Key people Daniel Peitzner (CEO) Founder Friedrich Jahn | Website Wienerwald | |
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Services Fast-food (Hendl, Schnitzel) restaurants franchising Type of business Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung Profiles | ||
Wienerwald Franchise GmbH is a German franchise chain of fast-food restaurants with stores in Germany, Turkey, Egypt, Hungary, United Arab Emirates and Romania specialised in Hendl, Schnitzel, and also other chicken products. Its name means Vienna Woods.
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History
Founded in 1955 by Linzer restaurateur Friedrich Jahn (1923 - 1998) in Munich, it rapidly grew up to Europe's largest chain of fast-food restaurants with more than 1600 restaurants in 1978. By 1978, Wienerwald purchased the 273-restaurant Lum's chain from former Kentucky Fried Chicken owner John Y. Brown, Jr.. The chain's inability to market themselves as a provider of good tasting chicken (rather than overcoming the US misconception that "Wienerwald" was a wiener chain), plus their huge growth in 1978 brought enormous debts. Many of the restaurants in the USA and Europe were forced to close; Wienerwald declared bankruptcy in 1982, divesting itself of its 880 restaurants in the United States.
Since 2007
In 2007, Friedrich Jahn's daughters Margot Steinberg and Evelyn Peitzner purchased the company and Wienerwald started a new era. In June 2009, the first Wienerwald in Turkey was opened in Istanbul. The first Romanian restaurant in Bucharest was opened in April 2011. As of 2012 there were 30 restaurants in Germany (15 in Bavaria) compared to 19 restaurants in Turkey (Istanbul, Ankara, Bursa, and Antalya), three restaurants in Romania (Bucharest) and three restaurants in Egypt (Cairo).
Wienerwald Restaurants GmbH
In Austria, detached spin out company Wienerwald Restaurants GmbH operates eight casual dining restaurants with a similar menu.