‘Victorinox increasingly building connect with the hospitality sector in India’

Switzerland-based family business Victorinox is known best for its Swiss army knives. The brand, founded in 1884 by Karl Elsener I as a cutlery business, has stuck to producing household and professional culinary knives. However, it expanded into the pocket knives’ segment a few years after opening shop. Though the company has watches and travel gear as part of its offering, these are part of the product portfolio of Wenger which it took over in 2005. 

Victorinox products are sold in over 120 countries, online and offline. In India, while the entirety of Victorinox portfolio can be found online for purchase, it had several offline multi-brand retail outlets where consumers could go and purchase its products. It has now opened its first uni-brand retail store in Mumbai where it displays an entire wall of culinary knives. 

“Victorinox India is a subsidiary of Victorinox Switzerland. At our factory in Switzerland, our daily production for Swiss army knives and kitchen knives is 1.4 lakh units,” says Colonel Chandhoke, Managing Director, Victorinox India. 

Hospitality and Victorinox

When it comes to the culinary world, Victorinox not only produces knives for professionals in the industry but also for consumers – be it in the form of household knives or as tableware found in restaurants. “Hospitality is an interesting segment for Victorinox and knives are very dear to us. That is what the DNA of the brand is. We make 90,000 kitchen knives every single day, ranging from daily household knives, peelers and graters to professional knives, chef’s knives and pastry chef’s knives. Our offerings include a lot of professional chef accessories. World over, we work closely with professional chefs and consumers. In Switzerland, every restaurant has a Victorinox knife, and even in Europe, a huge percentage of restaurants use Victorinox. Our bread knife is on the breakfast table while dining knives are there for lunch and dinner,” adds Colonel Chandhoke. 

When it comes to India, the brand is increasingly building connect and service with the hospitality industry. “Professional chefs know the brand well but we are trying to educate the consumers,” shares Chandhoke, adding, “We have a good Swiss Modern collection, we have our domestic knife which professional chefs love to carry and boast.” 

What’s new?

For the culinary world, Victorinox has new plans this year. “The Swiss Modern is being launched in a walnut wood finish, and contains all professional knives a chef needs. We are soon launching a Chef Kit and a Chef Carry Bag. Earlier, we had a Chef Briefcase but now we are going to have it in a trendier backpack style and also a foldable Chef Case with all the knives,” says Chandhoke. 

Competition at hand

Brand competition is good for consumers as it gives them more choices and better price points. However, competition is something companies usually do not enjoy. Victorinox seems to differ. “Globally, we have a lot of brands competing with us and they are more expensive. But in India, we have been wanting to upgrade the kitchen knives for long. We are handling the pressure of educating and building up this area. In the last 10 years, we took the time to educate and explore the market and the customers with our products. With over 100 years of experience, our production has reached to such an extent that I strongly believe that to match this quality at the price that we offer is very difficult. But we would love to have Japanese and German competitors in India because they would be burden sharing in the market. There is a lot of business for everyone in India,” Chandhoke shares.