When Franz Landtmann opened 'Vienna's most elegant Café' on October 1st, 1873, hardly anything was to be seen of the current splendour of the Ringstrasse, since two vast construction sites were directly opposite: the new town hall and the new university. The Burgtheater was not yet next to the Landtmann, rather the remains of Löwelbastei. Besides, at that time, there were no cars, no mass-produced light bulbs, no radio, no telephone, no brassieres and no nylon stockings…

Franz Landtmann himself was not a Viennese but an incomer from the suburb of Währing, which at the time was a part of Lower Austria. Life as a cafetier was in his blood, since he originated from a family of coffeehouse owners, gingerbread bakers and fig coffee manufacturers. Seven years later in 1881 he sold his coffeehouse to the brothers Wilhelm and Rudolf Kerl who continued to run it under the name Landtmann. Rudolf Kerl soon withdrew from active business life and so his brother Wilhelm ran the Café alone until 1916. As a cafetier he was a local celebrity, which was not so astonishing since outstanding figures such as Gustav Mahler, Peter Altenberg, Sigmund Freud, Felix Salten and Emmerich Kálmán visited the Landtmann regularly. His nerves totally frayed by the shortage economy of the 1st World War and probably already tired after 35 years of running the business, he sold Landtmann to Karl Kraus in 1916 (no connection with the writer and publisher of the journal 'Die Fackel' (The Torch)).

Karl Anton Kraus was a butcher originating from Sperrgasse in the 15th district of Vienna, who then switched to a restaurateur and finally became a cafetier. He only ran the coffeehouse for 5 years, since it was run by Hokare Ges.m.b.H. (plc). The name of this private limited company, which superficially seems to be kind of Asian, stands for 'Hotel-, Kaffee- and Restaurations-Betriebe Ges.m.b.H' (Hotel, Café and Restaurant Businesses plc). In 1925 Hokare Ges.m.b.H. was wound up, which took then place at the end of 1926.

The couple Konrad and Angela Zauner bought the Landtmann in the autumn of 1926 and had the coffeehouse be completely renovated in 1929. Following the designs of the famous architect professor Ernst Meller, who facilitated numerous, today not existing Viennese coffeehouses,  Landtmann was provided with its interior furnishings, preserved to this day and under preservation order. Extremely eye-catching and apparent to any visitor are the four wooden columns of the entrée, created by the sculptor Hans Scheibner and which decoration portrays famous première scenes from the Burgtheater. With this extravagant and lavish interior redecoration Landtmann reinforced its position as the most elegant coffeehouse in Vienna. After the 2nd World War Konrad Zauner's son Erwin took over the management of the Café Landtmann and continued running it with great success.

Finally in 1976, the Querfeld family took over the steeped in tradition coffeehouse. On October 1st 1998, the 125th anniversary, a large party was given to celebrate the birthday of the legendary coffeehouse, attended by innumerable celebrities from political and cultural life, and many regulars. Under the management of Querfeld family the coffeehouse was completely renovated with great dedication and massive financial funding in 1982, as well as in 2001 and 2002, since it is a special concern of the Querfeld cafetier family to also keep Café Landtmann as the 'Vienna's most elegant Café' into the 21st Century.

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