Story
50 years ago, a longing for the Italian cuisine of his homeland gave rise to a cheese dairy and food import business in Glattbrugg ZH. The latter still exists today as a market driver who sells hand-picked foodstuffs via his market vehicle and sends them to private households.
Nicolino Venditti missed Italian cheese specialities such as mozzarella, ricotta or caciocavallo from Capracotta, Alto Molise region, and in general the homemade delicacies he had grown up with as a shepherd's son. As there was no satisfactory offer in Zurich at that time, he decided to give up his job as a carpenter and open a cheese dairy with his wife Antonia.
The popularity of his cheese grew very quickly, so that after only one year he moved from the small production premises on Talackerstrasse in Glattbrugg to Adlikon near Regensdorf into a detached house with larger commercial premises. The house was later enlarged and the largest mozzarella factory in Switzerland came into being. By the end of the 1980s, they were processing over 15 tonnes of milk a day. In order to better serve the clientele, consisting mainly of restaurateurs and grocers, they also imported foodstuffs, such as sausages, cheese, pasta, canned goods, etc., from Italy.
Their son Walter, who trained as a cheesemaker in Italy, also helped actively in the company. The younger son, Peter, helped out after school, if possible in the office or on Fridays and Saturdays at the market stand at one of the weekly markets in Oerlikon ZH, Helvetiaplatz ZH, Lindenplatz ZH, Limmatplatz ZH or Baden AG.
Unfortunate circumstances regrettably led the Venditti family to sell the very successful cheese dairy including the food service at the end of the 1980s. The cheese dairy still exists today in Zurich with new owners. Nicolino and Antonia Venditti did not want to give up their life's work completely and thereafter operated a sales vehicle at the weekly market Helvetiaplatz ZH (DI/FR) and Oerlikon ZH (MI/SA).
Since 2003, Peter Venditti has continued to run the markets through his Venditti GmbH. Currently each Saturdays in Oerlikon ZH. More and more often, his children Massimo and Lara also help out on Saturdays.