Zoltan Toth came to Austria from Hungary when he was eight years old. After completing various training courses elsewhere in the country he came to work for Joschi Walch at the famous Rote Wand restaurant in Lech in the mid nineties. Toth has a lot to thank Joschi Walch for. Early on the star restaurateur put the young man in charge of the catering for the ice hockey world championships, wherever in the world they happened to be held. Zoltan Toth still has that customer today but caters for it now with his own company, eventz Hospitality.
Of course one is keen to ask about those huge sports events, to find out what his duties were during the football world cup in South Africa. But here Zoltan Toth reveals himself to be an entrepreneur of special character. He says, “I wouldn’t like to draw attention to that too much. It’s great that there are these nice jobs for us, but my core business is here at Bregenz Festival House, and that’s how it’s going to stay.”
There is a real family atmosphere about working with Kongresskultur Bregenz, Zoltan Toth says, but it’s also demanding. Demanding in the positive sense, because it matters a lot to them all that the guests should experience something special. “We often think about these things together,” he says. “Not so much about the quality of the food or about ingredients being seasonal and regionally sourced – that goes without saying. We think about, for example, when and how the waiters are to enter the hall during the gala evening of a congress, or whether the food should be placed on the platform lift in the orchestra pit and then suddenly raised up before the astonished guests.”
It’s really nice to work in an event centre with this flair, he says. And when he’s able to serve young newly weds an aperitif on the lake stage and see their radiant faces – moments like that are a privilege. And the Bregenz Festival itself is a genuine high point of the year for him and all of his team, which at peak time swells to over 100.
Which is also true of the person putting questions to Zoltan Toth here in restaurant buehnedrei. After the opera-goers have been asked in various languages to take their places in the auditorium, an evening spent on the terrace of the big Gourmet Tent where you can hear the music while savouring some delights from the buffet is an experience of Gatsby-like intensity. (In the sense of elegance, of course, not decadence.) And this feeling of luxury is due in no small part to Zoltan Toth, his team and their keen appreciation of how precious such moments are.
Zoltan Toth
Managing director of evenTZ by foodaffairs. Since 2010, partner of Kongresskultur Bregenz at over 300 events per year.
(wm)
