Cesar Ritz was always stylish, tireless, and possessed of almost demonic energy. In 1884, Ritz met an extraordinary person like himself, the greatest chef of the age, and this acquaintance was the beginning of a perfect collaboration.
César Ritz was a Swiss hotelier and founder of several hotels, most famously the Hôtel Ritz Paris and the “Ritz London Hotel” and “Carlton Hotel, London” in London (forerunners of the modern Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company).
Ritz was born in the Swiss village of Niederwald, the youngest of 13 children of a poor peasant family.
Cesar Ritz, who left his mark on the largest hotels of the 19th century, became the manager of the newly opened Grand Hotel in Monte Carlo in 1882, after working in various hotels. Escoffier, the cook of kings, and his friend the king of cooks, also started working here and in a short time, this was shown as the hotel with the best cuisine in the city. Escoffier was preparing dazzling banquet tables, thousands of pigeons were being released from their cages at the same time, with a magnificence that would surpass today's fireworks invitations, and the liberated birds were scattering and disappearing in the deep blue sky of the Mediterranean. In 1889, the most luxurious hotel of the age, the Savoy, was completed in London. There were 70 bathrooms in the hotel, which was a record for that period. The difference can be better understood if we consider that only four bathrooms were envisaged for another luxury hotel, the Victoria Hotel, which opened in London a year ago. However, a few months after its opening, interest in the hotel gradually decreased. The owner of the hotel asked Ritz and Escoffier for help, and Ritz's team took charge of the hotel.
César Ritz, born Cäsar Ritz (23 February 1850 – 24 October 1918), was a Swiss hotelier and founder of several hotels, most famously the Hôtel Ritz in Paris and the Ritz and Carlton Hotels in London (the forerunners of the modern Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company). He was an early hotel chain founder known as "King of Hoteliers, and Hotelier to Kings," and it is from his name and that of his hotels that the term ritzy derives.
The Savoy quickly became a destination for London's international socialites. Very late one night in 1893, a manager of the Savoy Hotel came down to the kitchen and brought an urgent order. Eleanora Duse, one of the most famous theater actors of the age, had returned to the hotel after a tiring performance. He requested a plate of chicken consommé with only a single chicken wing in it. Metrdotel also stated that Ms. Duse "apologized for disturbing everyone at such a late hour." The news gradually reached Escoffier's ears. It was the first time something like this happened. Even in 1893, it was rare for a famous customer to treat the cooks as equals and apologize. In the blink of an eye, Duse's request was granted.
While Escoffier was working wonders in London, Ritz was busy with a very ambitious hotel project in Paris's Vendome Square. This would be the pinnacle of 19th-century hotel management. It was furnished throughout with 17th and 18th-century furniture and decorated with antique paintings and porcelain. Naturally, Escoffier took over the kitchen again. During his long career, the great chef wrote many works that will be the main reference source for young cooks and waiters. He established the rules of French cuisine and determined how a restaurant kitchen should be organized. Another great service he provided was the rules he brought to the menus. He sometimes used metaphors taken from the world of literature to describe the dishes. These rules can still be followed today in the menus of all leading restaurants.
For centuries before Escoffier, European kitchens were dark, terrible places dominated by unbearable odors, where everyone had a loud voice, and where employees addressed each other with the rudest words. The idea was ridiculed in the 1600s when a Frenchman named Olivier de Serres suggested moving the kitchen from the basement to the first floor, somewhere airy and light. Escoffier is the person who made a significant contribution to the restaurants' contemporary appearance. He is someone who improved the working conditions of the kitchen staff and rearranged the kitchen hierarchy, probably because he was very impressed by the rough and cruel environment in the kitchen at the beginning of his career.
Ritz left this world in 1918, and Escoffier in 1935. The hotel remained in the hands of the Ritz family for a long time. Egyptian billionaire Mohammed al-Fayed is literally a savior for the Ritz, which has lost much of its luster over the years. Al Fayed and his two brothers bought the hotel in 1979. In a short time, the hotel, of which the famous storyteller Hemingway said, "When I dream of heaven, the Ritz comes to mind in my mind," was completely renovated with an investment of 250 million dollars and regained its former glory.
In 1898, the hotel opened with a magnificent ball. Marcel Proust, the author of the novel "In Search of Lost Time", was a close friend of Cesar Ritz's wife. He was also present at the opening. In fact, all the aristocrats of Paris and all the American billionaires who rose to the top of the world society at that time were at the opening ball of the Ritz.
Cesar Ritz was born in a small village in Switzerland in 1850. Then he entered the restaurant and hotel business. He reached the peak of his career, which started as a busboy and waiter, in 1890. He became the manager of the Savoy in London, the most luxurious hotel in the world at that time. Cesar Ritz had an obsession: to host customers in the most comfortable way, using modern technologies. For this reason, he had bathrooms built in each of the rooms of the Savoy Hotel. Famous writer Oscar Wilde was angry about this: He did not like "modern perfectionism" at all!
Eight years later, Cesar Ritz was now a hotel magnate. Vendome, perhaps the most beautiful square in Paris, was built by King Louis XV in the 18th century. He turned the former mansion of Louis's secretary, the Marquis of Villette, into the world's most luxurious hotel.
A DIAMOND-LIKE RITZ
Cesar Ritz liked to summarize his hotel's principles in three words. He once put forward this formula: Cleanliness-Usefulness-Beauty. Another time: Luxury-Privacy-Perfection.
Architect Charles Mewes reconstructed the mansion in Vendome Square in line with these principles. He painted the walls, built huge bathrooms, installed electric lights, and furnished them with Louis XV and XVI-style furniture. Of course, the hotel had a perfect army of butlers and chambermaids. It wasn't easy, Cesar was hosting all the crowned heads, artists and billionaires of Europe at the Ritz hotel.
The hotel did not disappoint its owner's expectations. Writers and artists, who were among the customers, made the hotel's fame eternal.
Then World War II broke out. Paris was occupied by the German army. It is very easy for the rich to cooperate with invading enemies: the Ritz also chose this path. This time, it offered its luxurious suites, lounges, excellent cuisine, and rare drinks that could not be purchased outside even with ration cards, to the occupying Nazis. And in Paris, it became the symbol of collaborators and Nazis.
The number two man of the Nazi regime, General Hermann Göring, was known as the person most interested in luxury within the Nazi Party. As soon as Paris was occupied, he immediately came and settled in the royal suite of the Ritz Hotel. He even made it the unofficial headquarters of the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force that he led. He was directing the German planes that went to bomb England from here. Other Nazi leaders, Propaganda Minister Göbbels and Gestapo Chief Himmler, who were tired of the "hard" working environment in Germany, were also spending their holidays at the Ritz Hotel.
The Ritz was also a favorite haunt of the French who cooperated with the Germans. The most prominent of these was the famous fashion designer Coco Chanel.
After World War II, the Ritz Hotel tried hard to forget its poor record during the war. Fortunately, Hollywood came to the hotel's rescue starting from the 1950s. When the most famous actors of that period came to Paris, they did not want to stay in any hotel other than the Ritz.
However, the 1970s were a period of decline for the Ritz Hotel. The hotel was about to close down and, more frighteningly, become "second-class". Fortunately, Egyptian billionaire Mohammed Al Fayed, who lives in England, came to the rescue. He spent 30 million dollars to buy the hotel.
The Ritz recovered a bit after Al Fayed bought the hotel. He started to attract the celebrities of the time again. Most of them were prominent figures of world society who were friends of Mohammed Al Fayed and his son Dodi. Of course, oil-rich Arabs were also added to these.
The hotel owed its recent fame to the world's most famous woman, Princess Diana. Because Diana had a relationship with Dodi Al Fayed, the hotel boss's son. The son of the Egyptian billionaire hosted the Princess at the Ritz Hotel. Then they left there and died in a certain accident.