Celebrity chef Serkan Güzelçoban is opening a gourmet restaurant where he’ll employ refugees and people with disabilities. [Online until: 17.11.2018]
Is top-rate cuisine compatible with social responsibility? Celebrity chef Serkan Güzelçoban thinks it is. A camera crew followed the cook around for over half a year. This is the story of a son of Turkish guest workers who has had a successful career in Germany. The small town of Öhringen near Heilbronn is proud of Serkan Güzelçoban. The celebrated chef’s gourmet projects regularly grab attention on the catering scene. But his current one hasn’t only caused a stir in his Swabian homeland, it has also met with widespread bewilderment. Thirty-two-year-old Güzelçoban wants to open a gourmet restaurant in the former Orangerie in Öhringen and employ refugees as well as people with disabilities, both in the kitchen and as service staff. The son of Turkish guest workers, Serkan Güzelçoban grew up in Heslach, Stuttgart's problem district. After school he began applying for work and was constantly turned down -- until a restaurateur gave him a chance and offered him an internship. Serkan Güzelçoban seized the opportunity and won a Michelin star at the age of just 29. Now he wants to give a chance to other so-called "no hopers."