Kitchens for a Hundred

Although industrialisation started relatively early in Switzerland, canteens were unknown until the beginning of the 20th century. Workers either took something from home or their wives brought something to the factory gate. The food was eaten next to the machines at the workplace.
The first staff restaurant in Switzerland was established in 1918 at the Bühler machine factory. Two years earlier, «Soldatenstuben» were set up to cater for soldiers during the First World War - this was the beginning of what later became the SV group.
The staff restaurant and the «Soldatenstuben» were restaurant-style institutions. Self-service was first established in 1922 and gained popularity at the Saffa in Bern in 1928. The 50s were characterised by increased efficiency in system catering and menus got standardised. At the same time, companies from the service sector, such as insurance companies and banks, started offering canteen catering. This went hand in hand with the adaptation to English working hours, which means that the lunch break became shorter. Staff had to give up lunch at home and find a new way to eat during a short break, which they found in the canteen. Inspired by fast food companies in the USA, the «Silberkugel» opened in 1962.
Over time, the canteen became more than just a place to eat, but a place where conversations can be held across hierarchies and office units. It is also seen as an investment in the health and satisfaction of employees and thus becomes a sign of attractive employers. On the other hand, canteens are expensive and usually not the company's core business. Therefore, it is common to outsource these tasks to specialists. The limit here is about 400 meals per day. Smaller companies can either use catering services or the cheaper meal vouchers that their employees can spend in small restaurants.
There are four major canteen specialists in the Swiss market: SV Group, Eldora, Copass and ZFV. If you eat in an employee restaurant in Zurich, it is very likely that you will eat in one of these four places. Exceptions are, for example, the schools, where the city always hires the cooks itself.
SV Group is the largest with about 300 restaurants and 22 million meals per year. It is followed by Eldora with about 260 restaurants, Compass with about 150 restaurants and ZFV with about 180 restaurants. For comparison: McDonald has 170 restaurants in Switzerland with more than 100 million guests per year. The sales of SV Group and McDonald's are both around 750 million Swiss francs.

(1) - Zum Wohle der Arbeiter, Sergio Aiolfi, NZZ, 12.01.2018
(2) - «Da ging ein Ruck durchs Unternehmen» , NZZ, 11.06.2019
(3) - «Am Schluss entscheidet immer der Gast» , NZZ am Sonntag, 05.10.2014
(4) - Der Neubau für den Hauptsitz der Zürcher Kantonalbank, Schweizerische Bauzeitung, 89 (1971)

images
1, 2 - Zum Wohle der Arbeiter, Sergio Aiolfi, NZZ, 12.01.2018
3 - ETHzürich, Bildarchiv
4 - ETHzürich, Bildarchiv
5 - Annick Ramp, NZZ