ViCAFE began in Eglisau, the home of Vivi Kola, a Swiss cola bottled there from 1938 to 1986. In 2010 Christian Forrer and Kurt Lambert revived Vivi Kola and, in parallel, founded a coffee company that roasted in small batches for regional businesses and served espresso in its own Eglisau coffee shop. Growing demand soon moved the roastery into the town’s old railway station building.

In 2014 the founders, with Benedikt Hess, Silvio Mattanza and Ramon Schalch as managing director, opened the first espresso bar in Zurich at Goldbrunnenplatz. It introduced the “window concept”: specialty coffee to go, served through a window onto the street, as in Italy. There are 19 espresso bars, fifteen in Zurich and the rest in Basel, Lausanne and Eglisau, some with seating. To keep the menu simple there is one milk drink, the flat white, in three sizes, each built on a double shot.

The roastery moved in April 2019 into a former SBB train workshop in Altstetten. Today the SBB Werkstatt Areal holds the roastery, the bakery, the flagship coffee bar and the academy’s barista workshops under one roof. ViCAFE has roasted on a 35 kg Loring S35 Kestrel since 2018, and its two roasters, Ruben and Christoph, are certified Q Graders; Christoph Meier is the Swiss Roasting Champion 2026. Each coffee is roasted on its own and blended only after roasting, and the Hausmischung, roasted since 2010, is the bestseller.

ViCAFE is part of ViCOLLECTIVE AG, a certified B Corp since February 2024. For every kilogram of coffee sold it donates to the independent ViFOUNDATION for farming communities, and it co-founded Gutsch, a cooperative making oat drink from Swiss organic oats. The beans are also sold in over 800 Swiss supermarkets, among them Coop and Migros.

Locations

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View a larger map© OpenStreetMap contributors
  1. ViCAFE Rösterei & KaffeebarHohlstrasse 418, Zürich 8048AltstettenOpen in Google Maps
  2. ViCAFE BahnhofstrasseBahnhofstrasse 93, Zürich 8001BahnhofstrasseOpen in Google Maps
  3. ViCAFE BellevueTheaterstrasse 14, Zürich 8001BellevueOpen in Google Maps
  4. ViCAFE BeethovenBeethovenstrasse 35, Zürich 8002EngeOpen in Google Maps
  5. ViCAFE Campus IrchelWinterthurerstrasse 190, Zürich 8057IrchelOpen in Google Maps
  6. ViCAFE Campus RondellRämistrasse 71, Zürich 8006University of ZurichOpen in Google Maps
  7. ViCAFE Campus ZHdKPfingstweidstrasse 96, Zürich 8005Zürich WestOpen in Google Maps
  8. ViCAFE EuropaalleeEisgasse 20, Zürich 8004EuropaalleeOpen in Google Maps
  9. ViCAFE GeroldGeroldstrasse 17, Zürich 8005Zürich WestOpen in Google Maps
  10. ViCAFE GoldbrunnenBirmensdorferstrasse 240, Zürich 8003GoldbrunnenplatzOpen in Google Maps
  11. ViCAFE KweerSpitalgasse 14, Zürich 8001NiederdorfOpen in Google Maps
  12. ViCAFE MünsterhofMünsterhof 20, Zürich 8001MünsterhofOpen in Google Maps
  13. ViCAFE OerlikonSchulstrasse 44, Zürich 8050OerlikonOpen in Google Maps
  14. ViCAFE RöschibachRöschibachstrasse 79, Zürich 8037WipkingenOpen in Google Maps
  15. ViCAFE ZollhausZollstrasse 121, Zürich 8005ZollhausOpen in Google Maps

Elsewhere

  1. ViCAFE CentralbahnplatzCentralbahnplatz 9, Basel 4051Centralbahnplatz, BaselOpen in Google Maps
  2. ViCAFE EglisauUntergass 13, Eglisau 8193Eglisau, EglisauOpen in Google Maps
  3. ViCAFE MarktplatzMarktplatz 11, Basel 4001Marktplatz, BaselOpen in Google Maps
  4. ViCAFE St. FrançoisPl. Saint-François 1, Lausanne 1003Saint-François, LausanneOpen in Google Maps

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: ViCAFE