Kentucky Man Explains His Obsession with The Swiss Colony Holiday Catalog

Hello. My name is Chad Benefield. There is absolutely no shame in my holiday game when I tell you (and confess) that I have a life-long obsession with The Swiss Colony. That obsession was resuscitated- given another injection of life and petit fours- on Monday afternoon. I arrived home from work to see that The Swiss Colony's Holiday 2023 catalog had been delivered to my house. I know this will sound ridiculous to some of you, but, for me, the Christmas season doesn't officially get underway until I get that catalog!  I'm not kidding at all when I say this, but The Swiss Colony catalog is my absolute favorite thing about the holidays.

So, let me explain this rather bizarre addiction to logs of meat, blocks of cheese, jars of marmalade and tortes. Back in the early 1980s, my parents, one Christmas, got my sisters and me gingerbread house kits from The Swiss Colony.  Putting those houses together and decorating them was one of the coolest things ever.

I mean, look at this!

We basically spent an entire evening building a completely edible house, then decorated it with icing and sugar. After putting on the finishing touches, we got to eat them. What's not completely awesome about that?  I remember that night like it was yesterday. While we were already receiving the catalog back then and I was power-thumbing through it and drooling every chance I got, actually receiving something from the pages of it made it tangible, real, and most importantly, edible!

Now, here's an interesting fact about The Swiss Colony. Though my family and I have been receiving the catalogs for years, our hometown- Owensboro, KY- actually had a Swiss Colony store. When Towne Square Mall opened back in 1978, The Swiss Colony was one of the stores that helped launched the grand opening. You'll see its "cheeses, meats, gourmet foods" featured in the bottom right hand corner of the ad.

Imagine how surprised I was to learn that my radio cohost, the normally wise and worldly Mary-Katherine Maddox, had never heard of The Swiss Colony. I brought the catalog to work so I brag about getting my 2023 copy, but that news didn't affect her at all. She had ZERO clue what I was talking about.

However, I told her to take her time with the magazine and pick out something we could order for the studio. It didn't take long before she was feeling the magic too.

In case you're interested in the history of The Swiss Colony. It was founded in 1926 by Ray Kubly and remains family-owned in Wisconsin. All these years later, The Swiss Colony catalog is America’s number-one food gifts catalog.  See, People! I am not alone in my undying love and cravings for it.