Bread rolls from the restaurant "Zum Schwarzen Kamel", an original Wiener Schnitzel from "Bitzinger's Augustinerkeller" and an apple strudel from the "Cafe Landmann" - culinary delicacies are just as much a part of a sightseeing through Vienna as a horse-drawn carriage. Why not combine both? This is what the two Viennese Marco Pollandt and Raimund Novotny thought, who met while working in a luxury hotel. After more than a year of preparation, the "globally unique tourism product", according to the founders, started in Vienna in 2016 and in Salzburg in 2017.
At the “Riding Dinner”, guests are served Austrian delicacies during their horse-drawn carriage ride.
You don't have to get out for this.
A personal butler picks up the food on stops at selected restaurant partners;
is eaten while driving.
A specially designed foldable table with glass holders, which is built into the Fiaker, ensures that this is possible on the cobblestones of Vienna's city center without spilling.
There are already 15 such carriages in Vienna, in Salzburg only one carriage has been converted into a restaurant, says Raimund Novotony.
"If necessary, we can certainly add five to six more."
A lot of solidarity with the fiakers in Corona times
Thanks to the open carriages, which can be occupied by a maximum of four guests, the offer exists even in times of the pandemic. “We always had 50 percent local guests at Riding Dinner,” says Marco Pollandt. "That helps a lot at the moment, because there are no tourists around." In particular, "Fiaker Paul", who provides all the carriages in Vienna, can generate income and feed his horses. In addition, the entrepreneurs have set up a feed donation hotline and set up feed boxes at Michaelerplatz and Stephansplatz. “Every Fiaker can see what he needs for himself,” says Pollandt, who like Novotny has now trained as a driver himself. “Two weeks ago we fetched almost 700 kilograms of vegetables for the horses from the Haiden brewery and the metro in Burgenland. It's great to seehow much solidarity there is. "
Together with “Fiaker Paul”, Riding Dinner also offers guided tours of the stables in order to break down common prejudices about cruelty to animals. Marco Pollandt and Raimund Novotny have no shortage of ideas. With "365days" you want to offer experiences in Vienna that are far removed from the mainstream tourism. "We are also trying to make the Riding Dinner even bigger and better," says Pollandt. For example, the two are currently working on a simplification of the table construction. One thing is certain: “The step away from the horses is not planned. On the contrary."