Friedrich Jahn (restaurateur)
Friedrich Jahn (born December 29, 1923 in Linz , † December 15, 1998 in Bad Wiessee , Bavaria ) was an Austrian restaurateur . He founded the Wienerwald fast-food chain .
Life
Friedrich Jahn worked his way from a simple waiter to the owner of the Wienerwald Holding , which not only includes the well-known Wienerwald restaurants, but also the tourism operator Jahn Reisen , wineries, motorway service stations in Austria , a transport company, a grill manufacturer, a printing company, and real estate companies , Hotels, consulting companies for the gastronomy , several wine bars and the Laterna Magica publishing house belonged.
In addition to Austria, where he came from, Jahn was also in Switzerland, where he lived temporarily and of which he became a citizen in 1977, in Germany, Liechtenstein, South Africa, Spain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Namibia, Japan, the Philippines and Finland active in business. Jahn created his "second mainstay" in the USA, where he owned the following restaurant chains in addition to the Wienerwald restaurants (one of which was in the famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City ): IHOP , Copper-Penny, LOVE'S, Ranch-House and LUMS.
In November 1973, his daughter, Evelyn Jahn was in Munich kidnapped and three million Deutschmark ransom released three days later. The kidnappers were caught.
Jahn founded the first Wienerwald restaurant in Munich in 1955, and later made franchising popular in Germany. In 1980 the group had 1,536 restaurants worldwide with around 27,000 employees and a turnover of around 2.3 billion Swiss francs .
According to an article in the Süddeutsche Zeitung in the spring of 1982, in which the company's creditworthiness was questioned, banks ended their cooperation with Wienerwald. In November 1982, the Group Vienna Woods had first comparison sign. Reasons for this were u. a. the rapid growth, the financing of long-term investments through short-term loans and the unmanageable organization of the more than 200 large corporation companies, as well as the excessive diversification into new areas. Jahn's main mistake was, according to his own statement, the hiring of a banker as chief financial officer.
After 1982 Friedrich Jahn was again successful in system catering. He died of leukemia in Bad Wiessee in 1998 . Friedrich Jahn's grave is in the Grünwald forest cemetery near Munich.
Publications
- A life for the Vienna Woods. From waiter to millionaire - and back again. , Autobiography, self-published in 1993 (without ISBN)
Awards
- Honorary member of the Catholic student association KaV Austro-Danubia Linz in the ÖCV
- Bavarian Order of Merit (1971)
- 1973: Federal Cross of Merit, 1st class (August 29, 1973)
- Great Decoration of Honor of the Republic of Austria (1993)
- Golden Cross of Merit of the City of Vienna (1993)
literature
- Friedrich Jahn , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 09/1999 from February 22, 1999, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)
Web links
- wienerwald.de: History of the Wienerwald
- whoswho.de: biography
- "I would start all over again" - rise and fall of the Wienerwald CEO Friedrich Jahn Der Spiegel 24/1982
Individual evidence
- ↑ tz.de: The 70s in Munich: kidnapping drama in the tz editorial office, article from April 25, 2016
- ^ Knerger.de: The grave of Friedrich Jahn
- ↑ Office of the Federal President
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Jahn, Friedrich |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian restaurateur and founder of the Wienerwald chain |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 29, 1923 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Linz |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 15, 1998 |
| Place of death | Bad Wiessee |