In its annual hotel ranking, the business magazine Bilanz named Franz W Faeh, culinary director at the Gstaad Palace, Hotel Chef of the Year 2021. In addition, the Gstaad Palace was confirmed as one of the top three Swiss holiday hotels.

The business magazine Bilanz named Franz W Faeh Hotel Chef of the Year 2021 in its 30 July issue. The native of Saanen, who had completed his cooking apprenticeship in the Palace kitchen, returned there about six years ago. Today, as culinary director, the 60-year-old is responsible for the food and restaurant concept of the Gstaad Palace. His kitchen team includes 30 employees in the summer and 55 in the winter season. Together they run the five hotel restaurants, including Le Grill, which has been awarded 15 GaultMillau points, and the new bar at the Piscine.

Team spirit and truthfulness
The experts of the ranking gave the following reasons for their choice: “In its fifty-strong empire, it tastes of team spirit and truthfulness. Of straightforwardly prepared turbot and Chateaubriand of local beef. Here and there also of Indian curries or Thai flavours. Because Franz W Faeh does not cook for the gastronomy guides (even if he does get the best out of his products with a lot of feeling and some obsession), but for the hotel guests. He succeeds in casual fine dining, which many chefs talk about but have trouble getting right, in a way that is downright trend-setting.”

Heart’s desire Gstaad Palace
In 2016, a long-cherished boyhood dream came true with the chef position at the Gstaad Palace, as the newly crowned Hotel Chef of the Year points out: “This is where my career began, this is where I learned my craft. Even though I was allowed to work in many other exclusive and renowned establishments in the world, it always remained my heart’s desire to return to ‘my’ Palace as head chef.”

Andrea Scherz, owner and general manager of the Gstaad Palace, confirms that this is a dream constellation for both sides: “Franz W Faeh is a culinary director who understands the spirit of the Palace: he motivates and inspires the team and exemplifies hospitality at the highest level. In doing so, he always displays a sense of humour and gets the best out of what he has. On the one hand, Franz loves the simplicity of local products. On the other hand, thanks to his years of travelling through Asian kitchens, he always adds surprising touches to the Palace menu. That’s exactly what our local and international guests love.”

Top three family hotel
The Gstaad Palace has always been one of the leading hotels in Switzerland. It is one of only a few that has been firmly in family hands for three generations. Andrea Scherz is the third generation to run the hotel and continues to cherish the family atmosphere of the Palace, which his grandfather Ernst Scherz and his late father Ernst Andrea Scherz already cultivated with guests and staff.

In the Bilanz ranking, the Gstaad Palace has been awarded an honourable 3rd place for this consistency. “We are delighted that another member of the Palace family is being honoured this year after Stefano Bertalli was named Concierge of the Year 2020 last year. The awards underline that it is personalities that make up the true spirit of the Gstaad Palace,” says Andrea Scherz.

BASED ON AVS/KEREM S MAURER