Yellow berries can add acidity to sauces or bring a burst of colour to a garnish, but this season the mood in the kitchen is far less bright.

At the Michelin star restaurant Nobelhart and Schmutzig in Berlin, staff move between workstations preparing duck, peeling potatoes and roasting onions while the industry itself is feeling the heat.

Rising rents, higher energy bills and the soaring price of local produce have pushed operating costs to levels many restaurants say are unsustainable.

At the same time, fewer tourists and fewer locals dining out mean revenue is falling, leaving even award-winning kitchens under pressure before the crucial winter season.

Owner Billy Wagner says the pressures facing restaurants across the city are impossible to ignore.

Wagner says: “We suffer as well, loss of guests, I would say, and we also experience rising costs in various ways."

"We need to be flexible in the offering we are getting to our guests. So we changed a lot of small little details to be more accessible on the one hand but also to make money from certain product we are offering.”

Berlin’s high end dining sector has been shrinking.

Multiple Michelin starred restaurants have shut down in Berlin in the last two years.

Wagner says the challenges have reshaped when restaurants make their money.

He says trends have shifted so that most money is made during the last months of the year.

Across the city, the Michelin starred restaurant Bonvivant is also adjusting to rising costs and fewer diners.

Owner Jules Winfield says: “The restaurant situation in Berlin is very serious right now, we have a lot of problems because of rising rents and local produce is very expensive, energy costs are very expensive, staff costs going up, taxes are going up and on top of that we are losing a lot of tourism right now.”

Winter is usually when the restaurant sees a lift from company bookings and Christmas groups, but even that seasonal boost is in doubt.

Winfield says: “I am trying to see it optimistic, we are a winter restaurant, we are trying our best in the winter time and usually we have lots of customers from companies and groups and Christmas groups for the winter time. The numbers are usually going up, but this year it is difficult because we are losing a lot of events and even the New Years party at the Brandenburger Tor has been cancelled, so a lot of tourism is gone.”

Berlin has already lost well known fine dining rooms including Ernst, which closed in 2024, as well as 'theNOname'.

Estimates by the market research firm IntoTheMinds suggest restaurants across Germany have seen revenues fall by 17 percent while costs have risen by 32 percent. 70 percent of respondents told the survey they are eating out less.

Industry representatives say the issues go beyond individual restaurants.

The hospitality association DEHOGA is urging the Berlin state government to improve flight connections and revive trade fair tourism, which once fed many of the city’s dining rooms.

As kitchens prepare for the crucial winter season, restaurateurs say they can only hope the next few months bring enough business as some struggle to stay afloat.

AP video shot by Salman Ahmed