Selecta says bye-bye to Switzerland!

The new boss of the long-established snack vending machine company no longer wants to run the business from its home market.
 

Just three months have passed since Briton Venkie Shantaram took over the helm of the struggling snack vending machine company Selecta in mid-October. And he is now setting a new course for the company: he is relocating the headquarters of the long-established Swiss company from Cham in the canton of Zug to London, as CH Media has learned.

Selecta has gone through a turbulent few years. Even before Corona, things were not going well. But the pandemic then led to lower commuter frequencies and more days of working from home. As a result, eating on the go became less important.

The former management duo of Christian Schmitz as CEO and Joe Plumeri as Chairman of the Board of Directors tried to turn the tide. They made massive staff cuts, launched new expansion strategies with catering corners in offices, and introduced a questionable corporate culture that drove many employees away. Their plans, including an IPO (Initial Public Offering) did not catch on.

Founded in Switzerland in 1957
Selecta had to be rescued from the brink of collapse last spring, and this was only possible with a massive debt reduction, as the company's debts had piled up to CHF 1.1 billion. Christian Schmitz and Joe Plumeri are gone, and an interim CEO was then followed by Venkie Shantaram in mid-October.

The new owners have tasked him with getting Selecta back on track. As he confirmed to CH Media, the staff were informed on Tuesday of a landmark decision: the company's headquarters will no longer be located in Cham, but in London.

Selecta has a long history here: the company was founded in Switzerland in 1957. According to its own figures, it serves more than 10 million customers in 16 European countries every day with coffee, drinks, snacks and meals, and the company most recently had a total of 6,000 employees. Selecta's Swiss headquarters in Kirchberg BE will remain in place.

The snack vending machine company Selecta, based in Cham, Canton of Zug, has had a rough time of it. Will everything be better once the headquarters have been relocated abroad?     Photo: Beverfood
Venkie Shantaram has been the new head of Selecta since mid-October 2025        Photo: Peter Matthews
 

Headquarters now in a co-working office
Selecta had only moved its headquarters in November, giving up its former spacious headquarters premises, as CH Media announced. According to the new boss Venkie Shantaram, the space was too large for the now fewer than 30 employees, and the rent was far too expensive. So the company moved just a few metres away to a co-working office, where it rents some inconspicuous rooms. Are there any Selecta company logos at the entrance, on the doorbell or on the office walls? Not at all!

Venkie Shantaram will continue to rely on a co-working space, i.e. office space shared with other companies, and the future headquarters will be located near Paddington Station, in central London, he says.

The canton of Zug has been informed that the major company functions, such as accounting, legal and tax matters, will remain in Cham. But the company will be managed from London in future. Venkie Shantaram himself lives outside London, he says. In addition, the newly appointed Head of Human Resources and the new Chief Financial Officer, who will take up his post at the end of January, will also work in London.

New management team
Venkie Shantaram, who was born in India and who previously worked for the catering group Compass and the consulting firm McKinsey, is now starting with a management team that is virtually completely new. The Head of Operations and Technology, the Head of Communications and the long-standing Head of Commerce recently left the company. Jean-Noël Groleau, who was appointed chief financial officer in the summer, only stayed for a few months.

Venkie Shantaram talks about many initiatives that have been introduced to improve results. After a difficult phase, these should lay the foundation for ‘a strong recovery’.