Rudi Leitenberger

One of my first proper working weeks in Munich and getting to know the operation. I was to meet one of my soon to be team, Rudi, at the very traditional old Wienerwald restaurants that probably hadn't ever seen a redecoration since the 1960s.

Located just two minutes from the Oktoberfest site and across the street from the then Munich Conference centre which a few years later was moved out to the old Munich Riem Airport when the new one opened to the north of Munich.

So potentially quite a good moneymaker. Perhaps Grand Met thought this was a typical example of how they could make money by buying the company in December 1988 and simply applying a lick of paint and introducing white melamine tables with pale wood surroundings. Identical to the task they undertook with Berni Inns in the UK in the 1980s. One can see the old dark oak wood panelling behind Rudi, the dark cloth covers and wallpaper.

Rudi was a lovely guy but much too complicated to go into long detail. He was always very polite and very neat. Here you can see him sitting at one of the restaurant tables with all his paperwork, pens, stapler, tippex etc neatly laid out and the coffee pot which he enjoyed - one in the morning and one mid-afternoon.

Rudi was just a year or two from retirement but as things turned out lasted longer than I did!. Bit more about his war years here.