The Dining Guide’s latest in-depth interview features two leading figures in the Hungarian catering and hospitality industry: Zoltán Kőrössy, the „business sculptor”, and Gábor Nagy.

The Eventrend Group is well known in the Hungarian hospitality industry. The group, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, with its two founders, Zoltán Kőrössy and Gábor Nagy spoke to the Dining Guide their business models in the face of changing market conditions. There was talk of their latest major venture – taking over the management of Gundel Restaurant – and the reopening of the legendary restaurant in December 2021. We can look forward to a similarly significant opening from Eventrend in 2022, with a 21st-century „reimagining” of the Centrál Kávéház in Budapest city centre.

One of the hallmarks of the group’s operations is its presence in several areas of the hospitality and catering sectors, with numerous projects ranging from the sports bistro in the capital to the event boat on the Danube, from the Hungarian restaurant in the Great Market Hall to the City Park Café, and from the Cziniel Confectionery on the banks of the Danube to the Evezős Beer Garden.

Zoltán Kőrössy describes the strategic thinking they apply in the following way: „We want to gain a deep understanding of what makes a company run smoothly and map it out for ourselves; in fact, just like a chemist, we want to break it down into its constituent parts. Once we sense and understand – indeed, feel almost at our fingertips – the many sub-areas that, taken together, make up a company’s operations, we can then reassemble them to ensure successful operation. That is why we are able to run 35 projects in parallel, because

”We have broken down the company’s operations into their constituent parts, just like a good chemist, and thanks to this we are now able to create ever more complex compounds – that is, companies.”

Gábor Nagy replied as follows when asked whether, throughout their colourful career spanning several decades, they actually consider themselves to be creators within their profession.

„We actually have our own reasons. Gundel, for example, is not – in our view – about needing another venue and Gundel just »coming in handy«, but rather

There are certain milestones in a person’s life that will never be matched by anything else.

An architect might be called upon to design, say, Kossuth Square; an opportunity of this calibre comes along only once, and leaves its mark for decades. ”The New York Café, Gundel and the Centrál Kávéház are all unique venues with their own history and identity, and it would be impossible to treat them all according to the same template,” said Gábor Nagy.