Turning night into day

Muharrem Kutbay

When the production teams at Eisberg in Dällikon call it a day, that’s when Muharrem Kutbay’s working day – or rather working night – begins. Because the team leader in the cleaning department works from 8 pm to 4 am.

A wish came true for him when he took up the position at Gastro Star, now Eisberg, 25 years ago. «Before that, I worked in a railway station restaurant and had to start at five in the morning», he says. «Getting up early was very difficult for me, especially in winter. Even back then I always said: In my next job,
I’m going to work overnight.»

Hygienic cleanliness to a plan

So he and his team start cleaning the salad production lines at 8pm. From preparing the systems, which also includes dismantling individual parts, to pre-rinsing, foaming and rinsing, everything follows a set schedule. Some parts also need to be cleaned by hand to remove stubborn salad residues. There are also various programmes with different cleaning processes throughout the working week to ensure that everything is always hygienically clean.

«One of my tasks as team leader is to draw up the weekly cleaning schedules and the rosters for the employees», says Muharrem. «During the shift, I also do inspection rounds, deal with problems, for example with the foam equipment, and carry out the final inspection.»

The cleaning team in Dällikon, which consists of around 20 people, works every night from Monday to Saturday. Muharrem usually has his day off on Wednesdays. Then he sleeps at night and is awake during the day. He has no problems changing his rhythm on days off or holidays.

Overall, he didn’t find the night shifts particularly difficult right from the start. His wife, on the other hand, found it a big change at first. However, he was soon able to convince her of the advantages. He has a lot of time for his family during the day. In the early years, for instance, he looked after their daughter in the mornings while his wife was at work.

Enjoying life for 25 years

His daughter is now grown up, and he can go straight to bed after a long shower in the morning. «I sleep like a baby», he reports. «I wake up around eleven o’clock and have time for my family or for sports. In the summer, I have football practice twice a week with my football club, and we often have matches on Saturdays.»

Even after 25 years, Muharrem says with conviction that he really enjoys his work. Thanks in no small part to the good atmosphere in the team. The pranks between colleagues occasionally involve – you might have guessed – a water hose.

Mario Krpan

Mario Krpan is one of the people who make sure that Coop’s convenience shops, the Coop Pronto shops, can offer their customers Hilcona’s Freshly Made sandwiches first thing in the morning. The sandwiches are freshly topped at the Hilcona site in Orbe. From there, they are sent to the distribution centre in
Dällikon in the evening, from where they are delivered to the Zurich region.

«I’ve been working at Hilcona since 2020, initially as a temporary driver», he says. «After a year, my boss asked me if I wanted a permanent position, and as I was very happy with my job I said yes.»

A lucky coincidence for him, as the Covid pandemic broke out shortly afterwards. While many other people around him were made redundant or had to go on short-time working, the delivery of the sandwiches continued almost unabated and he never had to worry about losing his job.

Highly satisfied with Hilcona

This security, the enjoyment his work gives him and the very cordial boss, who takes good care of the team, make the big difference for him compared with other employers he has had in the past. «I used to change jobs a lot, but now I’m so happy at work that I can imagine continuing like this for the next 15 years», he says.

He arrives at the company in Dällikon at around 8 p.m. and starts loading his Sprinter. Among other things, he has to make sure that the boxes of sandwiches are stacked securely so that they don’t tip over on the journey. Loading the crates in the correct order according to the tour schedule also ensures a
smooth process.

Sometimes he has 30 stops before he finishes work at around five in the morning. So good tour planning is important. He often prepares the schedules in the afternoon when he receives the list with the details of shops and delivery quantities. He has a special software program for this. But he can also customise
the suggested route. «From my many years of experience, I know that in Zurich, for example, there are still a lot of people out and about late at night, especially at weekends», he explains. «So it’s better not to deliver to the shops there until the end of my shift, when most people are already back home.»

He rarely needs coffee breaks

At first, he was very much surprised at how easily he got used to working at night and how rarely he needed a coffee in between to pick him up. For everyday life with his wife, however, it means a little more organisation and planning. «She has also travelled with me a few times so that she could experience for
herself how important it is for me to be fit at night», he reports.

Depending on how the shifts fall, they see each other in the afternoon after he gets up or in the morning before he goes to bed. Then he tells her about his night – and she is always amazed at how anyone can talk so much so early in the morning.

When he has a single day off, he has found that it is better to maintain the reverse nightday rhythm. But it’s different if he has several days off at a time. Then he goes hiking with his wife during the day or to a concert in the evening.