Vienna, Stephanplatz - Aida Cafe Vienna since 1913

Date: 12th April 2014

By all mean, I have to write about AIDA café not only because of it’s tasty apple strudel and/or crispy croissants. When I was repeating the café name while on our way looking for it, “AIDA”, "AIDA" (after the gift shop owner recommended to me), it resembles something sound so familiar The cafe name is so beautiful to pronounce as it was the name of my late beautiful sister, Siti Nuraida. It was just too much sweetness in her name. Anyway, Aida's website can be found"HERE".

The cafe in Stephansplatz is their main branch which carries an official address at, Singerstraße 1, 1010 Vienna, seated next to the old church itself, suited the web name of "Aida Cafe Vienna since 1913". It is open from Monday to Saturday from 0700hrs and close at 2200hrs. As for Sundays or Bank public holidays, it open 1 hour late operating from 0800 till 2200. They have another 30 branch more in the city.

The founder of AIDA, Josef Prousek, was born on the 25th of January, 1883 in Drzkov, a small town in northern Bohemia. Bohemia is a historical country in Czech Republic, Central Europe. After finishing his mandatory school he went into training from 1896 to 1899 to become a confectioner. As was customary at that time, he went travelling and passed through Lysa nad Labem, Prague and Brno on his way to Vienna, where he started as a confectioner’s apprentice there. Later, in 1912 he married Rosa Nerad from Bruck an der Leitha and had two children, Hilde and Felix. All his family member now involved in the turn into an international franchising/businesses.

From Aida's website, I found their great 100 years of success in the following chronological order:-

1913: Joseph Prousek opens his first coffee shop

1917: Joseph Prousek opens the first factory in Vienna

1934: 11 outlets are oppenned

1943: AidA started shock freezing the products

1945: The first big B2B order for the American soldiers (ice cream and doughnuts)

1946: Felix Prousek the second generation joins the company and opens more stores with his father.

1950: Felix Prousek is announced CEO

1973: due to demand new outlets and a bigger factory is built

1990: Over 20 outlets are oppened

2003: Michael Prousek is announced CEO

2005: 28 outlets in Vienna have been oppenend

2007: dominik Prousek (4th generation) joining the familiy business

2008: Two franchise outlets in Vienna oppened

2012: Aida opens four franchise outlets in Vienna which makes it a total of 31 stores in Vienna

2013: Aida opens in first international franchise outlets in Zagreb Croatia, Jeddah Saudi Arabia and Krakow Poland.

2014: 2 shops are under construction in Kazakhstan, 1 shop in Shanghai, 3 shops in Saudi Arabia and one shop in Bosnia.

The new generation of Prousek family wishes to expand further Aida franchises into a well planned world wide. How I wish that I have a strategic location in the heart of KL city centre (KLCC perhaps) to grab an opportunity of involving into a franchise deal with them :(

Having a famous Vienna's Apple Struddle

Second order of the famous croissant, best taken with Americano

Now, let us see their products consists of a "Take Away Gifts", Cakes, Slices, Tarts, Strudel and Viennoisette (Nuss-Spitz, Cinnamon Whirl, Wholesome Apple Turnover, Plum turnover, Nut Pastry, Poppy Seed Pastry, Apricot Danish, Raspberry Danish, Golatsche Pastry, Viennese Croissant. The cafe is the largest and most exclusive privately owned confectionery producer and coffee shop brand in Europe. It operates 31 AidA stores in its home market Vienna, where 18,000 cups of coffee sold daily and 115 tons of coffee are served per year. Not to mention that they are the "Winner of the Golden Coffee Bean in 2006".

I would hereby call upon you to at least give their cafe a try as you will definitely would agree with me of their standards and quality.