The moped man from the Rheintal District is an institution at the Grand Resort. Renato Wüst has been keeping the bellies of our guests and colleagues full for 44 years. He has put his culinary stamp on countless events and formed many an apprentice chef in his image during his time with us.
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« At the Grand Resort, I was always given so much fool's freedom that I never got bored and never really felt the need to leave.»
“Sharing the joy and passion of cooking with young people is what motivates me,” says Wüst. And he never had a hard time doing just that at the Grand Resort. “Management provides us with all the tools we need and gives us the freedom to go ahead and develop our own ideas.”
Wüst joined the Hof Ragaz, then a training ground for elite junior chefs, as a kitchen assistant in 1978. With a great deal of discipline, he soon climbed the ranks from commis de cuisine to sous-chef to second head chef. That was more than four decades ago. Today, Wüst manages a large team in his position of Executive Chef at the Grand Resort.
He has trained more than 100 apprentices over the years. He himself has honed his craft at high-profile addresses in the hotel scene, including the Burj Al Arab in Dubai and The Peninsula in Hong Kong and Bangkok. Looking back on more than 40 years with us, Wüst is one of our most loyal employees. “This wasn’t my plan, to be honest. I was hoping to open my own restaurant at some point. But I have been given so much freedom here that I never got bored.” Wüst is often seen whizzing from kitchen to kitchen on his kickboard. “Thank goodness that I don’t need much more than four or five hours of sleep a night!” Otherwise, no day would ever be long enough.
Between his job, his wife, his daughter and his various voluntary commitments, Renato Wüst’s day-to-day is anything but boring. And his workload shows no sign of slowing down. He is already in his second term as a member of the Bad Ragaz municipal council. This is where he stands up for “his” issue: tourism. His political work isn’t an entirely selfless passion: “I want to stay useful when I retire,” he admits. So his schedule is unlikely to become any emptier anytime soon. Just as he himself is unlikely to kick back and enjoy a quiet retirement.
