Johann Adam Michael Gundel, later János Gundel was a well-known figure from the Hungarian gastronomy and hotel industry, the president of the Industrial Association of Hungarian Hotel and Restaurant Owners, and knight of the Franz Joseph Order - he died on 28 December, 1915.
He started out as a busboy working in the restaurant of his stepfather’s brother-in-law. He became a waiter in Téli Sörház (Winter Beerhouse) and worked in the famous Arany Sas fogadó (Golden Eagle Restaurant) to learn his trade.
Gundel eventually bought Bécsi Sörház (Vienna Beerhouse), Hotel Erzsébet Királyné and the restaurant Blumenstöckl, which was the ‘local’ of famous artists, professors and politicians including, Károly Lotz, Ferenc Liszt and István and Kálmán Tisza.
He also created the famous Hungarian Palóc Soup which is similar to goulash but containing green beans and sour cream, and usually flavored with dill. He named it after his frequent guest, famous Hungarian writer Kálmán Mikszáth who documented the life of the palóc people living in Northern Hungary and Southern Slovakia in his short novels.
His son Károly Gundel continued the family legacy and world renowned catering business. Actor Zoltán Latinovits , film director István Bujtor, and rock musician Károly Frenreisz are his great-grandsons, and commentator and journalist Gábor Gundel-Takács is his great-great-grandson.