Valora significantly expands returnable cup system in Switzerland

Coffee is one of the best-selling products at Valora. As part of its sustainability strategy, the foodvenience provider has therefore set itself the goal of offering reusable alternatives and promoting circularity. By mid-2024, almost 200 Valora sales outlets in Switzerland are expected to be participating in kooky’s digital cup smart system. The k kiosk, Press & Books and avec retail formats are now also taking part.

Coffee lovers can currently purchase a kooky cup from 19 Brezelkönig, Caffè Spettacolo and SuperGuud sales outlets. The outlets of these three food service formats will be offering the digital cup smart system at 30 SBB stations and 20 other locations by 2023. 

By the end of 2024, around 150 k kiosk, Press & Books and avec sales outlets will also be participating. Outlets close to the train station in Bern’s city centre will make a start in mid-October. Additional outlets in Zurich, Basel and St. Gallen will follow this year.

Customers get the reusable kooky cup together with a hot drink against payment of a deposit. A QR code is then scanned on the cup and a telephone number is stored once. The cup is returned via the boxes developed by kooky, which are located in the vicinity of the sales outlets. The deposit is credited electronically upon return. It can also be conveniently paid out by bank transfer or donated to the WWF.

Valora is the first company in Switzerland to offer such a circular model with a returnable solution. Availability and convenience are decisive factors determining acceptance of a returnable system. Success also requires the willingness of customers to deposit the kooky cup at the return boxes so new cups do not have to be fed into the system on a regular basis.

This media release is available online at www.valora.com/newsroom.

About Valora
Each and every day, around 15,000 employees in the Valora network work to brighten up their customers’ journey with a comprehensive foodvenience offering – nearby, quick, convenient and fresh. The around 2,700 small-scale points of sale of Valora are located at highly frequented locations in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The company includes, among others, k kiosk, Brezelkönig, BackWerk, Ditsch, Press & Books, avec, Caffè Spettacolo and the popular own brand ok.– as well as a continuously growing range of digital services. Valora is also one of the world’s leading producers of pretzels and benefits from a well-integrated value chain in the area of baked goods. In 2021, Valora generated annual external sales of CHF 2.2 billion. The Group’s registered office is in Muttenz, Switzerland. The registered shares of Valora Holding AG (VALN) are traded on SIX Swiss Exchange AG.

More information is available at www.valora.com.

About kooky
kooky is the digital cup smart system that is geared to the needs of today’s consumers and restaurateurs. The Swiss start-up has developed the first intelligent returnable system with its own digital return infrastructure. To avoid isolated solutions in the future, it also makes it possible for existing systems to be integrated into the kooky infrastructure. kooky, a brand of CEBS Ltd., was founded in 2021 by Torge Barkholtz, Maximilian Zott and Dmytro Boguslavskyy. The company is building the leading infrastructure for the returnable circular economy to enable waste-free consumption.

For more information, visit kooky2go.com.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact:

Media Relations
Martin Zehnder
Fon +41 61 467 24 53
[email protected]