Aida is the name of an opera by Giuseppe Verdi and it was a love of music, of opera, and of Verdi in particular that tipped the scales in deciding the company name. Similarly, pink, the firm’s signature colour, was chosen in homage to the company founder’s wife, whose name was Rosa (which is also German for “pink”). Whether any of this is actually true or not is neither here nor there – they are both good stories that speak to a pioneering passion and vision.
Josef Prousek’s travels as an apprentice confectioner brought him to Vienna, where he opened a little pastry shop with his wife in 1913. As the company expanded, it was rechristened the Chocolaterie u. Gross-Konditorei “AÏDA” Prousek & Co, laying the foundations for the modern coffee house business that is still in operation today. Selling the same products at various locations under a uniform brand, the company adopted clear standards of quality and an established brand identity – the defining characteristics of modern chain hospitality were precisely those espoused by Aida from the very outset. No less than eleven Aida outlets had opened their doors in Vienna before World War II, and rebuilding work in the post-war period saw the number of sites gradually expand.
Josef Prousek was probably inspired by the quick coffee with a pastry that you could get for a decent price in agreeable surroundings in Italy, and he and his son Felix brought their first espresso machine (a Carimali) back over the Alps to Austria at the end of the 1940s; when it was unveiled in an Aida branch in Vienna’s 1st municipal district, it caused a sensation.
There are also Aida outlets to be found beyond Austria’s borders (currently in Munich, Berlin and Jeddah). There are no strict rules for the interior décor – you will find every style from hipster to retro – but quality is non-negotiable, and Aida produces everything in-house and by hand, from its creams and doughs to the preserves. The menu features everything you would expect to be in high demand at a Viennese confectioner’s (vanilla slices, apple strudel and cheesecake) but they don’t shy away from experimentation with modern trends either. Some three tonnes of confectionery are produced in Vienna every single day, including for the branches abroad (special flash-freezing technology is used here to ensure quality standards are maintained).
Any rash pronouncement on which Viennese confectioner’s vanilla slice is the best is asking for trouble, but Aida can indisputably lay claim to the recipe for this sweet treat that is the oldest; Josef Prousek, the firm’s pioneering founder, and his son Felix wrote down instructions for making all the firm’s pastries in 1943 and, when the notes were rediscovered in 2018, they proved beyond doubt that the vanilla slice had been baked to the same recipe since 1913.
Innovative entrepreneurship seems to run in the family, however – the fourth generation has now taken up the reins, steering the firm through the ups and downs of the coffee house industry with a mixture of tradition and modern ideas.
