Mourning for Gastronomy Expert Oliver Altherr

(eap) The sudden death of gastronomy expert and entrepreneur Oliver Altherr on New Year’s Day at the age of just 58 has caused great consternation and sadness. Oliver Altherr’s career began with a remarkable victory at the German Young Chefs’ Championships and then led him to various positions in top gastronomy in France, Hong Kong, Mexico and Hawaii. He soon moved into management, where he made a name for himself as a visionary leader. As CEO of Marché International AG for many years, Altherr was responsible for over 220 establishments in 12 countries and thus for around 3,500 employees and always had a clear sense of the interests of guests and gastronomy. With his extensive knowledge of the entire industry, he always had creative new concepts in mind and, as a trained chef, was always a host through and through. Despite numerous successes, he remained a chef with heart and soul until the end. His commitment, his ideas and his tireless efforts have made a deep impression on the industry.

In collaboration with Thomas Mack, Managing Partner of Europa-Park and CEO of Eatrenalin, Oliver Altherr, as CEO and co-founder, developed the concept for the innovative experience gastronomy Eatrenalin, which opened in November 2022 as part of the Europa-Park Erlebnis Resort in Rust. With Eatrenalin, an extraordinary and award-winning experience gastronomy concept was established, which has been offering guests a multi-sensory fine dining journey of culinary pleasure ever since (see cover story EAP 6/2022). “We are deeply saddened by the sudden death of Oliver Altherr. We have lost a very good friend, a great person and one of the greats of the international gastronomy scene,” says Thomas Mack. “Oliver Altherr was a stroke of luck for us. His foresight, his unerring instinct for trends and his creative thinking had a decisive influence on the project. He was a doer with vision and a man with his feet on the ground ... We mourn his loss and will continue to run our Eatrenalin, which very much bears his signature, in his spirit with the same passion and dedication that he exemplified,” says Thomas Mack.

The industry mourns the loss of Oliver Altherr – a passionate gastronome and visionary – with his family and all his friends and colleagues. ■