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There's a simple idea, and a somewhat stubborn one, behind Caffeonline: good coffee shouldn't produce waste, neither in the cup nor in the warehouse. In twenty-five years Marco Stasolla, the owner, has built around this conviction a reference point for those in Switzerland looking for quality, assistance and truth about products, often going against the trends of the moment. And, as happens with the best stories, it started almost by chance.
His two brothers were already working in the coffee business in Switzerland, back in the days of Lavazza Espresso Point, and they asked Marco if he wanted to try with them. He spent a year as a technician, then wanted to learn German, attended Handelsschule and ended up working in logistics, in a spare parts warehouse for cars. Shortly before getting married, a dismissal arrived that he took badly, but which in hindsight was the turning point. He bought four broken Lavazza Espresso Point Pininfarina machines, repaired them and gave them on loan for use to four friends to sell some coffee. «From there everything started», he tells us.
With the first earnings he would buy back used machines, fix them up and put them back into circulation, while to make a living he worked part-time at VZ, on buses, cutting hours year after year to spend more and more time on coffee. The first shop opened in Schlieren, run mainly by his wife, until the current location in Dietikon. «I've been doing this for almost twenty-five years, twenty-five years with coffee», he says. «I always have to thank my brothers, because they're the ones who started.»
The good intuition came early: betting on pods when nobody wanted them yet. Stasolla began offering machines with paper pods on loan alongside capsule machines, with a concrete advantage. A pod gives seven grams, seven and a half of coffee, like at the bar, compared to five or six in a capsule. Today that choice has become a trend, driven above all by ecology: paper pods don't leave aluminium residues and appeal to an increasingly wide audience.
«The market demands it», he explains. Many Italian companies have also improved the packaging, switching to paper, with the only compromise being a shorter expiry date, one year instead of two. Same attention for machines, made more and more with recycled plastics. A change in sensitivity that, he points out, doesn't start from producers but from consumers.
The trait that distinguishes him is his philosophy against waste. «I'm against throwaway culture. I prefer machines that I can service with little money to reduce rubbish», he states. At Caffeonline you'll only find machines that can be opened and fixed, from the smallest to the largest. Left out are super automatic machines, too expensive to repair and with grinders difficult to clean, and cheap Nespresso-style capsule imports, often assembled in such a way that, once opened, they break.
Even on service prices the line is clear. «I try to make people spend as little as possible», he says, even taking a loss on a repair. It's the logic of the long-term relationship: better for the customer to keep the same machine rather than buy a new one with every breakdown, they'll come back for coffee anyway.
On one point Caffeonline claims a record. «I'm the only website that has expiry dates on the portal», Stasolla explains: those who order see exactly the product in stock and its real freshness. Logistics follows the same care. Free shipping over one hundred francs, orders until seven in the evening and, with express delivery at 10.90 francs, the package arrives the next morning, in less than twenty-four hours. A speed that customers recognize in reviews on Trustpilot.
To avoid throwing anything away, the portal applies automatic discounts on products that have been sitting for longer, up to fifty percent near expiry, and passes part of the unsold to Too Good To Go. Those who want the freshest find it, those who want to save have their channel.
The Swiss market has its rules. About sixty percent of daily work still goes through Nespresso-compatible capsules, but coffee beans are making a comeback: not with super automatic machines, but with lever machines, the classic bar ones brought home for more freshness and aroma. The range rotates between brands like Quarta, Toraldo, Lollo, Lavazza, Kimbo, Tossini, Guglielmo, Mauro and Trismoca, alongside the proprietary brand Don Caffè.
On machines, for five years there has been an active collaboration with Faber, with whom Caffeonline is developing a model designed specifically for Switzerland, to solve the problem of tall cups. A direct technical relationship with the manufacturer, also useful when there's a problem to solve.
Over the years the business has grown in an unexpected direction. Caffeonline also acts as a central warehouse and consultant for those who want to enter the coffee world. Stasolla has helped four or five small businesses start up, making available not only products but the knowledge of how to operate in Switzerland, from dealing with accountants to how the market works. «I don't just sell them coffee, I sell them coffee and all my knowledge», he explains, even though he knows this creates competitors. A transparency that, with suppliers met at trade fairs, has always paid off: «I never made promises of anything, I always told the truth».
Assistance today also goes through modern channels: a mobile number prominently displayed on the site and the possibility to send a video on WhatsApp to get a quick response, even when he's on holiday. In the company today there are two of them, Stasolla and Alberto, who handles the site, SEO and logistics, with his wife always ready to help.
For the future, no dreams of expansion at all costs, but the desire to consolidate quality. «Do well what I'm already doing», he summarizes. «It's pointless to take on lots of customers and then they're not happy. What you have you must try to manage at best.» In between there's the milestone of twenty-five years, to be celebrated sooner or later with an event, when commitments leave a bit of breathing space.
The Caffeonline showroom is at Heimstrasse 46, 8953 Dietikon, open Monday to Friday from 17.00 to 19.00 and Saturday from 10.00 to 17.00. For information and assistance, also via WhatsApp, the number is 076 366 00 01, while the email is info@caffeonline.ch. The entire range, with expiry dates always visible, is at www.caffeonline.ch, with free shipping over one hundred francs and orders until seven in the evening.
Caffeonline
Heimstrasse 46, 8953 Dietikon
Hours: Monday to Friday 17.00–19.00, Saturday 10.00–17.00
Phone and WhatsApp 076 366 00 01, info@caffeonline.ch
www.caffeonline.ch
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