Responsible enjoyment

Products come locally from Kaprun and regionally from neighboring communities in the state of Salzburg. That is also what the AMA Gourmet Region Quality Seal requires. Long-term local partners supply the kitchen staff with meat, cheese, milk, bread and eggs from happy chicken. "It's good to know where our products comes from", states Christian Haas, Head of Restaurants, who attaches a high value on authentic regionality in his restaurants. "Short routes guarantee absolute freshness and top quality. Moreover, buying bread from our local bakery, milk from the Pinzgau Milch in Maishofen, and meat from the Schultes butcher's or the farmer in the neighboring town minimizes our carbon footprint. Short transport routes and reduced packaging have a positive impact on ecological performance and allow us to increase local value proposition. We know our suppliers personally; we know the animals' living conditions and what food they are fed, how products are processed and our partners' dedication to manufacturing."

The Head of Restaurants brings four representative producers from Zell am See and Kaprun into the spotlight. They supply the Kitzsteinhorn with prime beef, wild game, eggs, cheese and bread.

"For our traditional cheese spaetzle as well as for our crispy cheese dumplings, we use the sharp Pinzgauer cheese from the Augut Farm Shop in Zell am See", tells Haas. The family-run farm situated on the sunny side of the Schmittental valley houses dairy cattle, pigs, chicken and honeybees. Young farmer Melanie Pichler is responsible for milking the ten cows that graze on the pastures around the farmhouse in summer. Her father, Sepp, takes care of farming while her mother, Ingeborg, is the life and soul of the farm shop. Melanie produces different types of cheese from fresh milk applying the traditional art of cheese making. Also the Pinzgauer cheese, an intensely-smelling, reduced-fat cheese, matures in large wheels in the cheese chamber. The cheese is cared for by hand and checked for the perfect taste over the course of several weeks. As soon as it's matured, the cheese reaches the Kitzsteinhorn restaurants via the shortest route.

"Loafs, rolls and pretzels from our favorite bakery in the Kaprun town center are always fresh and crusty. Everyone who's ever had a roll with his goulash soup or his Glacier Breakfast will confirm that", Haas enthuses. According to baker master Guenther Katschner, the secret behind the high quality is simplicity: "We pay attention to long dough processing, pure manual work, combined with high-quality flour from local companies and a great passion for the craft. That's how originals are made." In the process of planning the new bakery in Kaprun, an ecological construction method was used. Today, the baker makes his bread carbon-neutral with 100% green electricity. The in-house photovoltaic system provides part of the green electricity while heat recovered from coolers is used for heating. And whenever bread and pastries are delivered to the Kitzsteinhorn, it's with an electric delivery van.

"Our prime beef comes from the organic Fischhorn farm estate in Bruck, our wild game meat, such as deer and chamois, from Fischhorn hunting grounds, where professional hunters know how to process wild game properly", Haas knows.

In summer, the suckler herd, including Pinzgauer and Fleckvieh cattle, grazes on Kaprun's pastures. Here, they find juicy greens and enjoy clear alpine air. The Fischhorn hunting grounds are located around the Kitzsteinhorn – home to a wide variety of wild game. Those who watch carefully while ascending the Kitzsteinhorn in the cable car, might spot red deer, roe deer and chamois. The master butcher also diligently processes fallow deer and sika deer from the large enclosure by the Fischhorn Castle in Bruck an der Glocknerstraße, which is "Wild Nature"-certified and delivered directly to the Kitzsteinhorn.

"Chicken on the Egarteckhof farm in Mittersill are raised strictly organic as well as with much love and respect. In winter, they live in a heated coop; in summer, they have an additional sunroom and outdoor space at their disposal. We use their eggs for our popular Tiroler Groestl, for instance", Christian Haas introduces the egg supplier.

Guenter Berger is actually product and graphic designer. Ten years ago, however, he discovered his passion for poultry farming and added chicken to the Laemmerbichl and Egarteckhof farms in Mittersill. Today, Berger cares for around 1,000 hens that lay an average of 6,000 eggs per week. What it is that makes eggs from the Egarteckhof farm so popular? The farmer explains: "We feed our chicken high-quality organic feed from Austria. That, plus stress-free, proper husbandry are key to a rich golden-yellow yolk. We place importance on short transport routes. That's why we deliver ourselves to the Kitzsteinhorn once a week."