miniSchoggi GmbH

miniSchoggi – Because a Homemade Praline Says More Than Any Gift

There is a moment many know who have taken part in a miniSchoggi course: the moment when the praline comes out of the mould. Shiny, clean, with the characteristic snap when it breaks. The moment when it becomes clear that this was not luck – but the result of a few moves one has learned. That moment is what miniSchoggi is about. Not the end product alone. Understanding how it comes into being. And the conviction that this understanding should be accessible to everyone – not only trained confectioners or professional chefs, but everyone curious enough to try.

Rebecca Odermatt did her training as a confectioner-chocolatier at Confiserie Klaus in Bülach – with the patron himself, as she says, and with competition prizes already during her apprenticeship that prove she not only learned the craft but mastered it. She then worked for Lindt & Sprüngli building the new Maître Station in Sydney and developed the creations for the Australian market there. Experiences that broaden one's perspective: what is taken for granted in a professional kitchen, which ingredients make a real difference, how to pass on knowledge so it stays in the mind and not only on the recipe sheet. Today she is the creative force at miniSchoggi: responsible for courses, product management and a marketing that knows what it is talking about – because it is run by someone who is at work herself every day.

Thomas Ramseier completed his training as a food technologist at Lindt & Sprüngli in Kilchberg and then worked for four years as a Maître Chocolatier at events and trade fairs before studying business in Lucerne. The combination is unusual and exactly right: craft expertise in chocolate, raw materials and processing on one side, entrepreneurial training and thinking in structures and business models on the other. He takes care of administration, organisation and the online shop today – and still gives Bean-to-Bar courses where he shows the complete journey from cocoa nibs to finished bar, because the passion for the subject has never subsided.

Christmas 2013 – and What Became of It

The origin story of miniSchoggi is the story of a Christmas gift that grew too large for a box. Rebecca and Thomas made pralines at Christmas 2013 – for family, carefully, with the knowledge they brought. The responses were so clear that a question emerged: why is there no place in Switzerland where you can get exactly that – high-quality, handmade pralines, individually composed, freshly made and dispatched directly?

In February 2014 there is: miniSchoggi goes online. What begins as a shop for customisable praline boxes develops faster than expected. Already in summer 2014 the first request for a course arrives – a bride who wants to create pralines with friends and family. From this one event come public courses, from the public courses a demand that bursts the available space. By November 2014 it is clear: courses and events are the core business of miniSchoggi. The personalised praline boxes step back, the knowledge steps forward.

Growth follows growth: more courses, more course themes, more locations, more team members. The online shop grows in parallel, because anyone who attends a course and understands how pralines are made soon asks where one can buy couverture, praline hollow spheres, glucose and invert sugar in reasonable quantities. Covid brings online courses and events – suddenly company teams on different continents can make pralines together. Every change was a response to a genuine need, not strategic planning at the drawing board.

The Adliswil Location – Shop, Course Rooms, Warehouse

After several location changes: Adliswil. Office and retail shop on one side of the street, event and course rooms opposite. A large warehouse from which all online orders are dispatched directly so they arrive as quickly as possible. A team that has grown – with course instructors who have all learned their craft, embody the passion for baking and chocolate work and pass on this knowledge with genuine commitment.

The course rooms smell of pastry, bread or chocolate depending on what is happening. That is not a marketing detail – it is the daily result of real work taking place in these rooms. Praline courses for beginners and advanced, cake courses in various techniques, bread and pastry courses, corporate events, children's birthdays, online courses for teams worldwide. In the courses it is not only recipes that are passed on: it is about understanding why chocolate must be tempered, how a ganache emulsifies, what role the water content of a filling plays in shelf life. Whoever visits miniSchoggi in Adliswil comes to a shop run by people who know what the products are for – because they use the same products themselves every day.

Own Products – Created from Need, Not from a Product Catalogue

Part of the miniSchoggi range carries its own label. These products did not originate in a marketing meeting but in the daily course routine: what did course participants ask for? What was missing in the bakery? What was not available in the right quality in the right size for home use? Couverture in practical small sizes for those who do not want to buy by the kilo. Fruit powder for the ganache, almond flour for perfect macarons, glucose and invert sugar for smooth fillings – all in quantities that make sense for the home bakery. Praline hollow spheres from good couverture that ease entry into praline making. Vanilla cream powder for desserts and creams.

Perforated aluminium baking trays, specially made in a size that fits the home oven – because professional-grade trays are simply too large, but the effect when baking macarons, éclairs and other delicate pastry is the same: even air circulation, even browning, even result. A tempering device that is affordable and suitable for everyday use, because large professional machines are too expensive and too big for one's own kitchen. Matterhorn praline moulds – because the mountain from the logo simply had to exist as chocolate. Recipe booklets whose instructions were developed, tested and provided with precise step-by-step images by Rebecca and her team: not reproducing others' recipes, but own creations that have proven in the miniSchoggi bakery that they work.

Product Range at a Glance

Couverture & praline hollow spheres · Fruit powder & almond flour · Glucose & invert sugar · Vanilla cream powder · Baking accessories & own accessories · Course programme

What Makes miniSchoggi – and Why That Makes a Difference

'Buying a cake – anyone can do that. Real appreciation is a homemade cake.' This sentence from Thomas Ramseier is not a slogan – it is the company principle. miniSchoggi exists because we are convinced that making things yourself has a value that goes beyond the end product. Understanding how something comes into being. The joy in the process. The amazement when the praline comes out of the mould. The confidence, next time, of knowing why something worked – or why not.

That is what the courses are for: to convey this understanding, not just the instructions. That is what the online shop is for: to make the right ingredients and tools accessible so that what was learned in a course also succeeds at home. That is what the own products are for: so that the path from idea to finished praline, cake or homemade bread is as direct and well-equipped as possible. Those who shop at miniSchoggi buy from people who know how the products are used – because they use them themselves every day, apply them in courses and continue to develop them. That is not a promise. It is the simple consequence of who miniSchoggi is.

2013. A kitchen, an idea, a Christmas gift. Today: Adliswil, a team and everything you need for baking and chocolate work. miniSchoggi.