Wolfseehalle, warm outdoor pool bistro, Kesselalm: Alfons Köck has enriched the gastronomy in Fischbachau for more than 40 years.
Now the former postman is retiring.
Fischbachau
– from the post office counter to the tavern: the fact that a 25-year-old civil servant took over the Wolfseehalle in 1979 – to put it mildly – caused a certain skepticism among the lessor Hannelore Weizenegger and some of the regular guests.
"For God's sake, what's that supposed to be?" Quite a few would have thought, says Alfons Köck.
The fact that he had his cousin Georg at his side as the new landlord didn't exactly increase trust: "He was a judicial officer," says Köck and laughs.
But the two civil servants did not let their dream of self-employment be taken away from them - and laid the foundation for a passion that was to accompany Alfons Köck throughout his professional life.
But the latter will soon come to an end.
After more than 40 years as an innkeeper in Fischbachau, Köck will be serving the last half next Sunday.
On the Kesselalm, which he has leased since 2015 and which, in retrospect, he describes as almost his most beautiful station.
"On the mountain," says Köck, "the guests are just much more relaxed." That's how you manage to cope with a rush like on Easter Monday, when more than 300 guests made a pilgrimage to the foot of the Breitenstein because of the nice weather.
There were twice as many who came in December 1989 for the opening of the new Wolfseehalle.
The basis for this was the purchase of the previous building, which Köck successfully completed with his cousin in 1987.
Five years earlier, they had also taken over the neighboring inn as tenants, which Köck and his wife later converted into a “Bavarian-Italian pizza oasis with a beer garden”.
Oberkrainer music filled the Wolfseehalle
The fact that Köck, as a native of Irschenberg, even became aware of the Wolfseehalle was due, among other things, to his past as a co-organizer of festivals for the Irschenberger Trachtenverein and his contacts in the music scene.
He also managed to fill the hall with a number of events related to Oberkrainer music, which was booming at the time.
"It went really well," recalls the 69-year-old.
In 1984 he created another mainstay with the lease of the bistro in the Fischbachauer warm outdoor pool in the summer.
But that's not all: in 1992 and 1993 Köck also ran the former Crazy-Alm as "Pilsbar zur Spritzn".
He also organized the Birkensteiner tent festival, which was vacant after the footballers left, for three years and was the idea generator for converting the spa park into a dumpling festival.
At first nobody wanted to believe in its success, remembers Köck.
But the rush of visitors at the premiere punished all the skeptics with the lie: at 1 p.m. all the dumpling dishes were over, says the 69-year-old with a smile.
The following year, he and his three fellow innkeepers went all out with 5,000 of the round delicacies.
In 2014, Köck stepped back a bit for the first time.
After leaving the Warmbad bistro, he had a summer with more free time for the first time in 30 years.
He used this to fulfill a sporting goal: according to the year, he climbed 14 peaks in the surrounding mountains - of course all with a cozy stop nearby.
"That's probably where my love for the alpine pastures was awakened," suspects Köck.
And so, at the beginning of 2015, he did not hesitate to apply for a new lease on the Kesselalm.
Although he was only second choice, farmer Andreas Bucher from the Kallerhof in Bichl - appropriately near Lake Wolfsee - placed his trust in him.
Wolfseehalle sold to municipality
After the sale of the Wolfseehalle and inn to the municipality in 2019, Köck was able to concentrate fully on the (weather-dependent, of course) year-round business on the Alm with its 20 sleeping places.
But he himself always slept in the valley, emphasizes Köck.
Among other things, to be able to take care of his parents in old age.
Next Sunday, after the work is done, the 69-year-old will drive from the Kesselalm back down into the valley for the last time.
With Sandra Herzog and Andrei Sburlea, two successors have already been found for him as hosts.
Köck is then initially drawn into the distance.
After Mallorca - hit party included, he reports with a smile.
But he will probably seek the peace of the mountains again when he retires.
Maybe even as a part-time dairyman.
"Of course only if someone needs me."
so called