Kainzenhof receives the Golden Rooster: "We were irrepressibly happy"

Happy award winners: (from left) Minister Michaela Kaniber, the host of the event, Helga Gretschmann, and Chairwoman Gerda Walser (right) from the Blauer Gockel regional association congratulated (from left) Katharina, Hildegard and Axel Riecke from Gmund. © blauer gockel/andreas Kern

The Kainzenhof on the Osterberg in Gmund has received a special award, the Golden Rooster. We spoke to host Katharina Riecke about it.

Gmund – For 50 years, rooms and holiday apartments have been rented out at the Kainzenhof am Osterberg in Gmund. Since 2016, the family business has been part of the provider association for farm and country holidays in the Bavarian Alps, which in turn is a member of the regional association "Blauer Gockel - Bauernhof- und Landurlaub". Now, as already briefly reported, the mother-daughter team Hildegard and Katharina Riecke on Lake Staffelsee has been awarded the Golden Rooster by Bavaria's Minister of Agriculture Michaela Kaniber (CSU) as one of the most hospitable holiday farms in Bavaria – as the only one in the district of Miesbach. Katharina Riecke (35) explains in an interview how this came about.

Hello Mrs. Riecke, you can congratulate on the "Golden Rooster" for the Kainzenhof. How did that go, and were you surprised?

Yes, we were pleasantly surprised. Because you can't apply for the "Golden Rooster", and no jury decides to what extent you meet any criteria. Rather, the Trustyou system summarizes all guest reviews and evaluates them with regard to hospitality, service and atmosphere on the farm. The system then pulls out the 20 best-rated companies from a total of 1400 throughout Bavaria. The fact that we are part of it made us very happy.

Why, above all?

On the one hand, because of the confirmation that we as hosts obviously do a lot of things right. On the other hand, we were pleased that we are the only ones from the district of Miesbach and, in addition to a company from Bad Tölz, one of two from the Oberland.

How come? Aren't the people of the Oberland as hospitable as others?

No, that's not the point. I think that, traditionally, the companies from the Allgäu and Chiemgau are more likely to clean up. This is due to the fact that in these regions more holiday farms belong to the "Blue Rooster" and thus the chance of being among the 20 best is also higher. In addition, since the days of the summer resort, the focus of tourism in the Tegernsee Valley and in the Tölzer Land has not necessarily been on farm holidays for decades. But that's changing again.

What were you explicitly awarded for?

For our family-friendliness and our service concept. According to Ms. Kaniber, that our guests not only feel comfortable with us, but also feel at home and arrived.

What kind of guests do you have?

We have a colourful mix: families with children, couples seeking peace and quiet, guests with dogs, people from the city as well as those who live in the countryside themselves. Most of them are down-to-earth nature lovers.

Do you have a mission or values that you would like to convey to your guests?

We try to introduce our guests to agriculture, especially the children. So that they, in turn, show appreciation for agriculture. We try to operate sustainably, for example using renewable energies. We process everything from our garden and from the farm and try to give our guests a taste for genuine food.

Apart from the "Golden Rooster" and the reviews on the Internet: Which praise has pleased you the most so far?

When our holiday children refuse to leave without the calf they have made friends being allowed to ride in the trunk. When they are happy about their stable diploma and friendships develop among themselves. And, of course, when we get Christmas mail from them and they send self-made bookmarks on which they have painted motifs from our farm. Then we know that we are doing our job really well.