Sathya, I understand you are originally from Chennai, India. What brought you to Schönried?

Sathya: I came to Switzerland in 2000 to do a bachelor’s degree at the Glion Hotel School and have been here ever since. I met my wife Linda, who comes from Schönried, in the Saanenland.

What made you decide to make ice cream?

Sathya: I always wanted to have a business of my own. To begin with I frequently made the Indian equivalent of ice cream – kulfi – for Linda and myself at home. The milk in the region is so good and an excellent basis for ice cream. This gave me the idea to develop kulfi as a local product using this wonderful milk. Linda and I made a few changes to the original kulfi recipe and developed our own unique product: Ruci, an ice cream with an Indian origin and an Indian flavour!

In 2015 we made a presentation to the Coop and, after tasting our ice cream, they really liked it. They decided it would make an interesting addition to the selection in their shops so, in April 2016, they placed their first order with us: we were commissioned to make ice creams for their supermarkets all over Switzerland.

Where do you make the ice cream? And what do you think makes it so special?

Sathya: We make it at the local milk cooperative in Saanen. This enables us to source the milk directly from the farmers in the Saanen and Gstaad areas. The cream comes from Schönried. The cows live in this wonderful environment, feeding off the lush green grass in the beautiful mountain pastures. Undoubtedly, the main ingredient – the milk – is really first class. We feel this is a significant plus for our ice creams and we carefully pick and choose the other ingredients.

How do people like the exotic flavours?

Linda: They like to try them. Not many people are familiar with mango in a milk-based ice cream as it is normally used in sorbets. That makes it both exotic and interesting. We use the Alphonsos mango, a variety from India that adds a creamy richness to the ice cream. People love it. Another flavour people are unfamiliar with is the almond ice cream – this is also popular. We have four kulfi flavours that contain cardamom – almond, mango, lassi and pistachio – and these are sold across Switzerland in major supermarket chains and grocery stores.

What different flavours of ice cream do you produce?

Sathya: We offer more than 30 flavours: almond, banana, bubble-gum, caramel, chocolate, coconut, coffee, hazelnut, lassi, mango, pistachio, raspberry, stracciatella, strawberry, vanilla and white chocolate, plus a range of other fruit flavours. We also provide special custom flavours to the hotels. In our Ruci gelateria stands we have at least 25 flavours for people to choose from.

Was the business aspect new to you or did you already have a business background?

Sathya: After I finished my hotel management course in Glion I  worked for eight months in the hotel industry, then switched to finance. I had nearly a decade of work experience in the finance sector, where I worked first as an analyst for a hedge-fund then, later, as a portfolio administrator at RH Finance in Saanen.

Have you received any help from the local community?

Sathya: Yes, indeed, many people from the local community have been very helpful. For example, we designed a unique wooden kiosk as a kind of symbol for Ruci itself. The local carpenters Bach and Perreten were very supportive and helped us create it. When you see our kiosks, they are immediately identifiable with Ruci ice cream.

We also received help from Gabriela Matti and Credit Suisse, who gave us permission to sell our ice cream in the Gstaad Promenade, where we have a kiosk at the moment. We are also grateful to Fuhrer Tobacco, Zwahlen-Hüni und Elizabeth Worbs for their kind support.

Are any of your local family involved with Ruci?

Linda: Yes, they are a great help, we have my parents, who live in

Schönried, and also my uncle (my father’s brother) and his wife, who live in Zurich. They love to come up to the region to help us. For example, during the recent Beach Volleyball in Gstaad, they staffed the Ruci stand for the whole week.

Where do you see Ruci in five years?

Sathya: Well, we would like Ruci to be a global brand, that’s for sure. In the short term, we would like to get it sold in as many places as possible in Switzerland; in the medium term we would like to extend to the European market and, in the long term, around the globe.

Would it be possible to scale the local supply you now have to serve this larger market?

Sathya: Absolutely. There’s a huge amount of milk available in Saanenland. We can still use the local Saanenland milk and continue to grow, that’s not a problem. As you possibly know, there are more cows in Saanenland than people. We realise that it’s an ambitious goal but we don’t think too much about it, we just do it! We try to do our best and what comes will come. We can’t really control anything in the end. But we do have our dream and our vision, which is to see Ruci as a global brand.

What is the legal structure of Ruci?

Sathya: We are a privately held SA. We found some good investors who believe in our project, so we decided to open our capital space a little. It is still majority-owned by the family but we also have a few shareholders, who are passionate about our project and involved with us. In the long run, we would like to be a public company listed on the stock market. Luckily for me, Linda is a great partner. She is very focused and gets things done. The atmosphere we have created within and around our company is very pleasant.

Do you need a patent and specific quality control to conform to the legal aspects regulating food production?

Linda: Yes. We have had to get certification from the federal authorities to produce and sell ice cream. They came to inspect the premises to see if they were suitable. We were also required to put in place a plan to ensure hygienic practices and our employees have to be trained, so they know the rules concerning, for instance, what they can/cannot do and what clothes have to be worn. The certification process is very straightforward and we’ve had great help from the federal authorities.

I see that you have included the Swiss cross in your Ruci logo. Do you have to meet any specific requirements to use it?

Linda: Yes. The regulations forbid the use of the Swiss cross unless a high percentage of the manufacturer’s ingredients are sourced from Switzerland. If you want to incorporate the Swiss cross in your trademark, you need at least 80% of your ingredients to be Swiss. We have such excellent products in this country and we are happy to support whatever is produced around us, especially up here in the Saanenland. We also want our brand, our ice cream, to be transparent – open and straight-forward so that our clients can see what it is, what’s in it and where it comes from.

Our Ruci logo incorporates several aspects but a significant feature is the Swiss cross. We wanted to use the Swiss cross because it is recognised internationally as a symbol of quality. Ruci is patented in Switzerland and is the trademark of the company.

I understand that Ruci is a Sanskrit word?

Sathya: The word Ruci is used in many Indian languages. It means “good taste”. I have great respect for Sanskrit. It’s one of the oldest languages and, as such, is a source language for many Indian and other languages. Sanskrit is not only an ancient literary language, it also gives form – a depth and reality – to its words. Hence: Ruci – good taste – our ice cream!