Auer & Co. is the public living room of Impact Hub Zürich

Since our opening in October 2015 we are welcoming everyone to be part of the Impact Hub ecosystem for a few hours, regardless if they are long-standing members or a guest from the streets. We invite them to enjoy the arguably best coffee in town, to engage into conversations with our community or simple to enjoy the buzz at Colab. The goal of Auer & Co. is to build a bridge to the world of Impact Hub in an informal and relaxed way. We created a special place within Impact Hub, that is not a coworking space but a place where people enjoy a break from work.

Auer & Co. and Impact Hub Zürich, same same but different

When we say Auer & Co. is the public living room of the Impact Hub Zürich, we actually mean it. Auer & Co. is entirely part of the Impact Hub Zürich family. We decided deliberately on a different brand creating an uncoupled touchpoint to the Impact Hub community. Mega delicious products, cosy location and super friendly customer service does come at some costs, though. Retaining this in the long run requires an operation on a cost-effective basis. Having said that, any profits generated by the Auer & Co. is at the full discretion of the Impact Hub Zürich.

Sustainable and seasonal where possible

Auer & Co. is not only a place where people meet and talk but also where we want to build awareness on produce and their industries which we consume on daily basis. We ultimately want to make the world a better place and this is only possible with a careful selection of products and suppliers. Not only the quality of the natural products is crucial, it’s equally important how it tastes and how it is presented. This is the reason why we spend a lot of time on sourcing our products and invest a lot of time on the preparation of our food and drinks. In short, we try to serve the best tasting products with the most sustainable produce. We are sure you will enjoy that!

Of course we want you to enjoy our food within our four walls, but some of our products can also be ordered for take-away. Where we can’t offer biodegradable packaging or cups we will not offer take-away. That’s why the soup is currently an in-house experience only.

We say no to Coca Cola!

A logical consequence emerging from this approach is that we try to avoid products from large international food giants. This is why there is no Coca Cola, no Heineken, and no Nestlé at Auer & Co.! We don’t want to demonize any of those companies but we feel that their products do not fit into our world. Instead we are focusing on sustainable and innovative food products. Usually we find those products at local producers. We do not insist on particular labels but we require that our products are produced using organic methods, are seasonal and have a local origin or a small ecological footprint. One of the challenges however is that some of the products can taste substantially different to what a guest might be used too and would expect. Our bar staff is more than happy to explain you why things taste the way they do. Don’t be shy to ask.

The known and the unknown

As our customers you should have the opportunity to try out new things. Our way of doing this is to offer two different types of the same product. One could be called a house-anything, like a house-coffee, house-wine, house-beer. The other one is a guest product, which we buy in limited quantities. As soon as it is sold out we replace it with a new product. The house or regular product is something which the regular customer is used to or at least what is expected in terms of taste. The guest product is usually something for the more adventurous guest. Come by and discover it for yourself.

Spending time at the Auer & Co. should feel like sitting in your living room: welcoming! It’s where you will meet very versatile customer types and that’s why we ask people to share tables so that everyone can always find a free seat. We want to create a vibrant space and therefore we are encouraging social interactions. Put your laptop and smartphone away for a while, enjoy a flat white and have an interesting conversation with someone - that’s what Auer & Co. is for!