Germans fear their beloved kebabs might become more expensive or even scarce due to factory strikes

Berlin (AP) – Germans are in kebab anxiety.

They fear that their most popular street food choices, the spicy, juicy kebabs in pita cakes that can be found on every corner of Germany, could get even more expensive—and even worse, the country could slip into a national shortage of kebabs.

Even if these fears may sound exaggerated at first, they are not unfounded. Workers at one of Germany’s largest kebab factories are trapped in a painful and ongoing struggle with employers under wages and working conditions.

Workers at the Birtat Meat World SE factory in southwestern Germany have repeatedly stopped production lines by breaking off work amid a “warning strike” and demanding an increase of €375 ($434) per month.

Their current salary varies greatly and has not been disclosed. According to the German news agency DPA, the Food, Beverage and Catering Alliance, which represents them, said payment methods are non-transparent, but workers’ salaries are very different.

Workers also attempt to organize a collective contract agreement for all employees with the help of the union.

Immigrant workers

Many workers are immigrants from Türkiye, Romania or Bulgaria who have spent long and difficult working days in the factory, which is close to temperatures to keep the raw meat fresh.

On Wednesday, many workers left work again, waving flags, drums, whistling and yelling in front of the factory gates to get higher salaries and union contracts.

German media reported that so far, Birtat has not succumbed to any demands. The company did not immediately respond to interview requests.

Millions of consumers every month

Located 30 kilometers (nearly 20 miles) north of Stuttgart, Birtat has been making kebabs for more than 30 years. The company said on its website that it can make the skewers of ground beef, veal, chicken or turkey kebab weigh up to 120 kg (260 lbs).

The worker chops the meat, marinates it, and then pushes large chunks of raw produce onto long metal skewers. The meat was then shocked and delivered to restaurants across the country.

Birtat said it offers thousands of barbecue stalls and fast food restaurants, which can reach more than 13 million consumers a month. Some restaurant owners worry that German favorite fast food snacks may indeed become more expensive or even scarce if workers decide to go on a long strike.

Prices rise

Germans have complained that cheap snacks sold about twenty years ago used to be cheap snacks, and it became too expensive, with most places charging at least €7 ($8) or more.

Halil Duman is thinking about the state of the kebab business as he is busy cutting thin ground beef at Pergamon Döner, a small restaurant at the Friedrichstrasse railway station in Berlin, where people line up for lunch.

“Everything is getting harder,” the 68-year-old Turkish immigrant said. “Agricultural products are getting more expensive and we are barely making money anymore.”

“But if we raise the price further, people will no longer buy here.” Duman has worked in a barbecue shop in the German capital for more than 30 years and has sold classic barbecue sandwiches (about $8.70) for €7.50.

The History of German Kebabs

Germans have long fantasized about kebab sandwiches, which is known in Germany as Döner. The word comes from the Turkish verb “donmek”, which means turn-the meat is roasted on spit for hours and then sliced and brown when chopped.

In the 1970s, Turkish immigrants were originally brought to Berlin by Turkish immigrants, and barbecue snacks were wrapped in pita bread and shredded lettuce, tomatoes, onions and different dressings, and are now sold everywhere in Germany, extending from the Baltic Sea to the Cheese Alps.

According to legend, it was the Turkish guest worker Mahmut Aygun who invented the first Döner Sandwich in 1971 when he sold meat with a piece of Pita bread with yogurt sauce on it at a stall near the main train station in the West Berlin Zoo.

About 2.9 million people with Turkish roots live in Germany – but Döner kebab sandwiches have become so common in the country that many foreign tourists think it is usually Germans and don’t even know the snacks of immigrants in the past.

Nele Langfeld, 22, came to Pergamon Döner because she had just finished her exam and was eager for delicious comfort food.

She said that while she hadn’t heard of the labor dispute in Birtat, she certainly didn’t like the prospect of a Döner shortage or higher price.

“I live on a budget, and that’s the last thing I need,” she said. “Döner is a meal that really fills your stomach – it should be kept that way.”