Canteen of the Anker Bread Factory Vienna

Bread Factory

I’ll start with a Google translation from German into English of this site: Vienna History Wiki – Ankerbrotfabrik

Anker bread factory ( 10 , Absberggasse 35). The Viennese brothers Heinrich and Fritz Mendl, who worked in Döbling as “Commissionswarenhändler”, acquired the bankrupt company of the favorite baker Emanuel Adler ( Himberger Straße 49 10 , Keplerplatz 12]), founded on July 1, 1891 the Viennese bread – and biscuit factory Heinrich & Fritz Mendl and chose to their trademarks the anchor (symbol of the trust and the security, 1893 protected as a trademark) .On November 5, 1892, the operation was substantially expanded (36 -meter-long oven with ten ovens) and finally, moved to its present location on June 7, 1893. Around 1900, architect Friedrich Schön built the first part of the present complex with master builder Karl Michner & Josef Herzberg, which was continually expanded until 1925. In 1906, the company name was changed to “Anker”. The company soon enjoyed great popularity with its products and in 1914 employed nearly 1,300 people. In 1918, the workforce formed a “workers’ army” to protect the factory, and in 1922 it was converted into a family working group (Fritz Mendl, president until his death in 1929), producing pasta in 1931. In the 1930s Advertising slogan “What does the Viennese look forward to when they come from their holidays? On high spring water and anchor bread” they are well known. In 1938 the business was aryanized, in 1939 a strike was called against the equalization of payroll tax on the higher German tax, which was terminated by the Gestapo; During the Second World War , various resistance groups formed in the Ankerbrotfabrik ( memorial plaque in the courtyard). After reconstruction, the factory began innovating marketing in the 1950s, paying attention to public health issues as well (inclusion of seed bread and wholegrain bread in the production range). The share capital was held until 1969 by the Mendlschen heirs, 1969-1981 of the Schoeller group. The stagnation that has been recognizable since the mid-1960s led to the merger in 1970 with the second largest Viennese bread factory, also owned by Schoeller’s industrial group, the Hammerbrotwerke (parent company in the 21st district), the “Vereinigte Nahrungsmittel Industrie Arbeitsgemeinschaft”, which, however, did not bring any fundamental improvement In the 1970s, the number of staff was reduced from around 3,000 to around 1,900, and the Floridsdorfer company was closed down.In 1981, the owners decided to sell to the former Supervisory Board member Dr. Helmut Schuster, who founded a GmbH with his brother Gerhard and innovate in the In 1984, the old name of the company (Anker-Arbeitsgemeinschaft) was reactivated, but the design of the symbol was changed in 1985. In 1987, the company received the Austrian Marketing Prize, and by the end of 1990 there were 270 branches, which gradually received a modern design n; it employed about 300 bakers and 250 breadwomen in delivery. The new corporate concept led to a recognizable upswing of the long-established company.

Actually my idea was to show some interior details of the restaurant in the Bread Factory….It has its own website as Magdas Kantine and as part of the Bread Factory

The fun part is that they used a couple of old panelled doors both to separate seating possibilities but also as a background to benches in another corner.

The Anker Bread factory is worth a visit apart from the canteen as it has several modern art venues in the complex.

Happy Birthday John Cage

Happy Birthday John Cage from HappyHotelier on Vimeo.

This year the 100th Birthday of a famous American composer, John Cage, will be celebrated.

This Birthday cake installation for John Cage I found in an exhibition in the Museumsquartier of Vienna that I visited quite unexpectedly earlier this week. I made a small piece of video so that you get a feel of why all small loudspeakers were used to decorate the cake.

Featuring more than hundred different works, “MEMBRA DISJECTA FOR JOHN CAGE: Wanting to Say Something About John” is an homage to John Cage, whose hundred birthday is being celebrated around the world in 2012. The Latin term “membra disjecta” in the exhibition title indicates John Cage’s method of working with a scattering of elements from various sources. The subtitle refers to a multiple that John Cage created in Marcel Duchamp’s honor after his death: “Not Wanting to Say Anything About Marcel.”

If you happen to be in Vienna shortly a must visit exhibition!

Below is a trailer for an memorial of John Cage in The Hague on March 10, 2012:

Vienna Street Artist (Street Art 20)

Vienna Street Artist 1

One of the reasons I like to visit Vienna in summertime is the quality of the street artists performing there. A real gem of destination marketing by this guy.

Vienna Street Artist 2

He’s able to sit still for hours, but can move:
Vienna Street Artist

When someone wants to make a photo.

Vienna Street Artists

Or when his partner comes along…

5 Tips for Visiting Vienna in Luxury

Vienna-XMass-MarketThe Rathaus (City Hall) Christkindlmarkt (Chrismas Market) in Vienna

1 General
Over 40 years I visit Vienna almost annually. Hence I may have visited it over 40 times already. I may be biased, but for me Vienna is the number 1 city destination, especially around Christmas. It has a lot of Old World charm and elegance.
When I checked my Vienna category here, I noticed I had only one post labeled correctly with Vienna, while I have mentioned it in over 30 posts.
So it’s about time to cure the huge omission of not having written about Vienna in detail with tips and so. As one of my travel blogging friends will heading there I’ll rather do it now than later, to be able to help her a bit. Because I have so much material, it certainly will take several posts.
As Vienna has one of the best tourist sites at Wien.info, you should always check it out before you visit Vienna. You can even link through very easily to order theater tickets online or make restaurant reservations via its Search and Book widget at the right.
It may also be an idea to look for free audio/video tours at Itunes. I found this one, but haven’t checked it out yet.

City Airport Train (CAT)The Vienna City Airport Train or CAT

2 Getting There
Traveling by air you’ll most likely arrive at Vienna’s Airport which is located south of the Danube river between the little town Schwechat and the village Fischamend and only approximately 15 miles due east from the city.
From there the best connection with the city center is the City Airport Train (CAT) follow the signs. Traveling with the Cat you’ll end up in the city center and if your hotel is in the city center (roughly in the neighborhood of the Ring), it is somehow easy to reach walking from the CAT city terminal. It is also good to know that you can check your luggage in there for your return flight. Especially handy when you have a late flight back and want to do a bit of last minute shopping. You can check your luggage in in the morning and don’t have to return to your hotel. Before you get on board of the CAT it is maybe handy to buy a public transport pass for several days.

Vienna tram with Christmas decoration at the KarlsplatzEven the trams have Christmas decorations in Vienna

3 Public Transport
Vienna has a tightly knit net of bus and tram lines. As it spreads across the city like a spiderweb, it is not always easy to find the right connections.
Vienna is one of the last cities that has realized a small metro network which means it is fast and efficient. When I’m not using my car I use the metro, or U Bahn in German.

Style Hotel Vienna with Café CentralLeft Café Central, Fiakr in the middle and the entrance of the Style Hotel in Vienna right

4 Hotels
Austrian Hotels are usually very good and Vienna has many good and also more affordable hotels, but my favorite hotel is the Radisson Sas Style hotel. It is right in the center, two steps away from the “Goldene Meile” (the Golden Mile) shopping area of the Kohlmarkt and from the Graben. It is close to the Royal Palace and various theaters and museums. It is opposite Café Central where you can have a better breakfast for less than that in the Hotel. When you are on a shopping spree, you can drop your finds underway while shopping. It is not too big with 75 rooms and the personnel is very friendly. I find it really nice to hear the “clippediclack” of the horse hoofs and their echoes through the streets early in the morning, because one of Vienna’s great tourist attractions, the Viennese Fiakrs or horse carts that do the tourist routes from the Stephans Dom, always come along this hotel on their tours.

Café Landtmann in ViennaLandtmann

Sacher Torte!

Elephant Decorating at Demel ViennaElephant Decorating at Demel Vienna

5 Coffee, Coffee, Coffee and Cake!
Vienna is all about Coffee and Cake. They practically invented the Café and have maintained the old Café traditions throughout. A Konditorei is more of a cake selling shop or pastry shop where they serve coffee and tea and lunch as well. Usually the Konditoreis are less relaxed than the cafés, but usually they offer better quality (the ultimate quality) cakes.
Some of my favorites are:

  • Café Central off course
  • Restaurant Café Landtmann, just opposite the City Hall.
  • Hotel Sacher. It has its own café and on your first visit to the city it is a must to taste their very own world famous Sacher Torte.
  • At Dehmel you should try and find a place in the back (you’ll have to go through a door in the back of the shop with coffee bar) in front of the huge glass separation with the kitchen where you can follow the decorating of the wonderful cakes they make.
  • Oberlaa, Neuer Markt 16, Konditorei & Restaurant is one of our faves as well.
  • In summer you shouldn’t forget to visit the Café in the Gloriette, a pavilion in the Garden of Schloss Schoenbrunn.

More to follow.

Why you should visit Vienna


http://www.flickr.com/photos/happyhotelier/4702103580/

I’m not so much into video. However I created this “video”, actually more as a slide show with music, to see how that works when using picasa. It works well.

The second reason was I’d put together some photos of previous visits to Vienna and to ask my readers whether they would recognize some items.

Thirdly I used it to enter a social media competition by Radisson Blue.

The winner of the competition is my travel blogger friend Inga Rós Antoníusdóttir (@Inga_Ros) from Iceland who, with her hubby (@Hjörtur), has run an exemplary social media campaign to win this competition including even their own FB Group 5 Little Elves.

Amazingly there were 3 competitors from Iceland between the first 10 finalists. In total Radisson got over 10 k applicants….I would say it was a good example of a social media campaign, but what amazes me after all that Radisson doesn’t show anything anymore on their site from the competition itself. They could have made good stories and they generated a few good story lines and slogans…