Regional Culinary Partners at Kitzsteinhorn

Food is sourced locally from Kaprun and regionally from neighboring communities throughout SalzburgerLand. Our certification as an “AMA Genuss Region Gastronomy” establishment alone commits us to these standards. Long-standing, trusted partners from the region supply the kitchen team with meat, cheese and milk, crusty bread, and eggs from happy hens.

“It feels good to know where our food comes from,” says Christian Haas, who places great importance on authentic regional sourcing in his restaurants.

“Short distances ensure absolute freshness and the highest quality. They also reduce our carbon footprint when we buy bread from the local bakery, milk from Pinzgau Milch in Maishofen, and meat from master butcher Schultes or a farmer in a neighboring village. Short transportation routes and minimal packaging improve our environmental footprint, while buying regionally also strengthens the local economy. And we know our producers personally, so we know how an animal was raised and fed, how the food was processed, and how much dedication our suppliers put into creating their products in what are often small artisanal food businesses,” Christian Haas explains.

Representing the many regional suppliers, the Head of Restaurant Operations puts the spotlight on four producers from Zell am See and Kaprun. They supply Kitzsteinhorn with premium beef, game, eggs, cheese, bread, and baked goods.

“For our traditional Kasnockn and crispy Kaspressknödel, we use the aromatic Pinzgau cheese from the Augut farm shop in Zell am See,” Christian Haas explains.

The family-run farm on the sunny side of the Schmitten Valley is home to dairy cows, pigs, chickens, and honeybees. Young farmer Melanie Pichler personally milks the farm’s ten dairy cows, which graze on the sunny pastures surrounding the farm in summer. Her father, Sepp, takes care of the farm, while her mother, Ingeborg, is the heart and soul of the farm shop.

Using the fresh milk, Melanie produces several varieties of cheese according to traditional methods. Pinzgau cheese, an intensely aromatic low-fat cheese, also matures in large wheels in the farm’s cheese cellar. The cheese is carefully tended by hand over several weeks and regularly checked until it develops the perfect flavor. Once it is ready, it travels the shortest possible distance from the cheese cellar to Kitzsteinhorn’s restaurants.

“The rolls, small loaves, and pretzels from our favorite bakery in the heart of Kaprun are wonderfully crisp and crunchy. Anyone who has ever bitten into the hand-shaped roll served with our goulash soup or sampled the crispy rolls at our Glacier Breakfast can confirm that,” Christian Haas says enthusiastically.

According to master baker Günther Katschner, the secret behind the exceptional quality is simplicity:

“We give our dough plenty of time to develop, shape everything by hand, use premium flour from regional producers, and put a great deal of care into our craft. That is how authentic originals are made.”

Sustainable construction methods were prioritized when the new bakery in Kaprun was planned. Today, the bakery produces its bread carbon-neutrally using 100% green electricity. Its own photovoltaic system supplies part of the renewable electricity, while heat recovered from the refrigeration systems is used for heating. And when the bread and baked goods are delivered to Kitzsteinhorn, they naturally arrive in an electric delivery van.

“Our tender beef comes from the organic farm operated by the Fischhorn Estate in Bruck. The particularly healthy meat from roe deer, red deer, and chamois also comes from the Fischhorn Estate’s hunting grounds, where professional hunters ensure the game is harvested responsibly,” Christian Haas explains.

In summer, the cow-calf herd of Pinzgau and Simmental cattle grazes on Kaprun’s alpine pastures. Here, the animals find lush herbs and enjoy the mountain air—just like the two-legged visitors to Kitzsteinhorn.

The Fischhorn hunting grounds also extend around Kitzsteinhorn and are home to a wide variety of wildlife. Guests who watch carefully during the gondola ride may even spot red deer, roe deer, or chamois. Fallow deer and sika deer from the large enclosure at Fischhorn Castle in Bruck an der Glocknerstraße are also carefully processed by the estate’s own master butcher and delivered directly to Kitzsteinhorn with the “Wilde Natur” certification.

“It would be wonderful to be a chicken at Egarteckhof in Rettenbach near Mittersill! Here, the chickens are not only kept in species-appropriate conditions but are also raised to strict organic standards with plenty of love, care, and respect. In winter, they live in a heated barn. In summer, they also have access to a sunroom and outdoor areas. We use their eggs for dishes such as our popular Tyrolean Gröstl,” Christian Haas says as he introduces the egg supplier from the Upper Pinzgau region.

Günter Berger is actually a product designer and graphic designer, but ten years ago he discovered that eggs were his calling and expanded the farm at Egarteckhof’s Lämmerbichl in Mittersill-Rettenbach to include poultry.

Today, Günter Berger cares for around 1,000 laying hens, which produce an average of 6,000 eggs for him each week. Why are Egarteckhof eggs so popular? The farmer explains:

“We feed our hens premium organic feed from Austria. Combined with stress-free, species-appropriate conditions, this produces a rich golden yolk. Short transportation routes are important to us, which is why we deliver the eggs ourselves directly to Kitzsteinhorn once a week.”