Not many people may have heard of Hiestand, Laderach and Hug, but for gourmet consumers they have near-sacred connotations.

The three European firms have been supplying their bakery, confectionery and snack creations to five-star hotels and fine food restaurants in Bahrain and other Gulf markets through their Bahrain-based agency, Swiss Food Specialities, whose owner is Henry W Uster, a former hotelier.
Hiestand, whose success story started some 40 years ago in Switzerland, swears by the freshness of its frozen bakery products made at its purpose-built centres in Switzerland, Germany, Poland and Malaysia. The range is divided into the product groups of gipfel (Swiss croissant), pretzel, Swiss savoury, Danish pastry, bread loaf and bread rolls.
“One of the major characteristics of Hiestand products is the use of pre-matured dough that is pre-proofed,” says the company.
Hug is big in party snacks with such items as universal tartelette, snack tartelettes and pastetli as well as a range of desserts including gaufrettes in fan or rolled forms.
Laderach, which Uster describes as the “Rolls-Royce of chocolates,” has an exclusive clientele.
Other brands that Swiss Food Specialities has been importing include Martin Braun, QimiQ, Zeelandia, and Solis as well as Ronnefeldt teas and Tchibo coffee.
QimiQ, projected as the first solid cream base with only 15 per cent fat for use in all areas of the kitchen, was declared by the International Inflight Food Service Association to be the winner of the gold medal in the food and beverage category and the overall winner of the Mercury Award 2002 as the best and most innovative product.
Uster, who was vice president of operations at Swisotel in Switzerland, owned by the national airline Swissair and Nestle, came to Bahrain several years ago and worked for the Bahraini government. In 1997, encouraged by his brother Albert who runs a food business in the US, he set up his firm, located near Bahrain’s Salmaniya roundabout in Burhama.
All the consignments it imports are destined for five-star hotels and fine foods restaurants. On being airfreighted into Bahrain and lately into Swiss Food Specialities’ Doha office, some are transhipped to other Gulf markets where the circle of fine food lovers is expanding steadily, much to the delight of Uster.
He opened the Doha branch last year, hoping to capitalise on the growing five-star hotel base in Qatar. Uster has no plans to open branches in the UAE as the retail market for fine food is already strong there. He also feels his hands are full with his current business and would not like to invest heavily in a major operation that would necessitate bank borrowing. For setting up his establishment he drew from his own resources.
Now seven years into the business, he is happy his career took a turn into confectionery, bakery products and beverages.
“It’s grown remarkably,” he says. “We have averaged 15 per cent growth annually, and last year we were up 25 per cent. This January we’re over January 2004’s figure by 20 per cent.” Bahrain accounts for 70 per cent of the total turnover, Doha brings in 20 per cent, with the other Gulf states accounting for the remainder.
With prices of his products high (Laderach chocolates for example retail in hotels at BD30 per kg), there is only the high-end market to target.   
Swiss Food Specialities can only grow if the number of end-users grows. To Uster’s good fortune, the market is expanding with the general tide of development in the region. More development means more visitors and more hotels and more sophistication, and so establishments like his get a look in. Also, he says, more people are becoming quality conscious than ever before.
Uster has been helping the process by staging confectionery and bakery demonstrations in his office. He has appointed a pastry chef to expound on the high points of his company’s products, and these events are well attended by chefs eager to study the latest arrivals and technologies.