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.