In the middle of the Corona crisis, Franzi Schlögel fulfilled a childhood dream: The 23-year-old took over the Kenzenhütte in Ostallgäu.
The Peitingerin starts her first season as a hut landlady with a lot of optimism - one of the youngest in Bavaria.
Peiting / Halch
- When the long-awaited call comes, it looks like a bitter disappointment at first.
"I'm very sorry, Franzi," says Wolfgang Streif and takes a break.
“But I'm afraid you'll have a lot of work for the next five years.” Franzi Schlögel still grins when she tells how the chairman of the Buching-Trauchgau forest corporation (Ostallgäu district) betrayed her when he told her that she have chosen her as the new landlady of the Kenzenhütte.
“I was absolutely delighted,” says the 23-year-old.
"And it has stayed that way to this day."
Halbch: New landlady at the Kenzenhütte - "I've always dreamed of having my own hut"
Almost half a year has passed since the young woman from Peiting in the Weilheim-Schongau district received the promise that she could take over the former royal hunting lodge in the Ammer Mountains. “I've always dreamed of having my own hut,” she says. The fact that she has to fulfill her dream in a difficult time does not discourage her in the least. “I think I'll only get such a chance once,” says Franzi Schlögel without hesitation. "And I think it's exactly how it should be."
Of course, she would have hoped that more would be possible again in May, she admits.
“But I can't change it, so I'll make the best of it.” Instead of opening the season on May 1st with her team of six, she now offers takeaway meals together with her cook and a waiter Thursday through Sunday.
Kässpatzen, meat patties and wild garlic noodles with tomatoes and feta, "things that you can eat while standing comfortably".
Kenzenhütte: New landlady starts the Corona season with a to-go offer
The Kenzenhütte is both an excursion and a mountain hut: 60 places each in the living room and on the terrace, plus 60 beds, in the warehouse and in the small, cozy rooms. People come up the twelve kilometers on foot, but you can also get up by bike via the driveway, and in summer a shuttle takes visitors to the hut.
As soon as she is allowed to accept overnight guests again, the hut landlady wants to stay upstairs herself.
Because until the season ends in mid-October, there is a lot to do: “I'm the caretaker, cleaning lady, service and office worker up here,” she says.
The latter is her apprenticeship: office management clerk.
She quickly gave up on that after completing her apprenticeship and worked in mountain huts in summer and in service in winter in Sölden, Austria.
Although she has already gained a lot of experience, she is glad that she doesn't have to do everything on her own in her first year as a hut landlady.
Hut landlady Franzi Schlögel: A lot of support from friends and family
Her family and her friend Florian Wöhnl support the 23-year-old as much as they can. Papa Michael makes wood for the small tiled stove that heats the dining room. Grandma washes and irons the table linen. And Mama Silvia, who has catering experience with “housekeeping” and is always working on new recipes for her cookbooks, is a great help in the kitchen. Her siblings Simone and Quirin also help to make the dream of their own mountain hut come true. “I'm very grateful to them for that,” says Franzi Schlögel. But her predecessors, the sisters Pamela and Corinna Lindner, are also at her side with help and advice, “especially when it comes to bureaucratic matters”.
For Mother's Day and yesterday's Father's Day, Franzi Schlögel and her team packed large breakfast packages that could be ordered.
“The response was amazing,” she says.
The people had come as far as their hometown to pick up the lovingly put together parcels.
The chef, who comes from Wuppertal, first had to dig into Bavarian cuisine.
Thanks to Corona there was time for that: “It also has its good points: We can get up here in peace.” For the time when normality and many guests return to the Kenzenhütte.
Information about the Kenzenhütte
is available on Facebook and Instagram as well as at www.kenzenhuette.de
Vandals have been up to mischief again in Peiting.
On Friday night a duck house went up in flames.
When the police arrived, one of the four perpetrators, who were comfortably sitting by the fire, freaked out.
By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our new, regular Schongau newsletter.
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