Yes, the total fee may end up being comparable to EF12, BUT EF12 included food (albeit not great food IMO). You can't really say it'll only cost €160 (€210 for Sponsors) when you still have to add food costs to that. Yes, there is some kind of choice - you can buy food in town, bring it with you beforehand etc.
Okay, I think I need to put things into perspective here:
Out of 400 attendees at EF12, only 250 attended the meals at all. The rest not only paid for a meal they didn't want, they obviously spent extra money to eat elsewhere. So, when deciding which part of the increased cost to offload from the con fee, food was the obvious choice. And with an art show turnover of roughly 11000€, the average congoer doesn't seem to be overly poor.
Another problem I see is the location of food. On a LiveJournal post, Big Blue Fox said that there is a food discounter at the bottom of the hill, claiming it's a 10min walk or a 2min car journey. My problem is... the venue is on top of a hill! If you haven't got a car, it'll be a pain in the backside to carry shopping up that hill
Oh, come on. There will be 400-500 furries around. People will go shopping in groups, and people will also most likely be going out for dinner in groups. There's always someone with a car you can go with. And unlike Nuremberg, you CAN park you car right outside the front door.
You thought Nuremberg's hill was bad? 
Some say there is a bus service between Suhl and the hotel's driveway. Which adds €80 to €120 to the con fee. So that makes the con costs €240-€280 for regular congoers, and €290-€330 for sponsors.
If you make the free, optional, decision to exclusively eat at the hotel buffets, yes. But the alternatives are there, even if it takes a bit of planning ahead. So your argument is a little bit like, "and if I book the massage service twice a day, this drives my con fee up to 400€". Sure it will. Additional convenience does cost extra money.
People say the food at the hotel is optional, getting food elsewhere will cost just as much when you add in transport costs, and even then you're limited to takeout (eat it whilst it's hot) or cold food only.
You're wildly exaggerating. In town, you can get a kebap for 3€, and some buns and a cup of coffee for about 4€. Or a Big Mac Menu at McDonalds for €4.50. Calm down
Sorry if this sounds rather negative, but I'm merely voicing concerns that I have. I'm not even sure how to suggest how to tackle these problems.
For breakfast, get stuff from a bakery, that you can easily store at your room. For dinner, find other hungry furs, share a car, go out together. It's more fun anyways.
Oh and by the way, the rooms actually do have a little fridge. (It usually serves as a minibar, but they won't be stocked for Eurofurence, so it's free for you to use and store cold food.)
And by the way, the restaurant also serves snacks for less than the buffet price.
