23 August 2021. Many memorable things can happen over the course of a day at the HSG campus. In the past, what you ate was rarely one of them. HSG alumna Anna Grassler wants to change this. She is the general manager of the food startup FELFEL, which provides meals, snacks and drinks to the new Learning Centre’s visitors. The special thing about FELFEL is that the food is bought directly from a fridge operated via an app and so is available 24 hours a day. FELFEL has installed two of these fridges in the Learning Centre along with two coffee machines from their new brand Gavetti.

"I’m really excited about this collaboration", Grassler says. FELFEL aims to bring people together. That is why the variety of products in the fridge is so big. "This way, there is something for everyone and all stakeholders can come together”, she adds. As the central meeting place for students, alumni and residents, the Learning Centre is “the perfect place of the FELFEL fridge".

Regional, seasonal, organic

FELFEL’s offering is ideally suited to new HSG Learning Centre’s food concept, which sets great store by responsibility when it comes to food. Its motto is "regional, seasonal, organic". FELFEL thus exclusively relies on local providers for its offering. For example, the ribelmais comes from the Swiss Rhine Valley, mineral water from a source in Mels and the yoghurt from an Alpine dairy in Splügen. The meals are all prepared by Swiss family businesses and cooks. No industrial products are used.

Despite the high quality, the products in the fridge are offered at a price that is affordable for students. Prices range from CHF 1.50 for a yoghurt to at most CHF 12 for veal goulash with spätzli. This is possible because FELFEL does not make a profit with the food in the Learning Centre but merely covers their costs.

Back to the alma mater

Even if the Learning Centre only opens next year, FELFEL is already catering for the Learning Centre’s visitors – for example, during an apéro after a tour of the construction site. “It’s nice to see how much is going on at the construction site and how many people are involved in this process”, Grassler approvingly notes. The feedback has been very positive so far.

Grassler completed her bachelor’s degree at HSG in 2011. Cooperating with her former university is particularly gratifying for her. "I feel very emotional every time I come back to St.Gallen", she declares nostalgically. Daniela Steiner, who owns FELFEL and started the company with her husband in 2014, is also happy to be back. She studied at HSG as well. When the Learning Centre director’s team sent her a request, she did not think twice. "It’s a great honour for us to be able to give something back to HSG in this way."