History in images
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This is where it all started
Petri was a young conscript when he started thinking about what to do when he grew up. After performing his military service, he'd need to look after himself.
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After military service
Pete had 2000 marks, saved from jobs he'd had before conscription.
Once he had completed his service, Pete spent one thousand marks on a "well-loved" Toyota Hiace and the other on sweets from a wholesaler's. Pete didn't hesitate; he loaded the van with sweets and headed for markets! -
Hard work and perseverance
Operations expanded quickly, and Pete went into wholesales. The old Toyota could no longer manage so it was replaced by a lorry, which Pete drove at night in order to make it to the next market event. The days were long, and during the first ten years the average annual mileage was about 140,000 km Ð the same as driving three times around the globe!
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The business goes international
Sales volumes reached levels where even bigger businesses were starting to be considered. There was so much work tthat Pete hired his first employees, who still work for Finnsweet even today.
Pete realised that the world was full of sweets that Finland had never heard of, so he started importing them. -
The first sweet shop
It was time to open the first proper sweet shop in Finland. Since the shop was like a marketplace full of sweets, it was called Karkkitori Ð "candy market"
The sweet shops have been very useful for testing new products.
There are several Karkkitori shops now in the Helsinki metropolitan area. -
We value Finnishness
Finnsweet acquired a sweet factory in Pöytyä, Riihikoski, which had been producing sweets since 1967. It was renamed Finlandia Candy
Finnish craftsmanship is alive and well at the Finlandia Candy factory, where Finnish sweet-making traditions continue to be followed. -
Finlandia Candy
In 2016, Finnsweet bought a candy factory specializing in chocolate, pastille and marmalade sweets from Suomussalmi.
We have made the Suomi 100 -commitment, according to which we promise to keep our production in Finland. -
Porvoon Lakritsi
In 2022, Porvoon Lakritsi became part of our group.
Their gluten-free and vegan licorices as well as genuine, traditional metric licorices became an important part of our operations. -
Finnsweet today
"What I'm really proud of is the fact that I can offer a steady job for more than 100 people. And we will keep playing fair"
Founder of the company,
Petri Salonen
Our values:
- Healthy and happy staff
- Flexibility and reliability
- Craftmanship
