János Gundel (Ansbach, Bavaria, 3 March 1844 – Budapest, 28 December 1915) Hungarian restaurateur, founder of the famous gastronomic dynasty, Knight of the Order of Franz Joseph, from 1876 to 1911 president of the Budapest Trade Association of Hoteliers, Restaurateurs and Pub-keepers and trustee of the Evangelical Lutheran sister churches in the Deák Square branch of Budapest.

Original title: Johann Adam Michael Gundel He was the son of János Gundel, a citizen of Ansbach, and Anna Schwartz. When he was ten years old, his father, a master baker, died. In 1855, he began his studies at the School of Agriculture and Industry in Ansbach. His mother and stepfather were unable to cover the cost of his education for long. In 1857, he travelled to Hungary with his friends.

He began working as a busboy for his stepfather’s brother-in-law, György Gärtner, a Buda innkeeper. In 1857, he worked as a waiter at the Téli Sörház in Pest, and in 1858 he moved to the famous Arany Sas inn.

In 1869, he bought the Bécsi Sörház on Király Street with his wife’s dowry. The restaurant’s specialities were Viennese boiled beef (Tafelspitz), Viennese schnitzel, beef tripe and Austrian beer.

Two years later, Gundel bought the „Virágbokor” (Blumenstöckl) restaurant, which he ran for eight years. His regular patrons included famous artists, linguists, university lecturers and politicians, amongst whom were Károly Lotz, Ferenc Liszt, Kálmán Mikszáth, Dezső Szilágyi, Kálmán Tisza and István Tisza.

In 1875, he also bought the Queen Elizabeth Hotel.

In 1876, he became president of the Trade Association of Hoteliers and Restaurateurs. In 1882, he was elected a member of the capital’s municipal council. In 1885, he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Franz Joseph. In 1900, he was awarded a silver medal at the Paris World Exhibition.„…since he had no children, he amassed a tidy fortune, retired from business, thinking to himself: ”You have given me enough money, Lord, but You have not given me any children, so why should I labour myself to death? But Providence is resourceful too, and played a trick on Mr Gundel. His work brought him thousands in banknotes. Then, whilst he was resting, he was blessed with so many children that he now found himself thinking: ‘You have given me enough children, Lord, but you have not given me enough money to go with them.’ Whereupon he longed once more to return to business, to multiply his wealth and to raise his children to be strong Hungarians. He rented the Archduke István Hotel…’ – (Kálmán Mikszáth)

János Gundel’s creation is the Palóc soup, a green bean soup whipped with sour cream and generously seasoned with dill, which he devised in honour of Kálmán Mikszáth, the „great Palóc”. Kálmán Mikszáth asked Gundel to surprise him with a soup unlike any he had ever tasted before.

János Gundel, a follower of the Augustinian faith, married Anna Katalin Evelin Kommer, a Roman Catholic woman of the middle classes, on 28 April 1869 at the parish church in central Pest (Pest, Lipótváros, 27 December 1851 – Budapest, 12 December 1920), whose parents were Antal Kommer (1818–1901), a restaurant owner in Pest, and Katalin Lichter.  Five children were born to János Gundel and Anna Kommer; of these, Károly Gundel followed in his father’s footsteps as a restaurateur, taking over the Wampetics restaurant in Városliget in 1910, the predecessor of today’s Gundel Restaurant. They had 13 grandchildren, including Katalin Gundel, Endre Gundel, Ferenc Gundel and Imre Gundel; his 26 great-grandchildren include Zoltán Latinovits, István Bujtor and Károly Frenreisz; and one of his countless great-great-grandchildren is Gábor Takács Gundel.

She passed away at 3 o’clock in the morning on 28 December 1915, in the 72nd year of her life, and the 47th year of his marriage. He was laid to rest in the family vault at the Kerepesi Road Cemetery on the afternoon of Friday, 31 December 1915, in accordance with the rites of the Evangelical Church.