"[6] Haller enrolled in an apprenticeship when he was 16 years old,[7] and trained at the famed Park Hotel in the ski resort town of Davos, Switzerland.

[3] After graduating from high school at the age of 18, he served in the Swiss Army, and although World War II was raging he never saw combat.

[7] While working there as chef tournant (filling in as needed on stations in the kitchen), the hotel owner asked if he would move to Canada to cook at another company-owned property, and Haller readily agreed.

[5] Haller emigrated to the United States in 1953, where he worked as the chef saucier at the Royal Palms Inn in Phoenix, Arizona.

[9] Lyndon B. Johnson had stayed at the Ambassador Hotel when he was Vice President of the United States, and enjoyed Haller's cooking.

Because the federal government shifted the start of its fiscal year from May to October, Haller had little money to bring on additional staff to assist with the preparations and cooking.

[4] One of Haller's more difficult events was the dinner in September 1978 on the South Lawn to celebrate the signing of the Camp David Accords.

Haller was given just a week to plan, prepare, and cook a dinner for 1,300 people, an event which Rosalynn Carter's press secretary, Mary Holt, called "a nightmare".

[3] While working at the Dellwood Country Club, Haller met Carole Itjen, a dining room worker at a hotel on Martha's Vineyard.