Magazine: Restaurant owner who represents a new era

Rudolf Semsei, the owner of the VakVarjú chain, other restaurants and Budapest Party Service, became ‘Restaurateur of the Year’ in 2015. When our magazine asked him what the prize meant to him, he simply said ‘team work’. He instantly added that winning an award like this is an honour and at the same time great responsibility too. Mr Semsei is very proud of what he and his team have achieved.

He told about the VakVarjú concept that it works because it is easy to love. The team’s main goal is to turn each guest into a regular. About his motivation to work for the trade he told that the restaurant business isn’t treated kindly enough by legislators, therefore he deems it important for interest representing organisations to join forces for the benefit of the trade. As the guild’s vice president, he is working hard for SMEs in the sector. In his view the most important tasks at the moment are reforming trade education, stopping young people from going to work abroad, cutting the VAT in the sector and easing the representation expenses burden.

Rudolf Semsei thinks that if one wants to operate a successful restaurant, they have to be perseverant, confident and passionate. He feels that in many cases Hungarian restaurants simply follow culinary trends and don’t concentrate on what guests actually need. Still, he reckons that Hungarian gastronomy is developing fats these days.