Coopers Fon­due Nights 2025

November in Switzerland. Temperatures below ten degrees, and the lake is not much warmer. Yet during one of our Zurich fondue evenings, seven people suddenly found themselves on the pier of the Rimini Bar wearing blue-and-white striped swimsuits and matching swim caps.
What happened next? We will get to that. But let us start at the beginning, because the story begins much earlier.

These fondue evenings have been a long-standing tradition at iET, one that we were very happy to continue last year as well, since fondue is considered part of Swiss national heritage. Small groups, the open-air Rimini Bar instead of a heated restaurant. And anyone who joins knows: it is cold. So you move a little closer together and make yourself comfortable, bundled up in warm layers.

These evenings thrive on meeting one another outside of project work. No agenda, no roles, simply a shared table. Our guests shared cheese, bread, and conversations that rarely find space in everyday life – yet often make all the difference. For us, this is not a marketing approach but the way we understand partnership: personal, committed, and genuinely close. Fondue provides the perfect setting for that. And as a Swiss agency, we take this tradition very seriously.

Even Asterix knew how serious fondue can be: in Asterix in Switzerland, anyone who drops their bread is punished – in the worst case with a plunge into Lake Geneva. Today we take it a bit more lightly, but everyone still knows the rule: if you lose your bread in the cheese, you jump into the water. Most of the time, people simply laugh about it – until someone says, “I will do it.” This year, seven of our guests did exactly that.

And so it happened that seven brave souls in striped swimsuits jumped into the cold water. Accompanied by plenty of laughter and a sense of familiarity that shows just how special these gatherings have become.

In addition to Zurich, we also hosted a fondue evening in Lucerne. Again, relaxed, lively, and filled with good conversations among familiar and new faces. And in Bern, our team invited guests to a raclette night – without a jump into the Aare, but with just as much warmth and connection.

In the end, it is moments like these that shape our work. Projects become easier when people know each other. Collaboration works better when trust is present. And trust grows not only in meeting rooms, but at evenings like these.

As you can see, sometimes a lost piece of bread in the cheese is enough to spark a great story. This year, we added a few memorable ones.

If all this talk about fondue has made you hungry and you prefer dipping your bread into a cozy caquelon at home, you can find our Coopers fondue recipe below. Hopefully, you have no cold body of water waiting around the corner.

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