A 100-year old business is not only thriving, but also expanding. Hiltl, a restaurant established in Zürich in 1898, has defied multiple odds, including the fact that it’s a vegetarian and vegan restaurant in Switzerland, a nation of meat-lovers. The restaurant, known for its 100-item buffet, has an unusually high customer retention rate – from cradle to grave. Other vegetarian and vegan restaurants, until recently, have struggled to survive.
So what’s the secret? The first is Hiltl’s strong heritage. Mention it to any Züricher, and they’ll speak sentimentally of eating there as a child. Providing kid-friendly options and more importantly, an environment for them, and their parents, as well as the child-less crowd, is a fine balance. But, Rolf Hiltl, the fourth generation family member who runs the restaurant, says winning customers from birth is key.
“We wouldn't exist if we didn't provide for babies…we are a kid's favorite.”
That’s because Hiltl is more than a restaurant. For many, it’s a family tradition. It’s wide food offering, with snacks, international foods, and mix of healthy and non-healthy options, along with a reputation for high quality ingredients, and a welcoming atmosphere make Hiltl a standout. There are few places in Switzerland where everyone, fussy eaters included, can find something to eat.
Hiltl Buffet
The restaurant created a more formal, a la carte section, with sophisticated, plated dishes as well as modern seating and curved wooden tables, encouraging lingering.
Rolf says Hiltl puts customers first. “The most important thing we do is really, really listen to our customers. There's many ways to give us feedback. I just had a customer email asking why we have a certain dish on our a la carte menu and not on our buffet. We wondered the same thing, so we did it immediately.”
His personal replies to customer feedback, reinforces the familial feel, and warmth instilled in the Hiltl culture. It’s that non-tangible element that has kept customers coming their whole lives.
“We wanted this to be a nice place for old people. Family members send us messages thanking us for looking after them. we have people who come the last day of their lives. Recently, I went to the funeral of a customer who came here the week before. They said at the funeral, Hiltl was like a second home to him. He was 87 years old and started coming as a kid. He always said I was like a son to him.”
The older generation remember Rolf’s great-grandfather Ambrosius, who stopped eating meat to help ease his rheumatoid arthritis. He was advised a diet of raw vegetables, fruit and nuts could alleviate almost any ailment. The remedy was popularized by Maximilian Bircher-Benner, a Swiss physician and the same man who created the famous muesli.
Ambrosius ate so regularly at the Vegetarians' Home and Teetotaller Café in Zürich, that he bought and renamed it. Hiltl has come a long way since its original menu, weighted with potato, rice and flour-based dishes.
Even its Bircher muesli was made with sweetened, condensed milk, part of the original recipe.
The meatless menu appealed mostly to artists and writers who could afford little else, as well as those in ill health and the religiously observant.
Alex Radzyner grew up in Austria in the 50s and 60s. His family kept kosher, which meant trips to Zürich often included a visit to Hiltl.
“It was one of very few restaurants where we could eat whatever was on the menu and it was a treat. We didn't have to be careful about what we ordered there, at a time when there weren't many options. They served sophisticated dishes, like puff pastry with a mushroom cream sauce -- things you wouldn't make at home.”
Back in the 60s, when Rolf’s grandmother, Margrith helped run the restaurant, the family viewed their observant customers as a virtue.
“There is a synagogue nearby, and the rabbi told her there's a saying among the Jewish people in Zürich, which has preached to his congregation, ‘If you don't eat kosher, at least go to Hiltl.’ We even used the line for an ad in the local Jewish paper.”
It may be an institution, but a restaurant can’t survive on memories alone. For years, Hiltl was largely a lunch place, serving mostly women. Rolf knew, in order to keep up with notoriously expensive Swiss labor, and rising food costs, Hiltl had to serve more people, and more meals.
“When people think of vegetarian, they think of a small salad and juice for lunch. For 20 years, my goal was to get a 50-50 balance with lunch and dinner. Today we have it. We try to be an all day concept.”
Sourcing great coffee and preparing a breakfast buffet attracted a morning crowd. In the afternoon, Hiltl introduced something the Swiss do very well – pastries and cakes. Promoting the typically “dead” times with popular offerings, helped maximize Hiltl’s bottom line. It was also well positioned to take advantage of increasingly relaxed meal times, and the rising number of self-employed whose eating patterns fit around flexible schedules.
But the biggest boost has come from just one thing: alcohol. Rolf knew the only way to achieve a better male-female ratio was with a liquor license. Hiltl put beer and wine on the menu more than 20 years ago, legitimizing it as a place for dinner. Introducing a gourmet burger with fries and homemade ketchup, has also helped. Alcohol now represents more than 10 percent of the restaurant’s total turnover. And, it gave way to another use of Hiltl’s vast space – an after-hours nightclub with international DJ’s in the house on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, open til 4 or 5am, depending on how lively the party it is. The restaurant is open 6am until midnight, which means three days of the week, Hiltl is earning revenue practically 24 hours a day.
Hiltl Club
A daily stream of 2,000 customers sounds like a cash cow, but Rolf says its just one spoke - Hiltl’s catering, it’s library lined with 3,000 cookbooks(including its own), and cooking classes for adults and children in English as well as German all contribute cementing Hiltl’s strong brand identity as more of a destination, than a restaurant. Last year, with two nutritionists on staff, Hiltl began its formal academy, training professional chefs, including those from Switzerland’s largest caterer, in vegetarian and vegan cooking – a skill not taught at typical culinary schools in the country.
There are four Hiltl branches around Zürich, with plans for a fifth at the main train station by the end of this year. It also operates in London under the name tibits. And, its no surprise that there’s been interest from one of the foodie capitols of the world – New York, a venture the family may pursue in the next five years.
So, what would Great-grandfather Ambrosius have to say about all this?
“I hope he would like it. I don’t know what he would think about the parties until 4.30am with
