Masterful teamwork

This success could only be toasted in a venue with a legendary aura. Ralph Lindenmann and Wolfram Meister presented their 30th issue of the "Go out!" series in the legendary Dracula Club of the Hotel Kulm in St. Moritz. A few days earlier, it was announced that growth and development at Gourmedia had led to an expansion and restructuring of the management team. Alongside Anthony Alex, Ralph Lindenmann will continue to focus on customer care, advertising sales and events. The new Gourmedia Managing Director will be Wolfram Meister, who will also remain Editor-in-Chief.

Ralph Lindenmann, founder of the "Geht aus!" magazines, is a federally certified marketing manager. He has extensive experience in corporate management, PR and marketing, particularly in the publishing industry. From 1997 until the founding of Gourmedia in 2005, Lindenmann was co-owner and managing director of Factum AG and the publishing house Bücherpick.

The idea for "Geht aus!" goes back to a business trip to Mallorca. On the way there in 2004, Ralph Lindenmann discovered one of these gastronomic magazines on the plane and found it practical to find culinary inspiration in this magazine away from currywurst and chips. He later came across the product again at a meeting in Germany. Mallorca geht aus" was produced by the same publishing house in Düsseldorf with which Lindenmann was negotiating a cooperation with Bücherpick. An agreement was quickly reached. In order to find an experienced editor-in-chief for the first "Zürich geht aus!", Ralph Lindenmann asked his author at the time, Jürg Altwegg, for advice. The latter writes cultural correspondence for the FAZ from Geneva and immediately recommended Wolfram Meister: "There's only one person who can do it!"

Wolfram Meister made his mark on various levels at Ringier. He was Peter Rothenbühler's deputy at Schweizer Illustrierte for four years. Then he wanted to experience something abroad. In Hamburg, he took on the job of relaunching the Zeit magazine. A second offer followed for a travel magazine. At the same time, however, he received a request from Blick. From 1997 to 1999, Meister became one of the last editors-in-chief in the history of Blick to increase circulation once again, "to around 315,000". But as is the case "with football and tabloid newspapers", Meister was also replaced after two years. In the end, Meister became his own champion. With his Creative Consulting GmbH, he carried out various developments for magazines and also set up one of the "first newsrooms" for Switzerland. Prior to this, he worked briefly as editor-in-chief of the commuter newspaper Metropol in 2001.

Meister published the newsletter "Wein Wisser" in his own publishing house. After selling it, Meister took over the Schweizerische Weinzeitung from the Südostschweiz publishing house in 2010 and allowed the 120-year-old trade journal for winegrowers and coopers to mature into a solid consumer magazine. The wine connoisseur also attaches particular importance to a very careful graphic design. He has the cover drawn in Essen and the magazine is produced in Hamburg, "because I still dream of being able to spend a little more time in this city".

The success of "Go out!" is now making a steadily increasing dent in this calculation. 30 different booklets with a print run of 40,000 each have been launched to date. In St. Moritz, the fifth edition for Graubünden has already been produced. In Zurich, three additional "Zürich kauft ein!" booklets have been added to the portfolio. And after three years of preparation, people in Bern will soon also know where to find the best, most traditional, rustic, uncomplicated or trendy places to eat.

Andreas Panzeri