Podcast episode #7 – Building a bagel company in Switzerland with Vicki Kirn from Arbuckles bagels

Ever thought of building a business in something you are passionate about? Cos that is exactly how Vicki Kirn started, when she founded Arbuckles bagels in Basel, Switzerland. Vicki’s bagel company is all about bringing bagels back to your home. Whether you are an expatriate in Switzerland feeling homesick, or a foodie who enjoys a good bagel, Vicki got your back.

What makes Vicki’s bagel company stand out?

Phyllis Arbuckle Zell, a grandmother of Vicki, had a way to make everyone welcome on her table. That is a value, which Vicki represents with her bagel company, producing hand made bagels of the highest quality. To deliver on her grandma’s value, Vicki not only creates hand made bagels, but also takes extra time to engage with her customers. Thanks to social media, local workshops and direct engagement with her clients, Vicki makes regularly new creations in response to her customer’s taste.
Furthermore, Arbuckles bagels is active also in Swiss communities. Whether in your local markets, or through employment of immigrant women, Vicki’s bagel company aims to create a positive impact on every step of its journey to your home.

Challenges of building a bagel company in Switzerland

Doing hand made bagels is a timely and therefore costly process. It requires a lot of optimizing and structuring processes around limited resources. Keeping costs low is, of course, a constant challenge. Furthermore, Vicki is an expatriate and a mother to a little baby, which makes growing business a different challenge altogether. Yet, Vicki continues to prove that everything is possible if you are passionate about what you are doing and are pragmatic about how you run a business.

Next steps

2020 will be a year of tough decisions, but also opportunities for Arbuckles bagels. If you’d like to learn more from Vicki on how is it to build a bagel company in Switzerland and what is the experience so far, you may want to check out Vicki’s blog: Arbubcles blog. Or, you can hear all about it in our podcast episode above and below. And don’t forget to share with us your ideas in the comment section below.

If you want to reach out to Vicki, you can do so via:
E-mail: bagels@arbuckles.ch
Facebook: @ArbucklesBagels
Instagram: @arbuckles_bagels

…And if you are curious as what is Help’n’Trade, read our blog post, where we introduced Help’n’Trade.

If you want to stay in touch or appear on the podcast, check our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/helpandtrade.
Also, don’t forget to check our platform: https://helpntrade.com

00:00 – Intro
00:18 – Introducing Arbuckles bagles
02:27 – Status of Vicki’s bagel company
04:58 – Critical challenges in 2020
06:08 – The roots of Vicky’s passion for bagels
08:47 – How to enter a business without prior skills and knowledge
10:11 – Arbuckles’ economics and structure of processes
12:29 – Using social media to grow the business
15:06 – The added value of artisan products and the vision of Arbuckles
18:10 – What experts advise would Vicky look for
20:10 – Developing your product
22:48 – Wrap up and parting remarks

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