Rolling Pin

What Rolling Pin does

ROLLING PIN Media GmbH is an Austrian private media and recruitment company founded in 2003 that operates a dual-sided hospitality job portal plus an integrated content and events platform serving the DACH region's gastronomy, hotel and tourism industries. Its core product is the Rolling Pin Jobportal — a searchable database of thousands of positions across kitchen, service, reception, management, housekeeping, cruise-ship and animation/fitness roles, with country-specific domains for Germany (rollingpin.de), Austria (rollingpin.at) and Switzerland (rollingpin.ch) plus international categories for the USA, Ireland, Italy, UK, Liechtenstein and Norway.

The company's ecosystem extends well beyond the job board. It publishes a 160-page printed trade magazine distributed in tens of thousands of copies in DACH, a Top-Supplier directory (the Blackbook), 131+ podcast episodes featuring hospitality leaders, hundreds of free cooking and cocktail masterclass videos, and the "100 Best Chefs" and "100 Best Chefs" sister properties. Live monetization levers include the annual Rolling Pin.Convention, the Rolling Pin.Awards (100 Best Chefs, 50 Best Sommeliers, Sous/Maître of the Year, and since 2026 a German edition), and the Top Arbeitgeber employer certification program.

Revenue mechanics combine five streams: paid job postings and recruitment packages from hospitality employers, Top Arbeitgeber certification fees, magazine subscriptions (print + digital), advertising/sponsorship from suppliers and equipment manufacturers, and ticketing/transaction revenue from the convention and awards. The job seeker side is free (with an optional Member tier valued at €98/month in perks) while the B2B side is quote-based and not publicly priced. Customer-side scale evidence includes 150,000+ registered members, 900,000+ annual job searches, 12,000+ hospitality establishments, 200,000+ social followers and a reported 97% user satisfaction rate, with named enterprise employers including Kempinski, Interalpen-Hotel Tyrol, Taubenkobel, Ritter von Kempski Privathotels, Ferienpark Weissenhäuser Strand and sea chefs (cruise crew management).

Name

Rolling Pin

Legal name

ROLLING PIN Media GmbH

Website

https://rollingpin.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Rolling Pin is an Austrian hospitality media company operating a DACH-wide job portal, print trade magazine, awards and conventions platform for hotels, restaurants and gastronomy employers and job seekers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Graz

HQ country

Austria

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Job Posting Services for Employers: Hotels, restaurants, and hospitality businesses pay to list job vacancies on the platform. Pricing varies by package and visibility features.
2. Top Arbeitgeber Certification: Employer certification program offering recognized workplace distinction for a fee
3. Magazine Subscriptions: Print and digital magazine subscriptions for hospitality professionals seeking industry insights and inspiration
4. Advertising & Sponsorship: Sponsored content and advertising from hospitality suppliers, equipment manufacturers, and industry partners featured in the magazine and online platform
5. Event Revenue (Rolling Pin.Convention & Awards): Ticket sales for industry conventions and awards ceremonies

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Rolling Pin operates a hospitality job portal connecting hotels, restaurants, cruise lines, and resorts with qualified candidates across the DACH region and international markets. The platform is complemented by a print and digital trade magazine (Rolling Pin Fachmagazin), a video masterclass library, a podcast series, the annual Rolling Pin.Convention event, and the Rolling Pin.Awards program. The company also offers a Top Arbeitgeber employer certification program and a Top-Supplier Directory serving as a B2B marketplace for hospitality industry suppliers.

Product overview

ROLLING PIN is a multi-platform media company serving the German-speaking hospitality and gastronomy industry, combining a job portal with a trade magazine and professional events ecosystem. The core offering consists of the Rolling Pin Jobportal (thousands of hospitality positions), the Rolling Pin Fachmagazin (industry magazine), and the Rolling Pin Member subscription. These are supported by the Rolling Pin.Awards (annual industry awards), Rolling Pin.Conventions (professional events), podcast series, video masterclass platform, and Top-Supplier directory. The platform reaches over 150,000 members, processes 900,000+ job searches annually, and maintains 200,000+ social media followers, positioning itself as the leading career and industry hub for hotel and restaurant professionals in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Rolling Pin.Conventions: Annual industry convention for hospitality and gastronomy professionals
• Rolling Pin.Awards

Products and services

• Rolling Pin Jobportal

Quantifiable outcome

• 97% customer satisfaction rate among platform users
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• sea chefs Human Resources Services GmbHcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributorsea chefs is a major cruise crew management company operating on the Rolling Pin platform as an employer, posting hundreds of positions across MS EUROPA, EUROPA 2, and Hapag-Lloyd Cruises expedition fleet (HANSEATIC nature, HANSEATIC inspiration, HANSEATIC spirit). They represent one of the largest employers on the platform for cruise ship hospitality positions.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Falstaff: Austrian-founded wine, gastronomy, and travel media group with a print magazine, digital platform, and industry awards. Comparable to Rolling Pin as a DACH-rooted media brand serving the gastronomy and hospitality community with editorial content and recognition programs.
• LinkedIn: Global professional network that increasingly serves as a recruitment channel for hospitality hiring in DACH. Competes with Rolling Pin in employer job posting and candidate sourcing, though as part of a much broader generalist offering rather than a specialty vertical.
• Der Feinschmecker: German gastronomy and food culture magazine with editorial coverage, restaurant guides, and industry recognition. Comparable to Rolling Pin's Fachmagazin and Awards products as a DACH-based trade media brand for the gastronomy community.
• Indeed: Global generalist job search engine with strong DACH presence via indeed.de. Competes with Rolling Pin for hospitality employer job posting budgets by offering broader reach across industries and geographies.

Direct peers

• Gastrojob: Swiss hospitality and gastronomy job platform focused on the DACH region. Direct competitor in the same specialty vertical (gastronomy/hospitality recruitment) and overlapping employer customer base in Switzerland, Austria, and Germany.
• Caterer.com: UK-based hospitality and catering job board operating a similar employer-paid job posting model for hotels, restaurants, and contract caterers. Closely comparable in product (specialty job portal), target customer (hospitality employers and job seekers), and revenue model.
• Hcareers: Long-established specialty job board for the hospitality industry in North America. Directly comparable to Rolling Pin as a vertical-specific recruitment platform serving hotels, restaurants, and culinary professionals with a similar two-sided employer/candidate marketplace model.
• eHotelier: Hospitality industry jobs board and content platform with a global footprint. Comparable to Rolling Pin in combining hospitality recruitment with editorial/news content for industry professionals.
• Hotelcareer: Hospitality-focused job portal operating in German-speaking and other European markets. Directly comparable to Rolling Pin in vertical, geography overlap, and employer-candidate marketplace mechanics.

Regional players

• Karriere.at: Austria's leading generalist job board, headquartered in Linz. Overlaps with Rolling Pin in the Austrian employer and job seeker market for hospitality roles, though Karriere.at serves all industries while Rolling Pin specializes in hospitality.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/rollingpin

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Rolling Pin