Dirk et Mady Krauter
Dirk and Mady Krauter, restaurateurs
It’s the career of my choice : it’s something I have inside me, and I have been doing it with all my heart for the last 30 years.
How did you know to choose this particular career ? How did it come about ?
When we were small, my mother chose to help my father who was a miller, producing vegetable oils. For half the week she used to rush around the countryside selling the oil. So, when we came back from school, we had to prepare something ourselves if we wanted to eat ! At first we used to heat up something that she had prepared for us, then later we managed by ourselves. I think it started just like that, naturally. So, when I accompanied my father visiting restaurants to sell his oils, I was always impressed by the kitchens which in those days had large teams of chefs.
And for you, Mady, my former hairdresser, I guess running a restaurant wasn’t so much a vocation as an obligation ?!
At first, yes, it was a sort of obligation, and it was hard. Even though I was used to customers, at the hairdressers, I found that restaurant clients have a different attitude. At first I did lots of things, but when it came to serving I was very shy. I was afraid of doing something wrong but I had no choice as I had to replace a colleague who’d left us. But now I think that I wouldn’t want to go back to cutting hair again !
And Dirk adds :
I take my hat off to her, not just once but many times over, for the way she started and for how well she works.
But you, Dirk, your accent isn’t typical of our valley of Les Ormonts ?
No, I come from the Stuttgart area of Germany, where they used to say that in this job, to break through and succeed, you need to spend time in Switzerland. I ended up in Les Diablerets, first for a season, and then I stayed !
Auberge de l’Ours
1864 Vers-l’Eglise
024 492 44 00
Translation : Gordon Douglas