Receiving the award in the category Best Bar Team 2022 means great appreciation and recognition for our team," Christian Heiss, Chef de Bar, is pleased for his long-standing team. The native of South Tyrol took over the position of Chef de Bar at the beginning of 2017. With it, also a bar team and, above all, a core team that has been sworn in together for more than ten years. "The joy in the team is very great about the fact that our years of cooperation shows external impact and is perceived, just as our quality and consistency are recognized," adds the bar chef.
The award is a motivation for Ariful Hoque to work even harder and better in the future. Heiss hoped for the award enormously and even secretly expected a little bit, because it is a rarity today that a team works together for such a long time, especially in this industry, looks after guests in the same way, maintains the same qualitative standards and lives them out. "That is work quality worth living for," says Heiss.
Together always there for the guests
When the first guests enter the venerable bar at Bellevue at 11:30 a.m., the mise en place and the first meetings about the day's and night's events are long behind the crew. From then on, every move has to be right, and each and every one of the employees has to be able to carry it out. This must also be the case when a bar is closed exclusively on December 24, as it is for a complete cleaning in the summer for just one day at a time.
Especially on weekends, when up to 300 drinks a night pass over the counter and around 200 on weekdays. Since 1965, the Kronenhalle Bar does appear to have been designed as a cocktail bar in its original form. "But not to this extent. We work in a small space where you have to move together, but it's a nice togetherness," Heiss describes the atmosphere behind the counter. He says this is also evident in the creation of the drink, where the different ideas, handwritings, and opinions intertwine when creating together.
A team like a family
In the Kronenhalle Bar, the entire bar team rotates between all bar-related positions. "We are a well-coordinated team," agrees Gabriela Kalbermatten, who has followed in her sister's footsteps at the Kronenhalle. Among other things, the Portuguese native is also responsible for the fumoir as one of the first in the Limmatstadt on the upper floor. "That has come about. But even when I'm not there, there's a suitable cigar for every guest. Because we also exchange ideas about that in the team," Kalbermatten explains.
Pascale Schröder started working 20 years ago as a trainee restaurant manager. She never thought about leaving the Kronenhalle Bar. "Because it's just very nice, the whole team always sticks together and acts like a family." One can hardly wait to see one's colleagues again after the vacations, she says.
"Receiving the award in the Best Bar Team 2022 category means great appreciation and recognition for our team."
Christian Heiss
"Colorful mix of different personalities"
The eight-person team at the Kronenhalle Bar is a pretty "colorful mix of different personalities. Christian Heiss comes from South Tyrol, his deputy David Marxer originally from Liechtenstein, Ariful Hoque from Bangladesh. Anthony Kurz has Thai roots, Lee Legis Kenyan. An exchange in German, Swiss German or English comes about quite naturally. Like many things at Rämistrasse 4, everything is well-rehearsed there.
Christian Heiss feels obliged to thank his team for their mutual support and motivation. This applies just as much to their mentors, the Jörg Löhr Academy, as it does to the management for the trust and freedom to pull together on a creative rope in the Kronenhalle Bar.
This article appeared in
Issue 5-2022
BAR NEWS magazine as single issue
