How little Fritz founded an empire

IT was the night of December 20, 1890, in the Swiss village of Wangen-an-der-Aare and the smoke could be seen pouring out of the home of the miller and master baker, Johann Butzer.

Amid the flames, Johann grabbed his five-year-old son, Fritz, by one hand and his seven-year-old daughter, Ida, by the other. To his 12-year-old daughter, Rosalia he shouted: "Hang on to my night shirt tails!" His second wife Karoline carried her two babies, one in each arm.

As they fought their way out of the mill, Johann realised with horror that Rosalia was still inside. He plunged back into the mill and died in vain trying to rescue her.

Ida was taken to live with her step-mother's family but there was no room for little Fritz. As was the custom for orphans, Fritz was sent back to the village of his ancestors up in the mountains where he was literally auctioned off and bought by a local farmer who undertook to foster him. Little did the farmer know that he had just taken on the future founder of the world famous tea rooms, Bettys.

Now, for the first time, the story of how Bettys was created has been told in a new book by Jonathan Wild, the great nephew of Fritz and the current chairman of Bettys. Hearts, Tarts & Rascals, The Story of Bettys is based on a collection of his family's letters and diaries and photographs from the family album. It makes an intriguing read.

Fritz stayed with the farmer until his 14th birthday, when he became a trainee baker. He qualified in 1903 and, unsatisfied with his expected life in a small baker's shop, he moved to Switzerland and later Paris, picking up the art of confectionery and making chocolate along the way.

In September 1907, he left Paris for a job in England, ending up in Bradford where his German accent was misunderstood. Unable to speak a word of English, 22-year-old Fritz managed to secure a job at a confectioners called Bonnet.

"His ambition was to forgo the artisan craft of bread and concentrate on the more aristocratic artistry of the chocolatier," writes Mr Wild. "He styled himself as 'Frederick Belmont, Chocolate Specialist' using the French version of his name, which he thought rather more sophisticated to the English ear."

In 1912, Fritz was invited to Harrogate by Farrah's - the Harrogate toffee people - to show them how to make continental chocolates. He looked for lodgings, only to fall in love with Claire, his landlady's daughter.

But sister Ida had to wait another four years before she heard news of Fritz. When he finally wrote, he had great news about the opening of his new "confiserie and caf" in Harrogate on July 17, 1919, at a time when the country was in a state of chaos following the end of the First World War. "Now came a time of either sink or swim," he wrote.

But he need not have worried. His first week's takings were £220 and he soon went on to open larger premises in 1920.

"Yes Ida, your brother has gambled and won," he wrote. "...I couldn't bring myself to write to you during the critical time, and if I had failed you would never had heard about it. I only wish our mother was still alive."

The tea rooms prospered and in May 1936, Dickie, as he became known to friends, rewarded himself and his wife with a trip on the maiden voyage of the Queen Mary from Southampton to New York. Inspired by the new ship, he opened a new caf in York and hired the Queen Mary's shopfitters and interior designers to replicate the interior.

By then, Bettys was in Harrogate, Bradford, Leeds and York. But when the Second World War hit, food and staff shortages brought the business to its knees - in spite of the demand from the public. He was later forced to sell the York premises.

"The Canadian bomber pilots who were based at a dozen or more airfields around York made Bettys Bar in York their home," writes Mr Wild. "Five hundred of them scratched their names on a mirror behind the bar with a diamond ring. Many of these airmen died, many were decorated, many returned years later with their families to show them their signatures."

Like other restaurants, Bettys had the challenge of creating meals from powdered egg, fish scraps, grey 'utility' flour and supplies sent from America such as corned beef, tinned spaghetti and beans. Once Dickie bought a lorry load of burnt and sooty honey from a burnt-out London warehouse and turned it into fudge. It was such a delicacy, like all sweet things during the war, that people queued down the street for a small piece.

But the war was not the only worry on his mind. Dickie and his beloved Claire, known to friends as Bunny, had never been blessed with children. Anxious for an heir to take over the business, he asked his sister Ida in Switzerland if he could bring up one of her three teenagers as his own.

Ida, who was struggling to make ends meet, agreed. Her husband Carl Conrad Wild spent most of his income publishing his philosophical writings and hiring halls to give lectures on world peace.

In March 1936, Carl Viktor Wild (later known as Victor), Ida's 13-year-old son, arrived in Harrogate like his uncle before him unable to speak a word of English. He was sent to Sedbergh, the Yorkshire Dales boarding school, and underwent his catering training at Claridges in London before heading to Switzerland after the war.

In 1950, Victor persuaded his uncle to buy back Bettys at York and took up a position as trainee manager. He met his wife Kay and the couple had two children, Jonathan and Elizabeth.

Dickie died peacefully on October 2, 1952. The young penniless orphan had created a thriving confectionery business which would become synonymous with class and taste. But could the young Victor, at the age of 29, continue his success?

Dickie's death almost saw the end of Bettys with heavy death duties to pay. It took ten years for Victor to stabilise the company and to rebuild the menus after years of rationing.

He also wanted to become an entrepreneur in his own right and opened a late night espresso bar in Street Lane, Leeds, a smart Italian restaurant in the basement of Bettys York, and a continental delicatessen next to Bettys Harrogate.

The future of Bettys was sealed in 1962 when Victor bought Taylors, another Yorkshire tea shop business specialising in tea and coffee importing, blending and roasting. It brought Bettys' tally to nine cafes.

Victor and Kay finally stepped down from the board in 1996.

Today, Jonathan, his wife Lesley, brother Tony, sister Elizabeth, cousin Valerie and her son Richard are all involved in the business, presiding over 1,000 staff. There are Bettys in Harrogate, nearby Harlow Carr Gardens, two in York, in Ilkley, and in Northallerton, and a cookery school. The name Taylors was kept on, and is synonymous with fine coffees and teas.

"By staying solely Yorkshire based we endeavour to preserve a family feel, but it is still our greatest challenge," writes Mr Wild. "Betty's generally appears calm, almost becalmed by its traditions. Not much for us to do, you might say, other than manage the queues. The reality is that we have to run very fast to appear to be standing still.

"One look at the changes to our menus over the years shows how hard we have to work to make our traditions contemporary in each generation. Tradition is a living thing, after all."

The only mystery remaining is who was Betty? But Mr Wild says his family does not know, although there are several theories which have emerged over the years.

One is that it was the name of a London musical which came to Harrogate around the time the young Dickie formed Bettys. It was rumoured that he had seen the show and taken a shine to its leading lady, called Betty. A nother story is that it was named after the granddaughter of one of the founding directors, who put up most of the cash for Dickie's fledgling venture.

"The fact is that whenever my father asked his uncle 'who was Betty?' uncle changed the subject," writes Mr Wild.

"But there is something reassuring and comforting about myths and legends which can be spoiled by too much clarity."

* Hearts, Tarts & Rascals, The Story of Bettys by Jonathan Wild is available by logging on to www.bettysandtaylors.co.uk or at any of Bettys' tea rooms, priced £9.95.