Exceptional taste meets powerful digital retail experiences:
In the 2027 Gault&Millau Guide, several incert clients are in the spotlight. Philip Rachinger is “Chef of the Year,” Toni Mörwald is “Restaurateur of the Year,” the Bergergut is “Gourmet Hotel of the Year,” and the Stanglwirt is “Wellness Hotel of the Year.” We extend our heartfelt congratulations to all the winners! You can find an overview of all the winners and highlights in the official Gault&Millau press release for the 2027 Guide.
For us, however, these awards are also a great opportunity to take a look behind the scenes of their digital retail environments. After all, these four businesses demonstrate in very different ways what a modern gift card system in the restaurant industry can achieve.
It’s no longer just about the traditional gift certificate. Today, fine dining, cooking classes, wellness experiences, short getaways, culinary products, and entire brand experiences are sold and given as gifts digitally.
Philip Rachinger: Chef of the Year 2027
For Philip Rachinger, great cuisine doesn’t just begin on the plate.
At the OIS in Mühltalhof, he is carrying on his family’s culinary tradition—now in its sixth generation. In 2027, Gault&Millau named him Chef of the Year and, in addition to his cuisine, specifically recognized his commitment to a vibrant culinary culture.
At OIS, which has been awarded four toques, Rachinger serves his “Carte Blanche” at just five tables. But the world of the Mühltalhof can be experienced in more ways than just a traditional restaurant visit.
This is particularly well illustrated by the cooking class “OIS: You Have to Make It Yourself”: Together with Philip Rachinger, participants explore topics such as open fires, BBQ, sourdough bread, pizza, steak, and vegetables. This transforms a top chef’s signature style into an experience in which guests themselves become an integral part of the process.
This is precisely where a major opportunity lies for digital gift certificate sales in the restaurant industry: not just offering a restaurant visit, but making special moments associated with the establishment visible and shareable.
What makes this offer special:
- Fine Dining and Restaurant Experiences
- Gift Certificates for the Mühltalhof
- The “Carte Blanche” at OIS
- Cooking and culinary experiences like “You have to make OIS yourself”
Bergergut: Gourmet Hotel of the Year 2027
At Bergergut, fine dining, togetherness, and a break from it all go hand in hand. In 2027, Gault&Millau named this adults-only hotel in the Mühlviertel region “Gourmet Hotel of the Year.”
This connection also extends to the digital sales world.
Instead of offering only traditional hotel or gift certificates, the Bergergut makes a wide variety of experiences available for purchase online. These include restaurant and hotel vouchers as well as cooking classes, bread-baking classes, and day-spa experiences.
The combination of several services is particularly exciting: For example, a day spa experience can be paired with breakfast, a gourmet brunch, a gourmet dinner, or a couples’ massage.
This turns a simple gift certificate into a concrete, vivid image of a day spent together.
Among other things, Bergergut sells the following online:
- Hotel and Gift Certificates
- Restaurant and Culinary Gift Certificates
- Cooking classes
- Wood-fired bread-baking classes
- Day spa with breakfast, gourmet brunch, or gourmet dinner
- Packages and getaways for two
Toni Mörwald: Restaurateur of the Year 2027
Restaurants, hotels, cooking school, wine, gourmet foods, and events: Few names in Austria are synonymous with such a wide range of culinary experiences as Toni Mörwald.
In 2027, Gault&Millau named him Restaurateur of the Year.
And it is precisely this diversity that is also reflected in his digital offerings.
Guests can choose from a variety of restaurants, hotels, and culinary offerings. A particularly good example is the “Toni M.” cooking school: The cooking classes offered combine group cooking with multi-course meals, wine pairings, and rotating culinary themes.
In addition, the Mörwald world ranges from restaurant and hotel offerings to culinary events, wine, gourmet foods, cookbooks, and gift ideas.
This means that more than just a single dinner is sold online. It creates a whole range of indulgent experiences for different interests and occasions.
Among other things, the following are available digitally at Mörwald:
- Restaurant and Gourmet Gift Certificates
- Hotel Stays
- Cooking classes at the “Toni M.” cooking school
- Culinary events
- Wine and Delicatessen
- Cookbooks and Gift Ideas
- Club and Culinary Experiences
Stanglwirt: Wellness Hotel of the Year 2027
The Stanglwirt perhaps best illustrates just how far a digital sales environment can go beyond the traditional hotel gift certificate.
Gault&Millau named the Bio- & Wellnessresort “Wellness Hotel of the Year ” in 2027.
In the online store, guests will find more than just gift certificates, overnight stays, and service vouchers. For example, they can give the gift of spa experiences, dinner for two, hotel stays, or even a Lipizzaner riding lesson.
At the same time, the online store extends the brand into the home. The Culinary category features gift boxes as well as jams, honey, spices, vinegar, oil, and other specialties. It also offers fashion, beauty, children’s, and lifestyle products.
The shop is thus more than just a place to buy gift certificates: it digitally recreates a large part of the Stanglwirt experience.
Among other things, the Stanglwirt sells the following online:
- Gift Certificates and Vouchers
- Overnight Stay Vouchers
- SPA Experiences
- Dinner and Culinary Offerings
- Experience Gift Certificates
- Culinary Gift Boxes
- In-house and select gourmet products
- Fashion, beauty, and lifestyle products
Four Award-Winning Businesses—Four Ideas for Digital Sales
What do the Mühltalhof, the Bergergut, Toni Mörwald, and the Stanglwirt have in common?
Certainly not what they offer.
And that’s exactly what makes their digital sales platforms so interesting.
The Mühltalhof turns a top chef’s signature style into an experience. The Bergergut combines fine dining with togetherness and wellness. Mörwald creates an entire world of gastronomic experiences. And the Stanglwirt brings together gift certificates, stays, experiences, and physical products in a comprehensive online store.
A good voucher system for the restaurant industry, therefore, doesn’t have to include as many products as possible. It needs to promote what makes a business unique.
These may include:
- A New Year’s Eve Gala
- The Signature Menu
- A cooking class with the head chef
- A Sunday brunch
- A Culinary Event
- A gift box featuring our own products
- or simply a restaurant gift certificate that can be redeemed at your convenience
The key is for guests to be able to easily discover, purchase, and give the perfect treat as a gift.
Voucher System for the Restaurant Industry: From Vouchers to the Digital Sales World
With incert’s solutions for the restaurant industry, you can digitally market items such as gift certificates, culinary events, tickets, and your own products. Depending on your business, this can result in simple gift certificate stores or comprehensive sales platforms with ticket and reservation systems.
If you’d like to start with a traditional gift certificate, you can find out more about the incert Express gift certificate system here.
Another real-world example is the Figlmüller best practice: There, restaurant gift certificates are combined with cookbooks and merchandise—an approach that also demonstrates how the restaurant industry can be marketed digitally beyond the dining experience itself.
That is precisely why modern restaurants today combine multiple sales channels.
What the Star Chefs’ Favorite Restaurants Reveal
In 2027, Gault&Millau honored four of our clients for their very different strengths.
Their shops also showcase four different approaches.
What unites them is a simple idea: the dining experience doesn’t end at the restaurant door.
By making culinary experiences, gift certificates, and your own products available digitally, you create additional reasons to buy and give guests more opportunities to experience your brand—or to pass it on as a gift.
If that sparks a little interest in your own digital storefront, so much the better.
Want more?
Would you like to find out which gift certificates, experiences, or products can be sold online for your business?
Let’s work together to see what’s right for your business.
