People: Pressure on employees – top chef apologizes

The once celebrated star chef from Tegernsee, Christian Jürgens, apologized in an interview for inappropriate behavior towards former employees. “I have responsibility for people and I haven’t lived up to that,” he told the “Allgemeine Hotel- und Gastronomie-Zeitung (ahgz)”.

“I would like to ask for forgiveness from all employees who suffered from my behavior at the time, also in the knowledge that not everyone can grant me this,” he told the newspaper. Several media outlets reported on the interview.

Jürgens was head chef at the Althoff Seehotel Überfahrt in Rottach-Egern am Tegernsee for years until 2023. After a “Spiegel” report about allegations of inappropriate behavior by former employees, the three-star chef was released. In the report, Jürgens rejected the allegations as untrue through a lawyer.

“I realized that my way of dealing with pressure and transferring it to the workforce was fundamentally wrong,” he said. A colleague told him that people who worked for him were subjected to psychological pressure from him. “Failure to recognize this all this time and take appropriate countermeasures is the biggest mistake that I have rightly been accused of.”

Focus on new projects

After being released from work at Tegernsee, Jürgens worked for the Dinzler company on Irschenberg. His consulting work there has now been completed. “I’m currently concentrating on new projects.” He left it open as to what would happen next for him.

He cooked at two large events and had several consulting assignments, and recently there have been further inquiries. “I really enjoy passing on my experiences. But of course I’m a passionate cook and I’m honored that there’s a high demand for this too,” he told the newspaper ahgz. “It is this multi-pillar perspective that I am really enjoying right now and where I see my future.”