“Topa-Topa express eggs”

When the egg ration was lifted at Easter of 1946, Migros started to import large quantities of eggs from America and then later also from Canada, Argentina and Sweden. In this way, Migros was able to meet the demand for eggs in Switzerland, particularly in the winter months when Swiss hens laid too few eggs.

Even when the war had finally come to an end, many products were not yet available or only in insufficient quantities. Gottlieb Duttweiler’s business took him to America in the beginning of 1946, where he bought over 60,000 cartons of eggs. «It was all about the eggs», reported the Brückenbauer in early March. «The eggs aboard the ‹Topa-Topa› steam boat set off from New York on 7 February and arrived in Basel today: faster than by post, as fast as a passenger ship!» Migros imported eggs on a large scale from other countries in the following years. Despite the transport costs, eggs from the USA, Canada and Argentina were cheaper than those produced locally.
Migros bought eggs from Sweden for the first time in 1959, arranging an affordable transport agreement with the Swedish airline. The airline regularly collected fresh flowers from the French Riviera and delivered the eggs to Switzerland on its way back. Migros gleefully promoted this air cargo as «flying Swedish eggs». At Christmastime, one of the largest egg suppliers sent Migros a live reindeer as a gift, which it then presented to the Zurich zoo.