The traditional Café Schwarzenberg in Vienna's city center is celebrating its 165th anniversary this June 2026. Founded in 1861 by the Hochleitner couple, the establishment is considered the oldest still-operating coffee house along Vienna's famous Ringstrasse.
Over its long history, the establishment on Kärntner Ring has developed into a significant social and cultural meeting place in the capital, serving in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a regular workplace for prominent figures such as the architect Josef Hoffmann. To mark this historical milestone, the restaurant expanded its culinary offerings at the beginning of the month with a specially created raspberry-rose anniversary cake.
Today, the historic coffee house is operated by the Gourmet Group, a subsidiary of Vivatis Holding. The company employs 36 people at the location, who are responsible for managing the 200 seats, 120 of which are in the historic interior and 80 in the adjoining outdoor seating area. Economically, the establishment is one of the busiest coffee houses in Vienna's city center. According to internal figures, around 135.000 coffee specialties and approximately 15.000 servings of hot chocolate are served there annually to an international clientele.
In addition to its core restaurant business, the management focuses on an expanded cultural program to maintain the traditional connection between coffeehouse culture and live music. The weekly program includes piano recitals on Friday and Saturday evenings, as well as regular jazz matinees on select Sundays. Preserving this historic ambiance is closely linked to its protected status as a historical monument, since the interior design, with its architectural elements from the founding era, has been largely preserved in its original state despite extensive renovations in the late 1970s.
Viennese coffeehouse culture as a whole has been recognized by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage since 2011. Within this definition, Café Schwarzenberg represents the classic type of bourgeois Ringstrasse café. Managing Director Herbert Fuchs emphasized that the long-term success of the establishment is based on the combination of historical architecture, traditional Viennese cuisine, and contemporary service standards, which has firmly established the location as an institution even in the highly competitive gastronomic scene of the Austrian capital.