Swiss Review 1/2021

Swiss Review / February 2021 / No.1 16 Society It was a huge success story. “Betty Bossi” magazine, which later became a subscription publication, continues to be read by hundreds of thousands of people. When tiramisu was first introduced as a dessert in 1984, tubs of mascar- pone quickly sold out around Switzerland. The first-ever Betty Bossi cookbook was published in 1973. Since then, 35 million Betty Bossi cookbooks have been sold, themost suc- cessful of these a book on baking cakes (1.35 million copies). If all the Betty Bossi cookbooks that have been sold were put in a line one after the other, they would stretch from Switzerland to the USA. Consider your own home. When you tidy your kitchen drawers, do you al- ways seem to find one of her cook- books, magazines or recipe cuttings hidden away somewhere? Or do your rolling pin guides, your pastry cutters, or – worst case – your waffle maker come tumbling out when you open one of your cupboards? Yes, Betty Bossi also excels in producing and sell- ing kitchen utensils such as these. The saviour of lonely households, the all- in-one cure for food boredom, the guardian of the holy grill. Whatever you like to call her, Betty Bossi is alive and kicking. As a business, Betty Bossi has always been cutting edge. From television cookery shows to online platforms, to gluten-free food. In 2012, she became a 100 per cent subsid- iary of Coop, one of Switzerland’s two supermarket giants. Betty Bossi AG employs 120 people in Basel and Zurich. The company generated net sales of 89 million Swiss francs in 2019. You will see Betty Bossi around any Coop supermar- ket. The brand comprises over 600 different products. In addition to baking items, Betty Bossi also offers a range of convenience foods such as salads, sandwiches and ready- made meals. For decades, Betty Bossi taught Swiss households the art of cooking. Suddenly she now wants to serve us fast food. Is that not a gigantic contradiction? There is probably no al- ternative – it is hard to contradict Betty Bossi spokeswoman Viviane Bühr when she says that life is completely different now from60 years ago. People are less active. They no longer want to stand in the kitchen for two hours every day either. As Bühr points out, the Swiss like to follow global food and lifestyle trends. Those hearty flour-based sauces belong to yesteryear. The “Bettys and Bossis”, as Bühr calls the com- panyworkforce, identify and incorporate these trends into new recipes and food products. To continue to exist in fu- ture, she says that they need tomovewith the times like all companies. This philosophy has worked a treat so far. “We are doing really well for a company of our size. Betty Bossi is in a great place,” she says. Certainly, no onewould resent Betty Bossi for trying to stay relevant. At least being an ageless, made-up character gives her an advantage. But howwill shemaster this quest?What does the future hold? Her competitors are lining up – how will they respond? No one had heard of food blogs when Betty Bossi began her career as an influencer. Cookbooks were nowhere near as common as they are now. Are classic recipes such as lemon drizzle cake and pork fillets still enough for Betty to hold her own? DÖLF BARBEN IS AN EDI TOR FOR “DER BUND” Betty Bossi in figures Around 2,500 new recipes are created every year at the Betty Bossi kitchens in Basel and Zurich. “Betty Bossi” magazine is published ten times a year and has a print run of 540,000, making it Switzerland’s biggest paid-for publication. The Betty Bossi website is visited three million times per month, but this number has been much higher since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. People also view Betty Bossi recipes via a daily email newsletter that goes out to 520,000 different addresses. (DB) Food photographers serve up appetising images of “influencer” Betty Bossi’s cooking feats.