55 years ago, he opened the first Czechoslovak fast food in Brno. look at
/PHOTO/ The first self-service bistro in Czechoslovakia was established in Brno at the beginning of August exactly fifty-five years ago. After the restoration of part of the old beer hall of the Slovan Hotel, the fast food business started selling its delicacies there. For a bite, customers could have grilled chicken or sandwiches, for example serving hot dogs caused controversy. The communist regime at the time did not allow the food to be labeled with the English name hot dog, so people had to settle for the Czech name.
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The people of Brno indulged in fast food for the first time on August 1, 1967 at the then Hotel Passage. The bistro, called Quick, served delicacies ranging from grilled chicken to hot dogs.
| Photo: Courtesy of the Brno Architectural Manual
Eating out, which is now a common part of the lives of many Brno residents, was a novelty in the city at the time. Those interested found a self-service on the ground floor of the hotel at the right corner of the entrance to
passages. An exceptional delicacy was the local grilled chicken, which had not appeared anywhere before. “The bistro was very popular. For the first time, it offered, for example, a so-called hot dog. But the comrades did not understand why they should eat a hot dog. That’s why the food had to be renamed to hot dog,” he laughed a decade ago when remembering the fast food shop of the then hotel director Jan Skalický.
Before long, however, the bistro began to face hygiene problems. It was only difficult to comply with hygiene regulations and the decreasing number of customers indicated that a similar way of eating might not be the right nut for clients. “The kitchen was underground. The food was brought up by elevator or carried by waiters. It had to be covered during transmission and meet other criteria. Not everyone followed them,” Skalický recalled.
The first hot dog in Czechoslovakia had to be renamed
In the early 1990s, the fast food establishment turned into a gelateria. In it, workers made and sold artisanal ice cream. However, Bistro Quick is an essential basis for the emergence of similar catering establishments in the heart of South Moravia. This was followed by her bistro Sputnik in Česká Street and Pipi Grill on Náměstí Svobody in Brno. “I remember Sputnik, I ate there on the way to my first job. They offered sirloin, goulash, Russian eggs in cold cuisine,” publisher Vladimír Filip told the editor of Denik Rovnost.
Hotel Passage, at one time also known as Hotel Slovan, where the first Czechoslovak fast food was located, was created at the end of the 20s of the last century on the basis of a project by the well-known architect Bohuslav Fuchs. “His progress was inspired by buildings in Switzerland and France, which were visited by the builder’s son Vladimír on his travels. The workers completed the hotel according to Fuchs’ architectural design in December 1928,” explained Lucie Valdhansová, who participated in the creation of the Brno Architectural Manual.
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The building was created according to the most modern design, operational and hygienic principles. unfortunately, one hundred and fifty single and double rooms with shared sanitary facilities in the corridor included built-in furniture, a sink, several multi-room apartments had a private bathroom. An interesting technical innovation was the remote opening of the bedroom door with a button on the bedside table. Of course, there are restaurants, cafes, buffets, wine bars or spaces dedicated to merchants right in the arcade.