Chris Maurer and Alex Prack are trained chefs. They have worked in kitchens where precision and prestige are simply a given. And then – they decided to make hot dogs. "We chose a product that has a bit of a bad reputation in society, or at least one where quality offerings have been hard to find," says Chris. The mission was clear: a hot dog that is genuinely high quality and can be perceived as a premium product.

Today, Frau Hund stands for a product that speaks for itself. The sausage comes from a local butcher, always made from Swiss meat. The bun is no ordinary bun, it is a multigrain roll, also from Switzerland. The sauerkraut, apple chutney, and other toppings are produced in-house, in batches of up to two tons, each one tasted individually and only portioned, packaged, pasteurized, and flash-frozen once it passes personal quality approval. What looks like fast food from the outside is, on the inside, uncompromising artisan work.

When the inquiry from SWISS came in, their reaction was immediate. "We were very proud to be on SWISS’s radar," says Alex. For a brand that started small and worked its way up from scratch, the collaboration meant more than just a new distribution channel. One of their goals has always been to have a presence all across Switzerland. With the SWISS partnership, that ambition expanded into an entirely different dimension: "Now we can scatter our hot dogs across the whole world, so to speak."

A product developed for a takeout kiosk has to be rethought for the cabin, at least in part. The first instinct was to bring the "Deutsche Dogge" on board, one of the classics in the Frau Hund lineup. But the product developers at Gate Gourmet flagged that something lighter would be better suited for flying. No problem: Frau Hund put forward another hot dog from their menu: the “Bastardo,” topped with coleslaw, apple chutney, sour cream, and roasted walnuts.

The product itself remained untouched. Sausage, bun, toppings, all prepared to the original recipe. What did need to be adjusted was the cut in the bun. During the tasting, Gate Gourmet’s recreation was an immediate hit in terms of flavor, but the plating raised concerns: the hot dog, which comes in a cardboard box at Frau Hund, kept tipping over on the SWISS First porcelain plate and could not be presented cleanly. For Chris and Alex, that was no small detail. "If the hot dog is smeared and things are falling out, that’s not our standard," says Chris. The solution was pragmatic: an adjusted cut so the hot dog stands upright and can be plated neatly and appetizingly even in the SWISS First setting. "After that, all our doubts were gone."

The same hot dog, a different setting – and that is precisely the point. "It matters to us that a hot dog can be something different," says Chris. Many people have a cheap kiosk hot dog in mind. Frau Hund wants to show that there is another way: with carefully selected ingredients, with care and attention, with a result that genuinely surprises. The fact that this ambition now reaches people at 35,000 feet is proof that the idea was right from the very beginning.

The Frau Hund "Bastardo" is available in SWISS First on all flights departing from Switzerland from 3 June through 1 September 2026.