From Furniture Retailer to Investment Company

Fritz Gottlieb Pfister, born on February 16, 1891, and died on March 10, 1984, was a Swiss entrepreneur through and through. At the age of 25, he took over his parents’ secondhand shop at Rheingasse 11 in Basel in 1916 and built it into Switzerland’s leading furniture retailer under the Möbel Pfister brand by 1971.

Möbel Pfister became a furniture retailer for generations of Swiss households. In his time, Fritz Gottlieb Pfister was a true “game changer” in the furniture industry. He was the first retailer to present furniture in comprehensive showrooms. As early as 1918, Fritz Gottlieb Pfister delivered furniture to Swiss households with his own delivery teams and trucks. In 1942, the first furniture mail-order catalog was sent to every household in Switzerland.

For decades, Fritz Gottlieb Pfister influenced the Swiss home furnishings market. His visionary approach, entrepreneurial courage, and strong sense of responsibility toward the people who worked for him were exemplary. Anyone seeking to describe him could not avoid the word “patron.” He was one.

From a young age, he took an active interest in the well-being of his employees, at a time when an employer’s duty of care often amounted to little more than the legal minimum. As early as 1934, Fritz Gottlieb Pfister established his company’s own insurance fund, which from then on served as a social welfare institution for his employees. The well-being of his employees was a central value in Fritz Gottlieb Pfister’s actions as an entrepreneur.

This principle was later set out in the foundation charter and today guides all of F.G. Pfister’s entrepreneurial activities.

In September 2020, F.G. Pfister began its new investment activities with Zesar.ch SA, Agytec, and Ergoexpert in Tavannes. One year later, INEVO AG and Promet AG in Kirchberg followed. In 2022, Goba AG from Appenzell was added. In 2023, Alder + Eisenhut from the Toggenburg region and GROB AG from Nebikon became part of the portfolio. At the end of 2025, Emaform AG from Gontenschwil followed.

Step by step, this created a portfolio of Swiss SMEs from different industries. What connects them is not their market, but their ownership model: independent companies, held for the long term, with active support at the Board of Directors level and no set timeframe for a future sale.

In January 2026, after thirteen years as Chairman of the Board of Directors, Rudolf Obrecht handed over the position to Roland Zaugg. He has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2024 and also knows F.G. Pfister from his own experience as an entrepreneur who transferred his company to F.G. Pfister as part of a succession solution.