Yes, you can buy Italian food online in Switzerland at restaurant-supplier prices: LAPA, the Embrach-based wholesaler that supplies over 1,500 restaurants and pizzerias every day, also delivers to private customers. No minimum order, over 3,000 authentic Italian products, home delivery six days a week across Switzerland. Here is how to make it work as a student or a family.
Why do wholesale prices now make sense for your home kitchen?
Many people assume LAPA only serves restaurants. Not true: our online shop is open to private customers too. You buy exactly the same products we deliver to professional kitchens every morning — the same passata, the same Gragnano pasta, the same mozzarella — at the same wholesale prices, with no retailer adding a margin in between.
For a student or a family the maths is simple: groceries cost less when they come from the same supply chain that feeds the restaurant trade. We have worked this way since 2016: refrigerated trucks, a guaranteed cold chain even for fresh and frozen goods, and a catalogue where every product declares its ingredients, allergens and origin. The only difference from a restaurant is the quantity you put in the basket.
The starter pantry: 10 products that last a month
With a well-stocked pantry you can cook Italian every day without running to the supermarket. These ten products keep for a long time and cover most dishes:
- Durum wheat pasta — spaghetti, penne, rigatoni: the base of everything. Find the right shape in the Pasta category, such as the Gragnano IGP penne.
- Tomato passata — your stock for quick sauces.
- San Marzano DOP peeled tomatoes — for the Sunday sauce.
- Extra virgin olive oil — for cooking and dressing.
- Parmigiano Reggiano DOP — vacuum-packed it keeps for weeks in the fridge.
- Pecorino Romano DOP — for cacio e pepe and amatriciana.
- Ready sauces — pesto, arrabbiata, ragù: the backup dinner, in the Sauces category.
- Tipo 00 flour — homemade pizza and focaccia.
- Pulses and preserves — chickpeas, beans, tuna: protein in reserve.
- Oregano and peperoncino — the spices that make the difference.
An order like this, placed once a month, keeps the kitchen of a family of four or a whole flat-share running.
5 real dishes in 15 minutes
With the pantry above, these dishes are ready in the time it takes to boil the pasta:
- Spaghetti al pomodoro — passata, garlic, olive oil, basil. Italy's cheapest and best-loved dish.
- Cacio e pepe — Pecorino Romano, pepper, pasta water. Three ingredients, no excuses.
- Penne all'arrabbiata — peeled tomatoes, garlic, chilli. Perfect at the end of the month.
- Pasta al pesto — a jar of pesto, short pasta, a handful of Parmigiano.
- Gnocchi with butter and sage — fresh gnocchi cook in two minutes: when they float, they are done.
No chef technique required: these are the dishes our restaurant clients call "cucina di casa" — home cooking, and that is exactly what they are.
Family formats and freezer-friendly products: throw nothing away
Wholesale formats look big for a household, but with a freezer they become an advantage: portion, freeze, waste nothing.
In the Frozen category you will find ready-cleaned vegetables such as friarielli and cime di rapa, Mediterranean seafood and frozen fresh pasta: at -18 °C they keep for months and you only use what you need. Hard cheeses can be portioned and frozen; a multipack of fior di latte disappears within a week between pizza, salads and pasta al forno. One carton split between flatmates costs less than dozens of small purchases — and we guarantee the cold chain to your door with our refrigerated vehicles.
How does ordering work? Minimum, delivery, payment
It works like any online shop, with three differences that matter for a household:
- No minimum order — you can order even a single product.
- Fast delivery across Switzerland — order today, and as a rule you receive it on the next delivery day; we deliver Monday to Saturday, six days a week, with refrigerated vehicles for fresh and frozen goods too.
- Online payment — at checkout, like on any e-commerce site.
Register on lapa.ch/shop as a private customer, fill your basket and enter your home address. That is all: no VAT number, no contract, no restaurant requirements.
Student FAQ: ordering as a flat-share and splitting the bill
Can we place one order for the whole flat-share?
Yes, and it is the smartest way to use LAPA. Make a shared list, place a single order in one flatmate's name and split the amount with Twint or a group app. One big order pays off: the same wholesale prices, a single delivery, and family formats divide up with zero waste.
Is there a minimum order for private customers?
No. LAPA has no minimum order: you can buy even a single pack of pasta. For a shared kitty it still makes sense to bundle the month's shopping into one order — the delivery arrives once and the cost per person drops even further.
How fast is delivery and do you cover my city?
We deliver across Switzerland six days a week, Monday to Saturday, with refrigerated logistics. As a rule, today's order arrives on the next delivery day. Zurich, Lucerne, St. Gallen, Aargau and the other regions are covered by our regular delivery rounds.
Will frozen goods still arrive frozen if my building has no concierge?
Yes: fresh and frozen products travel in refrigerated vehicles with a guaranteed cold chain right up to handover. The only rule is to be home when the delivery arrives, as with any fresh shopping. Put frozen items straight into the freezer and the quality stays as on production day.