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Hofzuckerbäckerei Demel, or simply Der Demel, is a famous pastry shop and chocolatier in Vienna, Austria. It was founded in 1786 on the Michaelerplatz. In 1857, August Dehne (the son of the founder Ludwig Dehne) gave the company to Christof Demel, who moved the bakery to the Kohlmarkt, where the Demel is still located today in its original building. The company, once a purveyor to the Imperial and Royal court of Austria-Hungary, was headed by the Demels until 1972, when Udo Proksch bought the company. In 1989, the year Proksch was arrested, the Raiffeisen Bank became the owner of the famous company. In 2002 Do&Co took over the Demel.
A curiosity is that the waitresses address their patrons in the 3rd person ("He/She wishes"), which is the historical polite form of address in German.
Location
The building is near the Hofburg Palace, and the interior was designed by Portois and Fix in a baroque style.
Demel has one additional location in Salzburg. Demel formerly had a small cafe at the Plaza Retail Collection in the Plaza Hotel in New York, but this location has since closed (as of March 2010). The corporate website indicates they are continuing to look for a new location to operate in New York.
Demel Museum
The Vienna site features a museum with artifacts about the history of the Imperial chocolate-making bakery.