I am in Ticino and looking at opening at the potential of opening an Indian Restaurant.

A few opinions:
1) Are there any Indian Restaurants in Switzerland and if so which Towns?
2) Would the Swiss be interested in eating Indian?
3) Ticino is obviously the Italian region so wondered if an Italian palet would just not eat Indian?

1) Google "Indian restaurant curry Zurich" and do a search for "Indian restaurant curry" on this forum
2) Linked to 1)
3) Not really 100% sure there but two of my Italian colleagues really like Indian food, so the signs are there!

A Google search would be be the best way to find out which towns Indian restaurants are in.

Wth regard to your second question, I can't see Indian ever being so popular here, as generally speaking, tolerance here for spicey food is low.

That said, there are lots of expats from the southern Asia, as well as from the UK and US, in Zurich and probably Basel too, who would be more than happy to frequent a decent Indian restaurant. I know I would!

Speaking for Basel, there are several Indian restaurants but only one is halfway decent - Mandhir, over by Spalentor. I also like it because smoking is banned inside.

There are Indian restaurants about. They include one at the top of Jungfraujoch! (See pic)

There are quite many Indian restaurants in Switzerland, mainly in cities like Zurich, Lucerne, Berne, Basel, Lausanne and Geneva, but also in some small towns. They are quite successful so that it is obvious that the Swiss are interested in eating Indian.
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As you can see in Milano, many people of Italian origin like Indian cuisine. Lugano is a nice city but a bit boring in regard to restaurants. An Indian restaurant would be interesting I think. It in fact might attract the Swiss-German / German-German community (quite big in the Lugano area) in a big way I suppose.

The Indian restaurant Business Idea.

I have access to Indian chefs in the UK.
I have plenty of accomodation.

The business idea I had was that I believe that restaurants are not doing very well in Switzerland (perhaps the recession is even hitting them); well they seem empty to me.

My proposal was to go round selective restaurants in large towns and offer to do an Indian Meal Nights.
I would supply the chefs, spices, food and special equipment and do initially "Eat as much as you like evenings" at a different restaurant every night and split the profits with the owners of the restaurants on some sort of basis (that still has to be worked out).

This would give me the opportunity to test the market with very little capital outlay and comittment with regard to leases and licences etc etc.

By the way is there a demand for Take Aways or Home Deliver Service in Switzerland?

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> the restaurants I see here around are nicely full
> there are quite many Take Aways and Home Delivery Services in the Zurich area

If prices are reasonable, I'd be your customer in the Lausanne area!
:-)

In response to this idea...
Indian Chefs in the UK are not Permit B holders. I am sure you will try to get around this, but if you are caught, I would hate to be you.
The average Swiss restaraunt is taking in about 10%, it's why there are alot closing. Also, it's either the Zurich area or Switzerland as a whole, I can't remember, has more restaurants per capita then anywhere else in europe. There are a few very cool Indian restaurants in Zurich. Take out does exist, and also if you are a take out or delivery your tax is lower then a regular restaurant.
The problem with making a restaurant in Switzerland is many actually. Making a bank, where you pay some highly qualified people to handle millions of dollars is smart. But here the miniumum wage is so high, compared to the actual hours of service, you need to make sure you are either in a high volume foot traffic area, or densely populated with low competition. And there fore being placed in a high traffic area means your rent is always high.
Also, this country is like a police state. Except middle eastern countries, every where in the modern world alcohol makes up from 50 to 60% of the total sales. This country has almost zero tolerance laws. So there is far less drinking. When you eat you drink, and when you drink you eat more. But if almost every one at the table is having one glass, or those ridiculous 3 dl marked wine glasses you barely get a sip on, well it's why some restauranters charge you for water out of the tap. For me, eating out in Switzerland has not been very enjoyable. It feels like eating out in a city under seige and they are charging you 10 times more serving 10 times less then before. I had a great meal last week, but the bill came up to 345 francs for 2 people. This is the most I have ever spent in my life. And I have eaten at some great places before. I am rambling...

As far as going out to restaurants, unless you are renting a kitchen, and at a banquet hall or volkshaus, I don't think this is going to fly. Restaurants pay insurance to the government and privately to cover their workers in case of injuries. If one of your cooks, here, with out a permit, injures himself, that restaurant owner is going to be in a real ---- storm with the liebensmittel inspector and the gemeindehaus. Not to mention the police. Also, there is hygene to consider too, this goes along with the permits. Most the time you have to pass a medical screening before being granted a work or residency permit to another country. But if you pass some one over the border, who is from where ever, and possibly not in the healthiest state, you are passing along that risk to the customers, and again, the restauranteur will have to bare that burden after you have left.

In the state, where I am from, in the states, all food workers that have on record a venerial disease, past or present, are not allowed to work with food. There are other illnesses that apply to this as well, but these laws are there for a reason.
As far as I can see you are not a registered business. If you do catering out of the back of your house or the like it's one thing, but if you operate a kitchen here, with out HAACP training, or ServSafe, or are registered with the Swiss government, they aren't going to let any ole joe off the street and come in a and play Chef.
There are plenty of legal Sri Lanken, Pakistani, and Indian cooks here in Switzerland. If I were you I would try to network with them about where to try your idea. They are familiar with the rules of the system here, and know people far and wide. In Baden there is a large Tamil population that knows a cook and where to cook.
As far as bringing in your food this is not allowed. All food must be trace able, thus the HAACP guidelines. We don't know where you got your spices from, and if any one gets sick the buck stops at the last track able source, you or the kitchen. There's no way to tell if you food or spices have been inspected, or have been conditioned in a lab. It's not hygenic or safe.
Again with the take aways and delivery service...ever heard of Pizza?
By the way, are you a chef?
I hope I don't sound rude, but I take my job and serving people very seriously. Making a business anywhere in europe, especially a restaurant, especially in Switzerland, is real work. People aren't playing games with their livelihood. And the fact I am working in a field where I handle the safety of some one who has some trust in me to prepare their food not only in a creative and appetizing standard, but in a hygenic one as well is a real honor.



>>>>The Indian restaurant Business Idea.

I have access to Indian chefs in the UK.
I have plenty of accomodation.

The business idea I had was that I believe that restaurants are not doing very well in Switzerland (perhaps the recession is even hitting them); well they seem empty to me.

My proposal was to go round selective restaurants in large towns and offer to do an Indian Meal Nights.
I would supply the chefs, spices, food and special equipment and do initially "Eat as much as you like evenings" at a different restaurant every night and split the profits with the owners of the restaurants on some sort of basis (that still has to be worked out).

This would give me the opportunity to test the market with very little capital outlay and comittment with regard to leases and licences etc etc.

By the way is there a demand for Take Aways or Home Deliver Service in Switzerland?

Confloozed, excellent response and thank you for the information. I'm a Hotelier myself and have encountered such challenges before but not as much as you mention that exist here in Switzerland.

Are you still in the business? With the knowledge and attention that you have shared, I am sure your customers are very well taken care of.

Restaurants are also the object of regular and precise scrutiny, by the various 'multiple' authorities with regard to employees without work permits. Also food must be traceable, and I know some incidents where the establishment was closed with huge penalty sums. Read this often in the local newspapers.
Best wishes

Hello Me,
Yes I am, also starting a new job this fall near Zurich, at a school actually. The Swiss inspectors are apparently more difficult then we have in the states. It's not say that restauranteurs are more perfect, but the bar is set higher here.

There are plenty of Indian restaurants around Zürich. Some are quite succesful. In contrast to the chefs you are planning to fly in, the guys who run these restaurants understand local tastes and the way things work here. Do you really think you can compete with them on their own turf?

I don't know where you've been hanging out but I've seen none of this. I see heavy drinking all the time and none of the "zero tolerance" you refer to in relation to that (unless maybe if you're going to drive - but that is just plain common sense).

If you open a restauarant here, you can probably find a brewery that will sponsor a hefty part of your start-up costs in return for an exclusive supplier agreement for the first couple of years. If people weren't drinking, what would be in it for the brewery?

It matters not, for the stools are also higher.

What I regard as strange is to talk about Indian chefs in England, while there are quite many and really good Indian chefs here in Switzerland. People who have lived in Switzerland for many years and know things, and some even are married to Swiss wifes. And I also regard the notion as strange that take-aways were unknown in Switzerland.

"I don't know where you've been hanging out but I've seen none of this. I see heavy drinking all the time and none of the "zero tolerance" you refer to in relation to that (unless maybe if you're going to drive - but that is just plain common sense)."

If you are in major city like Zurich you have great public transportation system, so you can get as bashed as you like. However, rent is thru the roof. I am not talking about bars, it's a different thing. What sort of restaurants are you going to where there is heavy drinking and eating? Curious.
The Zero tolerance is more then common sense, it's a near death sentence for restaurants. When people come in, and order one glass at the maximum of wine, and the food, it doesn't cover all the expenses of the house. If people drank more, whatever the liquid is, it would keep more places in business. There is not a hoard of snack type trucks or businesses going under, because they are not service bound, and often times rent as well. I can't argue with the places you eat at, assuming you know their financials as well, but of the many restaurant wners I ave met, talked to, and do know their financials, people aren't drinking as much. I have worked at more upscale places, and wine is definitive anchor for their operations. The demographics for people who are buying a filet and a red, and people buying the Swiss Cordon Bleu and a beer, often lend to more people driving and perhaps older then 25, then the lattter group.





If you open a restauarant here, you can probably find a brewery that will sponsor a hefty part of your start-up costs in return for an exclusive supplier agreement for the first couple of years. If people weren't drinking, what would be in it for the brewery?"

Thank you for the information so far.

The reason that I was considering Indian restaurants is that I have not seen any Indian restauarnts in Ticino at all. I have not actually come accross many Indians or Pakistanis whilst in Ticino and assumed that they were in the country as toursits.
I actually understand that 70% of the Indian Restaurants in the UK are actually run and owned by Pakistanis, not Indians.
I also understand that Indian food as we know it in UK restauarnts is totally different to Indian food cooked by Indians from back home and hence using an English - Indian/Pakistani Chef if that makes sense.

From the posts I see on here, there are such contradictory statements (which I actually appreciate because I have to think about the risks) such as some claiming restaurants have 10% occupancy and some are full.

My basis as mentioned before of running the Indian Night at existing restaurants was exactly the purpose of not having to outlay large sums of capital regarding getting legislative approval as that would all be in place.

Regarding the remarks that I would have illegal imigrants working; the point is that the chefs have English Nationality/Passports so under these EEC treaties that the Swiss have signed up for (which I am actually against - that is another story) that would not be a problem I would assume.

I must say that so far , you have put me off the idea as I did not realise there were Indian Restaurants in Switzerland or at least maybe only one in Zurich, Bern and Basle.

Well, yes and no. They may be good chefs, but they mostly cook Indian food to Swiss tastes, which means a much lighter hand with the spices. I'm not blaming them - of course they have to cook what they can sell! - but that's why English people (in particular) complain so much about the difficulty of getting a "proper" curry over here, and why they occasionally fantasize about importing an Indian chef from England to remedy the situation.

Is this the place to mention the cosy little place in Interlaken, with signs out the front written in Punjabi and Urdu, where the food, cooked by Indians for Indians is quite simply the best curry I've eaten outside Leicester?

No... on second thoughts, I don't think it is. I don't want all the EF riff-raff descending on the place and preventing me from getting a seat...

There's Indian, and there's Indian. And then, of course, there's Bangladeshi...

Show me an 'Indian' chef in Zurich, and I'll show you a man who puts pineapples in his curry...

Come to Leicester or Birmingham with me sometime, Mr Hofener, and I'll show you what I mean...

Bugger the Indian food. Bring in some Mexicans and start a taco/burrito stand. That or a decent BBQ place. You'll have every American for miles around throwing sacks of cash at you.