Female Chefs Table at KATE & KON: Why Women in the Restaurant Industry Need a Table of Their Own

A long table. 21 women. Glasses in hand, Lake Attersee in the evening light. No one gives a speech, no one hands out business cards. People share stories, listen, laugh.

On October 5, 2026, we attended the 10th Female Chefs Table at KATE & KON in Steinbach am Attersee. An evening that was far more than a culinary event.

What’s said at the table stays at the table.

What is the Female Chefs Table?

The Female Chefs Table is an event series organized by the Female Chefs platform. Female Chefs was founded in 2023 by Karin Stöttinger. Its aim is to increase the visibility, networking and exchange of women in gastronomy, hospitality, food production and the culinary creative industries.

The idea is simple: women from different fields in the industry sit together around a table. No stage. No competition. No conventional networking. Instead, personal conversations in a confidential setting.

Through the so-called Wild Cards, young women in training can attend for free—and meet their future role models in person.

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21 women from across Austria and Germany

Women traveled from West Styria, Tyrol, Salzburg, Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Vienna and northern Germany to attend the tenth Female Chefs Table. Chefs, restaurateurs, hoteliers, winemakers and producers.

The host was Katharina Wolf of KATE & KON. After an aperitif in the courtyard of the historic forestry office, she led the group, glasses in hand, down to Lake Attersee. That’s where introductions began—personal journeys, career decisions, detours. Stories you won’t find on a résumé.

Katharina took over the business at the age of 20. For 21 years, she has run KATE & KON with her husband Florian and her brother Konstantin. Today, the business is known for fine wine and carefully selected delicacies—with a clear ethos and a personal touch.

The five-course menu was prepared by the Michelin-starred Rossbarth restaurant from Linz.

A wine pairing by women, for women

One detail that made the evening special: All the wines and the champagne were made by women.

Among the wines served were Champagne Ayala Le Blanc de Blancs, Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese by Joh. Jos. Prüm, Grüner Veltliner and Riesling from Weingut Christina & Rainer Wess, wines from Château Lafleur and Château L’Évangile, and Ruster Ausbruch by Heidi Schröck.

Christina Wess, a winemaker from Krems, was seated at the table herself and talked about her work. That’s what makes the difference: getting to know not just the product, but the woman behind it.

Behind every good product is a person who takes responsibility.

Why women in gastronomy need visibility

Women play a major role in gastronomy and the culinary world—in kitchens, businesses, vineyards and workshops. Yet it is often others who get noticed: on panels, in rankings and in the media.

The Female Chefs Table addresses this directly. Not with a high-profile campaign, but with something simple: a table where women can speak openly about their successes, decisions and the challenges of everyday working life. Without having to prove themselves.

“Here, no one has to prove themselves or be judged,” says founder Karin Stöttinger.

This is how lasting connections are formed. Not by collecting as many contacts as possible, but by truly getting to know one another. Falstaff also reported on the evening at Lake Attersee.

What does this mean for Sarmakinas?

Sarmakinas was founded by a woman. We are producers ourselves, with our own trees in Messenia, our own harvest and PDO Kalamata-certified olive oil made from Koroneiki olives. We know how much work goes into an honest product—and how rarely you get to talk about it with people who have been through the same thing.

For us, networking among women isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s essential. Women who make one another visible, share experiences and recommend one another create more lasting change in an industry than any image campaign.

That’s why we were glad to be there. And that’s why we’d like to say thank you—to Karin Stöttinger, Katharina Wolf and all the women who shared the evening with us.

Substance over show. Connection over stage.

Conclusion

The 10th Female Chefs Table at KATE & KON on Lake Attersee showed what a simple setting can make possible: 21 women, one table, honest conversations. No competition, but trust. No business cards, but connections.

Women in gastronomy, wine and the culinary world don’t need an exclusive club. They need spaces where they are seen.

Good things happen where people listen to one another.