Wirtschaftsforum: Mr. Waltenspühl, Kuhn Rikon was founded as early as 1819. Did the company's story begin with cookware?

Peter Waltenspühl: No, the company was established in 1926. Previously, it was a spinning mill which had been transformed into a metalworking plant in 1899 when the textile industry in Switzerland increasingly came under pressure. It soon specialized in cookware, especially copper pans and pots which were galvanized. The company in its present form was established in 1926: After the company was rebuilt following a major fire, it was sold to the engineer Heinrich Kuhn, who then founded the corporation. After his early death in 1935, his two young sons took over the company. Henri Kuhn was still attending high school then, and his brother Jacques, who was studying in the USA, returned to Rikon in 1947 to join the company.

Wirtschaftsforum: What happened with the products during this period?

Peter Waltenspühl: Very important was the development in 1927 of the first cookware for electric stoves under the name Duro. 1949 saw one of our most significant products, the DUROMATIC®. With the development of this pressure cooker, we were one of the first in Europe. Today in Switzerland, the name stands for pressure cookers. In 1975, Kuhn Rikon introduced the double-walled cookware DUROTHERM® to the market and developed a new cooking process with soft cooking: The food is initially heated very strongly, then the pot is removed from the stove and the contents are left to cook further. This gentle, healthy, and energy-efficient way of cooking is an earlier form of low-temperature cooking.

Wirtschaftsforum: When did the company start to internationalize?

Peter Waltenspühl: In 1980, we established our first subsidiary in England, although the DUROMATIC® had been exported to foreign markets earlier. In 1983, another subsidiary followed in Spain and in 1988 in the USA. Today, our core export markets are Spain and North America. In Spain, we are particularly known for our frying pans and pressure cookers, and in the USA for kitchen gadgets. Just this year, we introduced pots and pans there. In Germany and France, we are somewhat well known. In the coming years, we want to focus on selected markets such as Germany and England.

Wirtschaftsforum: Kuhn Rikon was a co-founder of the Tibet-Institut Rikon. How did that come about?

Peter Waltenspühl: In 1964, Henri and Jacques Kuhn took in Tibetan refugees after China had invaded Tibet. They offered them not only jobs and housing but also wanted them to feel at home in Rikon. For this reason, Henri Kuhn and his wife Mathilde traveled to the Dalai Lama, who recommended they build a monastery, a spiritual center. Hence, the company built the first Tibetan monastery in Switzerland. During all his visits to Switzerland, the Dalai Lama visited the Kuhn family there.

Wirtschaftsforum: A beautiful story. Is the company still owned by the Kuhn family?

Peter Waltenspühl: Kuhn Rikon is still family-owned, but it has passed to the Auwärter family through marriage. The original spirit of the company has been passed down through four generations, and that is still felt today. The values and cultural principles have remained the same. This is evident, for example, in our high proportion of female employees, which is 56%. Being a family-owned business, with an owning family that has managed the business with great passion and ensured continuity over generations, is a major success factor. The growth has always been within reasonable limits. Our size as an SME is an advantage for us.

Wirtschaftsforum: What products does your portfolio include today?

Peter Waltenspühl: Our range includes pots and pans, cooking utensils, cutting utensils, fondue and raclette dishes, and ceramics. Since 2017, the company Rheinfelder Keramik, known for its fondue dishes popular in Germany and Switzerland, belongs to Kuhn Rikon. Our product highlights continue to be DUROMATIC® and DUROTHERM®.

Wirtschaftsforum: What particularly distinguishes Kuhn Rikon?

Peter Waltenspühl: Our core products, which include the insulated bowl HOTPAN®, are unique selling points. They demonstrate our high level of innovation. Overall, Kuhn Rikon stands for quality. The Swiss brand is a seal of approval. We produce a significant portion of our cookware in Switzerland.

Wirtschaftsforum: How important are sustainable products to you?

Peter Waltenspühl: Sustainability is extremely important to our company and is a high priority. We have just adopted a sustainability strategy. Our frying pan, made from 100% recycled aluminum, is an innovation in our sustainable orientation. The ingenious aspect is that it is also technically superior to other aluminum pans. The material has excellent heat conductivity and significantly better strength compared to conventional aluminum.

Wirtschaftsforum: Where does the company stand in the market today?

Peter Waltenspühl: In Switzerland, we are the number one in our industry. According to a current market survey, we are among the ten strongest Swiss companies.

Wirtschaftsforum: Does digitalization play a significant role in your company?

Peter Waltenspühl: Definitely, with the products themselves, in sales, and in communication and marketing. In the area of communication, we are already well-established globally, and we operate a very well utilized webshop. Early on, we considered where digitalization could be applied to our products. With V-Zug, one of the largest manufacturers of kitchen appliances in Switzerland, we developed a system where the HOTPAN® or DUROMATIC® communicates with the cooktop via Bluetooth and an app.

Wirtschaftsforum: Finally, a look into the future. What plans do you have for the coming years?

Peter Waltenspühl: We want to expand the e-commerce sector. There is a clear growth trend; there is a redistribution from brick-and-mortar to online. Traditional retail must offer new forms of shopping experiences, and the same applies to online commerce. In Switzerland and Spain, we already have our own outlets. We want to establish such shops in all our core and target markets. We will continue to advance the issue of sustainability. We have launched initial products that are getting off to a good start, especially in Germany. These are New Life products, which require 95% less energy during production. We have many more ideas 'in the pot' on this topic. Our goal is to reduce our CO2 footprint to zero. Our strategy is designed to become CO2-neutral worldwide by 2026. We will also develop new innovative products that we will introduce to a recycling cycle.