Berthold Kempinski (10 October 1843 – 14 March 1910) was a Polish, German wine merchant, restaurateur and hotelier.

Biography

Kempinski was born in Raschkow, Province of Posen,

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

(Raszków, Poland), he became a travelling salesman in winetrade in his homeregion. Kempinski and his younger brother operated a wine tavern at the

Ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

(Market Square) of Breslau (Wrocław). In 1872 he moved to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

and started a small premise at Kronenstraße and soon after the M. Kempinski & Co. wine restaurant at

Friedrichstraße The Friedrichstraße () (lit. ''Frederick Street'') is a major culture and shopping street in central Berlin, forming the core of the Friedrichstadt neighborhood and giving the name to Berlin Friedrichstraße station. It runs from the northern pa ...

Leipziger Straße Leipziger Straße is a major thoroughfare in the central Mitte (locality), Mitte district of Berlin, capital of Germany. It runs from Leipziger Platz, an octagonal square adjacent to Potsdamer Platz in the west, to Spittelmarkt (Berlin U-Bahn), S ...

junction. The restaurant became popular for its huge selection of wine and seasonal delicacies like

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not ...

s and crayfish. Kempinski invented the

table d'hôte In restaurant terminology, a ''table d'hôte'' (; ) menu is a menu where multi-course meals with only a few choices are charged at a fixed total price. Such a menu may be called ''prix fixe'' ("fixed price"; ). The terms set meal and set menu ...

for a fixed price (1,25

Mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * F ...

) and the "half portion" for (0,75 Mark, later 0,85 Mark) which made

fine dining Fine may refer to: Characters * Sylvia Fine (''The Nanny''), Fran's mother on ''The Nanny'' * Officer Fine, a character in ''Tales from the Crypt'', played by Vincent Spano Legal terms * Fine (penalty), money to be paid as punishment for an of ...

affordable for the middle-class population. In 1889 the Kempinski restaurant at Leipziger Straße 25 was opened, the largest business of its kind in Berlin.

Wilhelm II , house = Hohenzollern , father = Frederick III, German Emperor , mother = Victoria, Princess Royal , religion = Lutheranism (Prussian United) , signature = Wilhelm II, German Emperor Signature-.svg Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor ...

selected the mayolica tiles from his Cadiner Majolika manufactury and attended the opening of the Kaisersaal (Emperor's hall). Kempinski later specialised on wine trading and devolved the management to his son in law and his nephew. Kempinski died 14 March 1910 in Berlin and was buried in an honorary grave at the Jewish

Weißensee cemetery Weißensee (German: ''white lake'') may refer to: Places * Weissensee (Berlin), a district of Berlin *Weißensee, Thuringia, a town in Thuringia, Germany * Weissensee, Austria, a municipality in Carinthia, Austria * Weissensee (Carinthia), a lake i ...

. In an obituary the

Berliner Tageblatt The ''Berliner Tageblatt'' or ''BT'' was a German language newspaper published in Berlin from 1872 to 1939. Along with the ''Frankfurter Zeitung'', it became one of the most important liberal German newspapers of its time. History The ''Berline ...

called him one of the most popular men of Berlin. Berthold Kempinski is seen as the founder of the

Kempinski Kempinski Hotels S.A., commonly known as Kempinski, is a luxury hotel management company headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in Berlin in 1897 as the ''Hotelbetriebs-Aktiengesellschaft'', the group currently operates 78 five-star ho ...

brand of luxury hotels.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kempinski, Berthold 1843 births 1910 deaths People from Ostrów Wielkopolski County People from the Province of Posen Kempinski Hotels 19th-century German Jews German hoteliers German restaurateurs Businesspeople from Berlin