Seehof Herrsching

Raise a glass (or a flute) at Seehof Herrsching, nestled along a lake in Upper Bavaria, Germany. Seehof has inspired invocations dating back to the mideighteenth century, when the lake and its nearby castle belonged to monks. The Seehof was that castle’s guesthouse, and it opened to the public at the end of the nineteenth century, charging one mark—or about fifty-five cents—per night.

The hotel operated for nearly a century before the Hofbräu brewery bought and revamped it. They reopened in 1996 with the addition of a traditional Bavarian beer garden. Though most in Germany are well satisfied by ale and spaetzle, the hotel has also borrowed this irresistible button, which originated at an upscale restaurant in London, Bob Bob Ricard. Founder Leonid Shutov asked himself how to make as much profit as possible—then had the simple yet effervescent notion to just get people to order champagne compulsively.

The gimmick proved massively successful, with patrons delighting in the ease of ordering a celebration and summoning a server without needing to pause conversation. About 95 percent of the patrons at Bob Bob Ricard press the button, and the restaurant allegedly sells more champagne than  anywhere else in the country…simply because of this delightful gimmic  which has been admired and adopted even by a German hotel run by a brewery.

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