Alina Meissner-Bebrout: ‘My kitchen has grown up, just like me’

Alina, you started your own business very early on: at the age of 24. Today, you manage around 40 employees in two restaurants plus an event service. Looking back, what would you have done differently?

I would categorise the first five years as 'learning by doing' - because that's all it was. You start to really cook for yourself for the first time and discover all the different things you can cook. But you don't really have a clue. My cooking was very rebellious at the beginning - far too spicy, far too much salt, far too much on the nose. I had to find out first: What do I like, what goes down well with the guests, what can I do in the right time?

What has changed?

My kitchen has grown up, just like me. Everything has become more sophisticated and refined. At some point, I dared to offer a small menu, i.e. to package my five daily changing dishes as a menu. It wasn't really a plan, but rather a natural learning and growth process.

What was learning, for example?

We used to change the menus much more often. This meant that the dishes didn't have time to become as precise as they are now. Our aim is for every new menu to at least maintain the current level, or at best exceed it. The pressure is sometimes exhausting, but nothing else makes sense to me.

In other words, where and how are new dishes created?

They vary. It's a nice interplay of many influences and the creativity of the team. With my sous chef, we send each other ideas almost every day: 'Hey, that would be cool! The first step is usually about which direction we can imagine. What's in season? What do we fancy? What have you eaten or seen? When it comes to the individual courses: Should it be a delicate course? What comes before, what after? We work on the new menu for around two months with the test cooking. Right now, for example, we're at a point where we're not quite sure whether we're going to take this step.

Namely?

Heart. Turkey heart, to be precise. Because serving offal in the main course is naturally offensive. The name alone puts many guests off. But it's a piece that doesn't taste like offal at all - more like pigeon.

Turkey heart. How big is that?

Like this (shows fist size) The perfect main course size.

How did you come up with that?

Originally we wanted to make duck, from a great poultry farm around the corner. By the way, duck hearts are also great - but much smaller, of course. Well, they didn't have them, but they had turkey hearts instead. So I just took them with me and tried them out. That's how most good dishes are created: by chance, by throwing something together or by making a mistake. So just be brave and try something out. And if it backfires, then so be it. Just don't get too cerebral about things.

Where do you clear your head for inspiration?

At the market, for example. I walk over there for half an hour, see the colours, the products. It's visual and tangible, ideas come automatically.

Keyword market: Where and how do you shop?

Vegetables mainly from regional traders. We try to buy meat and fish regionally - but it's sometimes difficult because we're not by the sea or somewhere in the Allgäu with meadows full of cattle. So we're not brutally regional. If we fancy a sea fish once a year, then that's what we do. Basic ingredients such as chives, oil, salt, any kind of convenience, but also dairy products, herbs, onions, in other words all the basics that a good kitchen needs, come from METRO. And we get everything else from R Express.

How often are you supplied?

Once a week from METRO, two to three times from R Express. For the first seven years, I always shopped at the store myself. That's why I know a lot of people at METRO on a first-name basis. But now that we've grown so much with the Edda and the production kitchen, the quantities are now simply too much for me to get into my car. (smiles) That's why I'm happy to take deliveries.

Alongside your expansion with Brasserie Edda and Eventservices, you are also increasingly appearing in TV and streaming formats. How has this influenced your work?

Very positively. It has given us a completely different presence. People suddenly know us all over Germany. To be honest: after corona, that saved us. Inflation, the increase in VAT... The publicity helps us to keep the restaurants full. I see that as a very privileged situation. I'm very, very grateful for that.

Back to the initial question, keyword lessons learnt: Your tip for colleagues who want to start their own business?

If it's financially feasible: get your hands on some money and set everything up properly straight away. It didn't work for me, I borrowed 10,000 euros from a friend at the start and had maybe 2,000 euros in my account. I was only able to rebuild the Bi:braud professionally after five years. My tip would be: if you can afford it, set up a proper catering kitchen. Do it properly right away.