Wienerwald (restaurant)
| Vienna Woods
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|---|---|
_logo.svg){kind=logo} |
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| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1955 |
| Seat | Munich - Schwabing |
| Branch | Quick service system catering |
| Website | wienerwald.de |
Wienerwald is a fast food chain that, as a franchise and system catering company, mainly offers chicken products as fast food. The company has branches in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Egypt and Dubai.
history
Foundation and rapid rise
The company's history began in 1955 when Friedrich Jahn opened the first restaurant on Amalienstraße in Munich , which initially operated as the “ Linzer Stube ”, then as the “ Weinstube zum Wienerwald ”. Other branches in southern Germany soon followed. The chain became famous with the advertising slogan “ Today the kitchen stays cold, we're going to the Vienna Woods ”. All branches had a rustic interior and mainly served southern German cuisine.
The company quickly grew into the most successful European restaurant chain with around 700 restaurants in Germany and Austria alone in 1978 and 1,600 restaurants worldwide with almost 30,000 employees. Branches and franchises were mainly located in Europe, but also overseas, including the USA, Japan and South Africa. In addition to the restaurants, hotels were also built ("Tourotels" and "Wienerwaldhotels"), their own fattening operations were opened, the catering equipment manufacturer WIWA and the travel company Jahn Reisen were founded. In 1980 the company received the Austrian state award and was thus allowed to use the federal coat of arms in business transactions.
First bankruptcy
The rapid expansion was largely financed by loans. In addition, Jahn miscalculated with the entry into the US restaurant chains Lum's and IHOP in 1978, which were in need of renovation and required high investments. The travel company Jahn Reisen also did not bring the expected profit, but only required high investments and was sold to LTU in 1982 .
In 1982 the Süddeutsche Zeitung published an article in which the company's creditworthiness was questioned. The banks reacted immediately by demanding immediate repayment of the loans. On August 27, 1982 Wienerwald-Holding AG and the owner Friedrich Jahn had to file for bankruptcy in Switzerland. On August 30, 1982 Wienerwald GmbH Germany and other holding companies followed; they had to be sold, as did the 880 restaurants in the United States. In September 1982, the compared group announced total assets of 479.6 million Swiss francs.
Wienerwald affair
At the end of June 1986 Renate Thyssen acquired the then troubled catering company "Wienerwald" from Bayerische Landesbank , Dresdner Bank and two Swiss banks for 12 million francs instead of the originally estimated 40 million DM . Thyssen acted as a front man for Jahn, as an option provided for the later takeover by Jahn. The political affair arose because Thyssen's financial advisor, Dieter Krautzig, represented the interests of both Bayerische Landesbank and Thyssens in the collecting society and because Landesbank President Ludwig Huber had a relationship with Thyssen at the time. Jahn gave her his shares free of charge and was employed by Wienerwald for it. A few weeks later, Jahn bought the German Wienerwald restaurants for 2.5 million DM. After selling other loss-making subsidiaries in France, Sweden and Egypt, Thyssen concentrated on its core business in Austria with 54 restaurants, 10 motorway service stations, 5 hotels and 1,500 Employees. This collided with an option for Jahn, namely to acquire the profitable Austrian Wienerwald restaurants for 25 million DM plus taxes by August 31, 1987. At the end of January 1987, Jahn wanted to exercise this option. A legal dispute began that turned into public abuse. Jahn was ultimately unable to raise the necessary money for the option at the end of August. The affair became public when it became known that bank president Huber had joined the supervisory board for “Wienerwald Austria” in June. The Bayerische Landesbank had not been informed of this, and so Huber had to resign as President of the Bayerische Landesbank at the beginning of 1988. Under Thyssen's leadership, the “Wienerwald” rose to become the largest catering company in Austria. In 1988 the Austrian business magazine “Success” named her Manager of the Year . At the end of the 1980s she sold the company to the City of Vienna . In 1988, Jahn had to sell the 230 Wienerwald restaurants to the British spirits manufacturer Grand Met.
In the 1990s, Wienerwald Austria and Wienerwald Germany existed .
Vienna Woods in Germany
Second bankruptcy and a fresh start
In 2003 Wienerwald AG, with 38 company-owned and around 50 franchise branches, had to file for bankruptcy for the second time due to the chicken plague and economic crisis, including the first Wienerwald in Munich's Amalienstr. 23 had to close. However, the procedure was ended in 2005; Wienerwald then announced that it would expand again with the new “Wienerwald Express” concept and that it would open 70 more branches by 2009. In adaptation to conventional fast-service restaurants, the focus should no longer be on classic restaurants with service at the seat, Alpine style and Schrammel music, as in the past , but rather on self-service restaurants with seating areas and express service as well as finger food or fast food instead of traditional cuisine. The hendl @ home delivery service delivered dishes like the pizza service to your home or workplace.
In 2006, Wienerwald AG in Germany employed 105 people, seven of whom were trainees. The 65 restaurants were mainly located in southern Germany.
Third bankruptcy and takeover by Jahn's daughters
After the attempt to raise further capital by issuing a bond was unsuccessful, Wienerwald AG had to file for insolvency again at the Munich District Court on April 2, 2007 (No. 1504 IN 1140/07), which led to further branch closings and layoffs.
On June 1, 2007, the daughters Friedrich Jahns, Margot Steinberg and Evi Peitzner acquired the trademark rights to the name “Wienerwald” from the bankruptcy estate. The newly founded Wienerwald Franchise GmbH with Evi Peitzner's son Daniel Peitzner, operator of several restaurants on Sylt, and Margot Steinberg's son-in-law Michael Wardrobe as managing director, no longer operates its own restaurants, but only acts as a franchisor. It initially concluded new franchise agreements for 42 existing restaurants.
New concept
In 2010 Wienerwald presented a new, considerably revised concept for its restaurants, with which the aim was to expand more strongly and find its way back to old strengths. The brand identity, the interior design and the menu of the restaurants have been rejuvenated, and delivery services and "chicken carts" have been established as new sales channels alongside the classic restaurant. However, the new concept did not have a resounding success. In the following years, total sales continued to decline; some restaurants based on the modernized concept were reopened (including in Berlin and Frankfurt , where they had not been represented for a few years), while others were closed.
In August 2018 there were 19 Wienerwald restaurants in Germany, eight of them in Munich.
Vienna Woods in Austria
In 2002 Wienerwald Austria was in bankruptcy. At that time the proceedings ended with a settlement .
Wienerwald Austria was bought in 2003 by restaurateur Christian Ziegler from the Altacon investor group and successfully renovated. There were also Wienerwald hotels in Austria. Since January 2006 Wienerwald has belonged to the BZÖ politician Harald Fischl . As of the 2006 balance sheet date, the company was over-indebted to one million euros, with annual sales of 10 million euros. In 2010 Wienerwald Austria was taken over by Peter Binder, the owner of the Schnitzl Land chain . Currently (2018) the company operates eight restaurants, all of which are located in Vienna and the surrounding area.
Wienerwald in other countries
In the course of the revival of the Wienerwald brand, more emphasis was placed on international expansion. From 2009 Wienerwald Franchise GmbH expanded into Turkey, where more than 30 restaurants were opened by 2010 through a Turkish regional franchisee. Originally, numerous other openings were planned and the aim was to become the market leader in chicken gastronomy, but all restaurants are now closed again. A commitment that began in Romania in 2011 with two restaurants in Bucharest also failed. At the end of 2017 Wienerwald was still represented internationally with three restaurants in Egypt and one restaurant each in Budapest and Dubai .
See also
literature
- "I would start all over again" - the rise and fall of the Wienerwald CEO Friedrich Jahn . In: Der Spiegel . No. 24 , 1982 ( online ).
Web links
- Wienerwald Germany website
- Wienerwald Austria website
- And the Vienna Woods are dying again: traditional chain registers compensation. In: Die Presse , Vienna, 2002
- Wienerwald wants to save Wienerwald. Munich newspaper publishing house, 2003
- Wienerwald, politics and taxes: chronology of a courageous head of the tax office. Documentation center Courageous research and reports
Individual evidence
- ↑ "I would start all over again" - the rise and fall of the Wienerwald CEO Friedrich Jahn . In: Der Spiegel . No. 24 , 1982 ( online ).
- ^ Wienerwald Chain Will Be Cut Back. In: The New York Times . June 17, 1982, accessed September 24, 2012 .
- ↑ piece by piece . In: Der Spiegel . No. 53 , 1987 ( online ).
- ↑ Hen in the Vienna Woods . In: Der Spiegel . No. 50 , 1987 ( online ).
- ↑ Hu is Hu . In: Der Spiegel . No. 5 , 1988 ( online ).
- ↑ Bad mistakes . In: Der Spiegel . No. 12 , 1991 ( online ).
- ↑ Alexandra Leibfried: Founding family acquires the "Wienerwald" brand. In: Allgemeine Hotel- und Gastronomie-Zeitung (AHGZonline) . May 19, 2007, accessed September 24, 2012 .
- ↑ a b “No longer just half a chicken”. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , October 12, 2010
- ↑ Wienerwald: Comeback with a new concept. In: merkur.de. December 2, 2010, accessed March 20, 2018 .
- ↑ List of restaurants on the company website. In: wienerwald.de , accessed February 18, 2017
- ↑ Restaurant chain in turbulence. In: ORF .at
- ↑ Schnitz'l Land owner takes over Wienerwald. In: Krone .at
- ↑ All locations - Wienerwald. In: wienerwald.at. Retrieved February 3, 2018 .
- ^ Wienerwald in Turkey. In: German Turkey Newspaper - Great Turkey. Retrieved August 28, 2018 .
- ^ Wienerwald: already 20 locations in Turkey - news . In: News . August 24, 2015 ( vaybee.de [accessed August 28, 2018]).
- ↑ Wienerwald has opened the first restaurant in Romania. ( Memento of January 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) In: Wienerwald.ro , April 14, 2011
- ↑ List on the company website. In: wienerwald.eu ; accessed on February 18, 2017