Highlights of the last 30 years

In November, we are celebrating 30 anni dieci: celebrate our 30th birthday with us for a whole month: competition with some on-the-spot prizes up for grabs as well as the main prize of italianità on two wheels – a Vespa Elettrica. We will also be introducing a new dieci pizza.

We are giving away 30 free pizzas each day, a dieci gift box with lots of surprises 3x per week and discount codes on the entire dieci range. You are guaranteed to win an on-the-spot prize! And as the main prize, a Vespa Elettrica awaits!

Rocco Delli Colli felt an overwhelming desire for authentic Italian specialities such as Mortadella, Mozzarella di Bufala and coffee. He and his family made repeated trips to Italy and brought back Italian specialities for his friends. But his circle of friends grew and grew... The logical solution: opening a restaurant which imports Italian specialities.

Two years until the current logo: a minimalistic logo with the number 10 in the centre. 10 is the top Italian school grade and the number worn on the backs of some legendary football players. The logo designed by Stephan Seiler also reflects the gastronomy: the 1 is a fork, the 0 a plate and in the top right-hand corner, a glass.

We are celebrating our birthday and kicking off the anniversary year with a new web design. What’s new? Among other things, a completely new web design, a simplified ordering process, a personal shop homepage, a blog with new topics and content and background information on the suppliers and dieci specialities.

The Pizza Auguri is the pizza which marked our 25^th anniversary. We have also created something special for our 30^th: the Pizza Trenta. Our anniversary pizza consists of the following produce: tomato sauce, mozzarella, sliced potato, gorgonzola, grana padano slivers DOP and marinated cime di rapa. All in all, a rustic, simple and very Italian pizza!

dieci is the result of lots of Italian gourmet expertise? Wrong – the founder of dieci trained as an electrician. dieci is the result of his passion for good ingredients and his yearning for his homeland of Italy.

From video store to gastronomy? That’s right, Rocco Delli Colli ran the first video store in Rapperswil. In the same street as the first restaurant dieci bar & pizza. For eight years he sold films under the name of Portobello – including to some famous film stars from Switzerland. The name was inspired by a parrot from Rocco Delli Colli’s homeland whose vocabulary consisted of one word – ‘portobello’.

dieci started out as a bar on Kluggasse in Rapperswil. The space was sparse and the queue for take-away outside the restaurant was all the longer as a result. Each day, between 50 and 100 pizzas crossed the counter. An insuppressible demand. Sometimes, the wait time lasted up to an hour. And so in 1991, the first Fiat Panda for delivery was bought – out of necessity to avoid dieci customers having to wait outside the door.

dieci initially focused on espresso and sandwiches over the counter. Rocco’s wife obtained the bread for the sandwiches from an Italian bakery in Uster each day. As the demand for a lunchtime offering and for pizza increased, dieci adapted its selection accordingly.

The dieci pizza is inspired by the ‘Pizza della Mamma’ from the homeland of Arpino. Bread was baked each week at the Delli Colli home. The leftover dough was made into pizzas. Now the basis for today’s recipe for the dieci pizzas.

A fascination for authentic products, an ongoing search for the best Italian ingredients and the highest standards of sustainability remain the motto of dieci today.

Do you know how gelato came to be part of the dieci assortment? Because Rocco Delli Colli no longer wanted to drive 400 km to the south of Italy to obtain Italian fior di latte. Today, dieci has its own gelato production site and five gelaterias in Zürich, Lucerne, Zug, Rapperswil and Uster.

dieci’s delivery vehicles are fitted with pizza ovens – a very special design. The first version of the mobile pizza ovens was a homemade design which certainly caught the eye – although somewhat differently than dieci hoped! The home-built oven of wood and stone left the Fiat slanting slightly – although the pizzas did stay warm! Until one delivery to the Hirslanden Hospital when a short circuit caused the Fiat Panda to go up in flames. Fortunately after the 30 pizzas had already been handed over!

Perfect harmony: sliced potatoes, cheese and traditional Italian cime di rapa. This delicacy has been blanched, marinated in oil and vinegar and refined with pepperoncini for our anniversary pizza. Recently you can also choose the classic Italian winter vegetable cime di rapa as your desired ingredient. Be sure to try it!

Winterthur opened in 1993, followed by Wil and St. Gallen. The first five branches were managed by the family led by Rocco. Then the search for suitable franchisees began. Today there are 37 pizza delivery shops, 3 restaurants and 5 gelaterias.

dieci is no classic franchise system: the franchisees concentrate on the production of the products. Meanwhile, dieci’s management takes care of the framework conditions, such as the product range and pricing, goods purchasing, infrastructure, bookkeeping, HR management, marketing and much more.

dieci is a team: just like in football, collaboration and togetherness in solidarity are the priority.

This creamy Italian soft cheese brings the right touch of spice to our Pizza Trenta. The mild flavour also impresses those who are not usually fans of blue cheese.

dieci has its own football team: In the past as well as today, a few colleagues from dieci kick off in any weather under the name of Dieci Calcio.

The dieci al lago restaurant opened in 2003 and today is renowned far and wide. It is less widely known, however, that the venue is sometimes used as a test kitchen for dieci pizza take-aways. New pizza creations are tested at al lago and if they impress with their quality and authenticity, the franchisees take them on board.

The dieci Fiat Pandas shape the image of dieci – back then and still today: dieci has been delivering pizza in its cult Fiat Pandas since the outset.

Each dieci vehicle has had a built-in pizza oven from the start to ensure pizzas are delivered to perfection. Today, the ovens are produced by a Swiss company in Ticino.

Our Pizza Trenta is topped with sliced potatoes, gorgonzola and cime di rapa. The potatoes are sourced directly from Rocco’s farm in Rapperswil.

dieci was one of Switzerland’s first delivery services to offer ordering via an online shop! This pioneering role and the implementation with Guave Interactive secured Switzerland’s first responsive e-commerce solution three prizes at the Swiss Web Awards 2013.

To ensure that individual ingredients retain their flavour during transport, toppings such as rocket, cured ham and bresaola are all supplied separately.

Our entire logistics for the whole of Switzerland is coordinated from Jona by a single team of eight people.

dieci was one of the first pizza take-aways to offer vegan pizza. We selected our vegan cheese, Simply, following a meeting with the Swiss Vegan Society.

Everything at dieci has been revolving around the best ingredients since 1990 to ensure delicious ‘italianità à casa’ and optimal customer satisfaction! And nothing will change over the next 30 years in that regard!