German pub comes up with new offer to swap oil for beer

A pub in Germany is offering a unique barter deal for its customers — bring a litre of sunflower oil for a litre of beer.
The deal is one of the measures taken businesses in Germany to combat the shortage of cooking oil that was triggered the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Giesinger Brewery, a brewpub in southern Germany’s Munich city, had the plan in place for a limited period in July 2022.
Pub manager Erik Hoffmann told Reuters TV that the idea came up because the kitchen started the feel the pinch. “The whole thing came up because we simply ran out of oil in the kitchen and that’s why we have to be inventive,” Hoffmann said.
During the war, the brewery’s regular supplier informed them that he is finding it difficult to deliver the required quantities of the oil.
“Getting oil is very difficult … if you need 30 litres a week and only get 15 instead, at some point you won’t be able to fry a schnitzel any longer,” Hoffmann said in the report. Hoffmann claimed nearly 400 litres of oil have been exchanged under this scheme so far.

The success of the scheme is also driven the fact that while a litre of beer costs 7 euros in Europe, a litre of sunflower oil sells for around 4.5 euros, making it a profitable deal for the customers.
One of the customers told Reuters that he stocked up on 80 litres of oil when he went on a trip to dribute humanitarian aid in Ukraine. In Munich, he swapped that for eight crates of beer, said Moritz Baller. Baller said that the campaign was “cool”, particularly because he was able to get cheap beer.