Lake Zug, 15.06.2020

Culinary delights from the galley

Feasting like God in France: the motor ship Rigi will be sailing out for a three-hour round trip on Wednesday lunchtime, 17 June – with culinary delicacies from the galley of Köbi Fahrni for the hungry.

Jakob (Köbi) Fahrni, who comes from Walchwil and is the Managing Director of Zugersee Schifffahrt (Lake Zug Shipping) Gastronomy & Events for Edelweiss Catering, will be conjuring up culinary delicacies together with his kitchen brigade on the lake. On Wednesday, at 12.15 p.m., the motor ship Rigi of Zugersee Schifffahrt are making a three-hour round trip, with around 30 people on board, sitting at the tables in pairs or fours. In accordance with the corona protection measures, the prescribed 2-metre social distance will be maintained from table edge to table edge.

Philipp Hofmann, market head at the Zugerland Verkehrsbetriebe AG (Zugerland Public Transport) and managing director of Schifffahrt on Lake Zug, explains: "We will adhere to the federally mandated protection concept for public transport. In normal operation, the MS Rigi can accommodate 450 people –we now have to settle for the half. Our employees will wear protective masks when the prescribed 2-metre social distance cannot be met." This is the case, for example, when boarding and leaving the ship.

The cruising season is starting again on Lake Zug on 8 June. The new caterer Köbi Fahrni is shown here (on the left) next to Philipp Hofmann.

A dishwasher career
A glance at the extensive menu will certainly whet the appetite of the boat travellers. The wide selection of inexpensive appetizers, main menus, desserts and drinks with selected products from the region make it even more difficult to make a choice. Philipp Hofmann is also pleased that local suppliers have been taken into consideration thanks to their quality and sustainability. Jakob "Köbi" Fahrni, who travelled the world after completing his banking apprenticeship, can look back on a varied career. For a short time, he even earned his bread as a dish washer, before jumping in as a waiter.

You'll be absolutely spoilt for choice: the menu on board is promising
After attending the hotel school, which he completed with an outstanding  certificate, he was vice-director of the Hotel "Säntis" in Appenzell, before putting his stamp on the "Haxenbauer" in Munich and the wine pavilion at the legendary Oktoberfest in the Bavarian metropolis. He then ran the Posthotel Holiday Villa Arosa for five years, before starting to demonstrate his immense gastronomic experiences with great satisfaction on Lake Zug from 1 January 2020.

Fahrni says: "The business had gone very well. Our range of offers on the various adventure trips, which can be found in the annual programme, had taken a lot of bookings – until we had to pull the plug on 13 March as a result of the Corona crisis."

He is now pleased and happy that operations can resume, even with the handbrake applied. The way in which the chefs professionally prepare excellent menus in the only 20 metre2 galley is quite astonishing. One woman, who did not want to be named, explained enthusiastically: "I felt as if I was in a 5-star luxury hotel. Things are really going to happen this summer with this team – so I’m already reserving a table for June 23rd."