Sometime in early 2018, toward the end of winter, Vienna was hit with an unusually harsh freeze. If I remember right, nighttime temperatures dropped to around –15°C (about 5°F), maybe even lower. Back then I worked in three sweaters, three pairs of pants, and a hat, brewing coffee while looking like some Bavarian farmer. There’s even a photo of me from those wild days in a magazine. Oh, and for the record—I weighed 101 kilos at the time. Sorry for the extra details.

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Staff. Honestly, I had no idea how important this would be for Fenster. Turns out, it’s the most important thing. The most.

When I worked alone, it wasn’t even a question. When I finally needed just one day off, I got lucky—really lucky—that the temporary baristas who stepped in happened to meet the standards of Fenster.

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Let’s step away from the “best coffee shop in the world” story for a moment. Time for some philosophy.

People often ask me for advice on opening their own café. And over the years, my answers have gotten shorter, sharper, and more to the point. Here’s how I usually start: Don’t. Don’t open a café. Don’t touch anything tied to hospitality. And definitely don’t get into food service.

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Funny enough, I had just started writing this blog about how I built “the best coffee shop in the world,” mostly because a travel site called Big7Media had once done a ranking like that. And then—bam—on November 13th, Fenster Café actually made the list of the Top 50 Coffee Shops in the World, 2020. For the second year in a row!

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Fensterccino—a cappuccino served in a chocolate-lined waffle cone. That’s the official definition straight from the inventor (me). Honestly, it’s not really a cappuccino at all. It’s closer to what the Spanish call a cortado. But that detail had nothing to do with the drink’s success or Fenster’s rise.

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By the time my friend and I had worked out all the details, there was only one last hurdle left—the landlord’s approval. On paper, it sounded simple. In reality, it was the one thing standing between me and the dream of turning this tiny, historic space into a coffee shop.

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So, by now you know—I had already sold my first café, stepped away from the second one without really doing anything I had originally planned. In other words, I found myself in that famous state they call a tabula rasa. But not exactly.

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So, the idea of the café is ready. Now comes a tricky question most people don’t pay enough attention to: positioning. It’s a broad and powerful word, but I’ll try to explain.

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I get asked this question about 10 to 20 times a day: “How did you come up with the idea for Fenster?”

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The Cabinet — or “Schrank” (Schrank – Schrnk) — was my second venture in Vienna. At the time, I was in year two of Kaffee von Sascha, and I felt like I had outgrown that little café. I thought I was ready for something bigger.

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