HUG Familie

HUG Familie AG – 1877. Malters. And the Bread That Did Not Sell.

Day-old bread – in the baking trade this is what bread from the previous day that can no longer be sold is called. Joseph Hug-Meyer regularly had too much of it in his Lucerne bakery. His solution was simple and clever: he sliced the loaves, dried them and roasted them again in the oven. Rusk. A product that keeps longer than fresh bread, that can be transported, that appeals equally to travellers and soldiers. The rusk became a bestseller, and the bakery gradually became an industrial operation that left its craft origins behind without abandoning its craft conviction.

In 1913, Josef Hug-Schmid, the founder's eldest son, establishes the legally and financially independent HUG AG rusk factory in Malters. The Lucerne bakery and the new factory are led by the same family but follow their own legal and economic paths. In Malters, the first HUG biscuit rolls off the line in 1931: the Nuss-Ringli, baked in the new modern continuous steel belt oven. And there too the military rusk is produced – the legendary 'Bundesziegel', which together with the army biscuits establish HUG for decades as a significant supplier to the Swiss army. Between the 1930s and 1960s, members of the third and fourth generation successively join the company, new production buildings arise and the range grows.

A Company That Does Not Rest on a Single Product

What makes the story of HUG particularly distinctive is the consistency with which the company has expanded into new areas whenever the opportunity arose – without abandoning what existed. Every acquisition has broadened the range and brought new craft competence into the house. In 1963, the acquisition of Grieb AG brings the Dar-Vida brand into the fold: today one of Switzerland's best-known wholegrain crackers, familiar to over 90 per cent of Swiss people. A decade later, the integration of Hüppen-HUG AG extends the range to include waffles, fans, cornets and wafer rolls. The Kuhn AG acquisition adds frozen products. Fritz-Oehlschleger brings mini pizzas and cheese tarts. Biscuits Willisau AG contributes the Willisauer Rings.

In 2000, HUG extends its competence in the high-quality dessert range through the acquisition of the wafer bakery Duff in Zurich and the Vaud bricelette producer Wuillemin in Lausanne. 2008 sees the Wernli AG in Trimbach follow – and with it the production of the well-known Wernli biscuits with chocolate pieces, which have their own loyal following. In 2020/21, the Trimbach site is relocated to Malters. The main site is fundamentally expanded with an investment of around 60 million Swiss francs and brought to the standard of the most modern baked goods technology. Today in Malters, two 140-metre-long tartlet production lines operate – over one million tartlets per year on these lines alone.

Fifth Generation, Co-Leadership, Minergie Standard

In 2022, Andreas Hug takes over the chairmanship of the board of directors from his brother Werner. Operational management passes for the first time into women's hands: Anna Hug, fifth generation of the founding family, and Marianne Wüthrich Gross lead the company jointly in a contemporary co-leadership model. It is a realignment that brings the company structurally into the present while simultaneously securing the continuity of family leadership – across five generational steps from the Lucerne bakery to the modern production centre.

The new administration building hughaus is built to the Minergie standard – the Swiss energy efficiency standard for buildings that sets strict requirements for insulation, airtightness, ventilation systems and energy demand. The offices are heated mainly by waste heat from the production ovens – energy that is generated anyway and would otherwise go unused. Electricity comes from Swiss hydropower and the solar installation on the factory roof. Green roofs and natural landscaping around the buildings complement the picture of a company that lives its own promise of 'naturally and honestly' in its infrastructure too.

What 'Naturally and Honestly' Means in Production

HUG products contain no preservatives. This is not a marketing statement – it is a production principle that places higher demands on raw materials, processing methods and natural shelf life than a formulation with preservatives would. Additives are reduced to what is technically necessary: what is used is baking powder and similar indispensable baking aids – nothing more. Eggs come exclusively from free-range hens, from the same municipality as the production site. Quinoa, chia, linseed and sesame carry the organic label. Cocoa and palm oil come from certified, sustainably controlled production. Sugar beet, rapeseed oil and 90 per cent of the grain come from Switzerland. Butter 100 per cent from Swiss production under the Swissmilk Green standard. Hazelnuts from sustainably certified sources.

The handling of residues is also part of this approach: rejected product is sold in the factory shops in Malters and Willisau or passed on to food aid organisations. Production residues are processed into animal feed. Packaging is continuously optimised – plastic inserts from recyclable material, cardboard boxes FSC-certified. As a partner of Too Good To Go, HUG actively engages against food waste, and participation in climate protection programmes together with compensation of the unavoidable CO₂ share complete a sustainability profile that is structurally anchored.

The Range – From Rusk to Tartlet

HUG produces under several brands: HUG Guezli encompasses the biscuit, rusk and dessert range used in bakeries, confectioneries and households throughout Switzerland. HUG Food Service serves the hospitality industry with complete solutions for all areas in which baked goods are used. Dar-Vida as an independent brand for everyday consumption. Wernli biscuits with the characteristic chocolate biscuits. Willisauer Rings as one of the best-known Swiss biscuit brands of all.

The dessert range – tartlets and dessert tart cases in various sizes and versions – is a particularly practice-relevant area: ready-made shortcrust pastry bases that only need to be filled. Confectioners and home bakers alike benefit: the time-consuming and technically demanding production of an even, dimensionally stable shortcrust base is eliminated without quality or flavour suffering. Over one million tartlets per year demonstrate that this ambition translates into practice.

Product Range at a Glance

Dessert tart cases & tartlets · Biscuits & pastry · Rusk & biscuits · Waffles & wafer rolls · Dar-Vida · Wernli biscuits

HUG Familie AG at miniSchoggi

Behind every HUG product lie over 145 years of baking experience in a family company that has never stopped working on its own quality and responsibility. This is not background noise – it is tasted. In ready-made dessert bases that taste of shortcrust rather than industrial pastry. In biscuits behind which stand free-range eggs, Swiss grain and certified cocoa, without a preservative needing to correct that.

miniSchoggi carries HUG because the range is equally relevant for confectioners and home bakers: as a reliable, high-quality foundation for desserts and tartlets where the base itself defines the finished product. A good shortcrust base carries its topping without going soft, without tearing, without undermining the decoration. This is a craft requirement that HUG resolves with over 145 years of experience – reproducibly, stably, with flavour. The HUG range available at miniSchoggi includes ready-made shortcrust bases and dessert products and is continuously expanded.

Since 1877. From Malters, Lucerne. Five generations. Naturally and honestly. HUG Familie AG.