as eggs, dairy, meat and sausages. It appears on the product, not on the menu. You can, however, buy such products deliberately and name their origin next to the dish.
- Regional programmes: both countries have initiatives run by federal states, tourism regions and culinary regions. Ask your chamber of agriculture, your state's ministry of agriculture or the tourism board.
Plan by season: a menu that moves with the year
Regional cuisine is inevitably seasonal cuisine. Instead of seeing that as a limit, many inns use the seasons as a rhythm: a fixed core menu with the classics and a changing seasonal menu that is new every four to eight weeks. This keeps regulars curious and regularly gives you a reason to show something online. How to turn this into an annual calendar of promotions is covered in the guide to seasonal promotions at your inn.
| Season | Typical regional produce | Idea for the menu |
|---|---|---|
| Spring | Wild garlic, asparagus, radishes, kid and lamb | Wild garlic weeks, asparagus menu |
| Summer | Chanterelles, berries, tomatoes, fish from local waters | Light dishes for the beer garden or terrace |
| Autumn | Game, pumpkin, apples, sweet chestnuts, Sturm or Federweißer (young wine) | Game weeks, pumpkin menu |
| Winter | Goose, cabbage, root vegetables, stored fruit, smoked meats | St Martin's goose, hearty winter menu |
- Plan with your suppliers: ask in winter what the farms will grow in the coming year and when animals will be ready for slaughter.
- Preserve: pickling, bottling, fermenting and drying extend the season and are a story for the menu in themselves.
- Word it flexibly: “Vegetables from the Huber farm, depending on the harvest” allows changes without reprinting the menu.
Costing: when regional produce costs more
Regional meat or vegetables from the farm are often more expensive than produce from the wholesaler. That does not mean every dish has to become much pricier. What matters is how well you use the whole product and how clearly you show the added value on the menu. The basics of food cost, markup and contribution margin are explained in the guide to restaurant costing.
Whole-animal use
If you take a whole pig or cow, you usually pay less per kilo than for prime cuts. Roasts, goulash, offal dishes, brawn, stock and sausages turn every part into a dish and are classic inn cooking.
Small menu
Fewer dishes mean less stock, less waste and more shared ingredients. This often partly offsets a higher purchase price.
Agree seasonal prices
A fixed price for the season makes your costing predictable and gives the farm a guaranteed buyer.
Calculate per portion
Recalculate the food cost of each dish as soon as the supplier or purchase price changes. A dish with regional meat may cost a little more if the menu explains why.
Think about drinks
Regional beer, cider, wine or juice with a good margin often contribute more to the result than any dish. Work out the right price per glass with the drinks price calculator.
| Roast pork from the wholesaler | Roast pork from the local farm | |
|---|---|---|
| Food cost per portion | €4.00 | €5.20 |
| Target food cost | 30% | 30% |
| Calculated net price | €13.33 | €17.33 |
| With whole-animal use and a smaller menu | Food cost for example €4.60, net price around €15.33 |
Calculate selling prices in seconds
Enter food cost and target share and get the selling price including VAT for Austria or Germany.
Telling stories: suppliers on your website and Instagram
Regional cuisine only works once guests know about it, ideally before they walk through your door. Anyone searching for “inn regional cuisine” plus a town should see on your website where your meat, vegetables and drinks come from. For that, your menu belongs on the website as text, with the origin next to each dish, as described in the guide to the digital menu.
- “Our suppliers” page: for each farm a photo, name, place, what it supplies and a sentence or two about its story, ideally with a link to the farm.
- Origin on the menu: briefly next to the dish, for example “Brook char from the Leitner fish farm, Enns valley”.
- Photos and short videos: a visit to the farm, an early morning delivery, the first crate of asparagus of the season. Tips in the guide to Instagram for restaurants.
- Google posts: announce the start of a season and new dishes in your Business Profile.
- Link to each other: many farms are happy to show which inns use their produce. That is a valuable local link for your website.
Regional cuisine checklist
- Two or three main products sourced from regional suppliers
- Agreements on quantities, prices and delivery days in writing
- Invoices and delivery notes stating origin filed
- Origin claims on the menu specific and provable
- Seasonal menu for the coming year planned with suppliers
- Dishes with regional ingredients recalculated
- “Our suppliers” page online with the farms' consent
- Menu as text on the website, with origin next to the dishes
Your inn with a suppliers page, as a free preview
We build a preview of your website with menu, seasonal menu and room for your suppliers' stories. No obligation and free of charge.
A free preview of your venue website, designed by us.
Sources
- WKO: Food labelling without deception in restaurants (German)
- BMLUK: Mandatory origin labelling in institutional catering (German)
- AMA Marketing: AMA GENUSS REGION quality seal
- Burgenland Chamber of Agriculture: more transparency on the plate with “Gut zu wissen” (German)
- Regionalfenster: the label for regional products (German)
