“The guest immediately senses whether you want to sell them culture or whether you are really living it.”
Could they talk, the historic walls of Steegwirt, what would they talk about? From salt dealers and courtiers who already traveled here in the early modern period? From the evenings when music was played until the morning hours? The countless festivals? Regulars?
The history of Steegwirt dates back 450 years, i.e. half a millennium. And while wars and revolutions turned the world upside down, while one host after another disappeared from the village landscape, the magnificent tavern between Lake Hallstatt and Traun stands almost unchanged. Except for the kitchen, which is now better than ever.
This is primarily thanks to the two chefs and brothers Fritz and Tamino Grampelhuber, who brought the Steegwirt two Gault Millau toques. A conversation with Fritz Grampelhuber about regular guests, tradition and the question of why the tavern is a place of permanence.
It is just after noon when Fritz Grampelhuber enters the hotel lobby, briefly strips his hands on his pants and sits down for the first time that day. The Steegwirt's chef has been in the Kempinski kitchen on Vienna's Schottenring for six hours. Grampelhuber came with the national team, as an ÖFB chef, or as many a player jokingly says: as the most important team member.
It was almost exactly 11 years ago that Grampelhuber traveled to Colombia with players for the first time, back then with the U20. Today, it is actually impossible to imagine the team without him and, as he says, this is also due to his skills as a chef, but above all it is due to his direct nature. And in fact: Grampelhuber is one of those people with whom you get on with you quite quickly, someone who has a clear opinion — which he also shows.
The term tavern is a contested one. What is already a tavern for some is still a dining place for others. What criteria does a company have to meet for you to be able to call itself a tavern?
Typical home cooking is a must, and the food must be freshly and honestly prepared. Of course, this also applies to potato salad, which should never, really never come out of a bucket at a tavern. And then there is the cultural component: Whether there is a mood, whether people are chatting and playing music. It makes a difference whether you book a musician or whether Thomas Gansch pulls out his trumpet after dinner. We create this atmosphere, it is not staged.
What about the regular guests?
The classic regular from the past has long since disappeared.
Who is then the average guest who comes to the Steegwirt?
Hard to say because we have just about everything from children to retirees, from workers to soccer stars and of course lots of tourists. But, and I'm also seeing this, more and more locals.
It's a good development, isn't it?
Absolutely, it is positive that more and more people are coming to us from the surrounding area. But I also know that it is not only because of our cuisine, but also because there are no other meeting places. As hard as that sounds, some are forced to come because there are virtually no alternatives.
Apart from the willingness to work hard, what is it that you do better than many other taverns?
One thing is certain: Without our family network, the Steegwirt would no longer exist like this. Without the work that my parents and we siblings do every day, it would be impossible to provide our guests with this level of service. On the one hand, there is the willingness to do everything for the company, and on the other hand, you can rely on each other in the core team, trust that the others only have the well-being of the company and the family in mind. And yes, there are sometimes disputes when you deal with problems, but afterwards we can always look at each other in the eye. I think that's what matters. It is just as important to have a good self-assessment, to know exactly who you are, and in our case that is: a traditional tavern from Bad Goisern. I think we stayed true to ourselves, we didn't bend for others, didn't jump on any trends. We stuck to our principles — and it paid off.
What are such principles?
Like processing an entire animal. What is now called “nose-to-tail” is in fact what we have always done at Steegwirt, namely to completely recycle the animal. Of course, we not only overcook the square, but also the bone, the liver, the heart. Of course, this also applies to vegetables that we ferment to make them durable. They are working methods, almost rituals, that we have always stuck to.
It is said that in challenging times, a society's need for routine and the familiar is greater.
In any case, I can see that people appreciate it when a company doesn't constantly bend and reinvent itself. The tavern tradition has grown over centuries and has stood the test of time. Consistency is needed more than an unusual card, especially in terms of quality.
It is in the DNA of the tavern to build on traditions, to continue the tried and tested and to preserve culture. But where do you still have to respond to the spirit of the times in order not to persist in the past?
Of course, it is also important to pay attention to the needs of a society, to changes that also shape our eating habits. That is why we naturally offer vegetarian and vegan dishes. But on the whole, the menu is classic.
About ten years ago, you took over the Steegwirt kitchen and thus continued a family tradition. Did you always know where you wanted to go?
Even as a child, I was fascinated by how my parents took care of guests. I then grew into the company over the years, so I understood early on what it meant to be a host. But my father always gave us the choice, he said to me and my brother: “Only take over the business if you really want to.” I wanted to, and I haven't doubted the decision for a second. It was all the more wonderful for me when my brother Tamino took a similar path.
You were a student at the tourism school in Bad Ischl, then studied with celebrity chef Norbert Niederkofler and were taken under their wing, so to speak, by the Obauer brothers in Werfen. In 2013, you yourself got a bonnet. A picture-book career, actually.
Yes, I was lucky to be able to learn from these exceptional chefs, which expanded my skills immensely. Only then did I understand that cooking is a craft and that practice is so much more important than theory. In hindsight, I could have saved myself school. I see it this way: You learn to cook in the kitchen and not in the classroom. We also try to pass this on to our apprentices.
It is no secret that it is becoming increasingly difficult for companies to find staff. In your job advertisements, you are also looking for people who have already retired. Out of necessity?
Not necessarily. I think it is important to also give the older generation the opportunity to work and not to exclude them from the labour market. After all, we owe them a great deal — from a purely economic point of view. These are people with a wealth of experience who have worked hard all their lives. It would be nice if their work ethic would once again prevail among the younger generation. With us, you have your husband or wife standing at work. We're strict, but we start with ourselves — after all, we're the first people in the kitchen. And yes, working in the catering industry also means doing without a few things.
Demographic change, in particular rural exodus, is usually blamed for the death of the tavern. But is it possible that working conditions that are considered unattractive are also a reason for this?
From my point of view, this is the main reason because there are no longer too few guests, there are too few people who are willing to work until late at night. It was hard work to get to where we are today.
At Steegwirt, you sit on the Traun and under chestnuts, geese chatter in the garden, and cook big food inside. If you like, the Steegwirt is one of the last picture-book taverns. What role does location play for a host?
Of course, the location of Steegwirt is unique; it is not for nothing that the region was declared a World Heritage Site. But the environment isn't everything, it must also be right inside, in the kitchen, in the host's heart. The guest immediately senses whether you want to sell them culture or whether you are really living it. In the end, a tavern is still a place where things are unadulterated. That is our philosophy, we live by it.
Fritz Grampelhuber, 40, was a student at the Bad Ischl tourism school and studied with renowned chefs Karl and Rudi Obauer in Werfen, among others, before he hired the chef at his parents' company Steegwirt in Bad Goisern. Together with his brother Tamino, he cooked two Gault Millau toques for the traditional company just a short time later. In addition to Steegwirt, Fritz Grampelhuber is also responsible for the well-being of the national soccer team as an ÖFB chef.
Photo gallery © Thommy Mardo
