across the Baltic Sea

Middle Eastern food

gains ground in Finland

When Hratch Maroutian came to Sweden from Beirut in 1967, there was hardly any clothes in his bag, instead it was full of eastern spices, bulgur and olive oil. The strong traditions and the love of meze food led him to found the company Sevan – today market-leading in Sweden when it comes to food from the Middle East, on the rise also in Finland.

Text: Anna Sand • Picture: Linda Svarfvar and press images from Sevan

The first import to Sweden started in 1988 and the company was founded the following year. Today it is managed by the two sons. Currently Sevan has a bit over 40 employees, a turnover of 350 million SEK and sales offices also in Norway and in Finland, countries to which a great deal of the export goes via daily express service.

– We are growing strongly within the Finnish retail trade. We have also been doing well within the restaurant business, but the past year has of course been a unique one, Annika Kumpunen, sales manager in Finland, states.

She tells us that the Finns are curious about meze food and have become much quicker to catch new trends during recent years. – The consumers’ interest has not died down during the year – quite the opposite – they have had more time to think about things like cooking.

So far hummus and falafel are the products that sell the best in Finland, followed by different legumes.

– Here we have much more to give, Kumpunen further believes.

Besides the import of eastern food, Sevan has for a few years now also had their own production, in a brand new hummus factory in Rosersberg north of Stockholm. – In the same building we now also have our main office, and here the everyday food of the future with inspiration from the Middle East is produced, packaged and distributed. The factory is logistically nicely located next to the E4 and the goal is to become northern Europe’s leading hummus manufacturer, Kumpunen continues.

Sevan has been operative on the Finnish market since 2012 and for just as long they have had Scandic Trans as logistics partner. – Our earlier collaborations left me very pleased with them, and thanks to their terminal in Turku and the daily express traffic between the capital city and Stockholm, we quickly get our fresh food out to the

– The collaboration with Sevan is very smooth and both parties do their best to be accommodating when it comes to transport bookings, time tables and other wishes, Jan Svarfvar, transport planner at Scandic Express, says. – A long-term partnership is always nice – I almost consider my contact persons at Scandic Express as colleagues, Sevan’s sales manager Annika Kumpunen says.

Finnish stores. The products are loaded at the factory in Stockholm in the afternoon and reach Finnish ground the following morning, which is fantastic, Kumpunen feels.

Quality and flexibility are qualities that she values in her logistics partner. – The well-known drivers know our business, routes and all circumstances. If needed we can get temperature logs from the transports and if the volumes change Scandic Trans reacts quickly. Furthermore you always get personal service with Scandic Trans and Scandic Express, Kumpunen adds.

She feels it is both parties’ responsibility to strive towards filling the loading units and thereby the greenest possible transports. – Scandic Trans cares about the future and sustainability, and we have recently introduced a new falafel package with 78 percent less packaging material.

Kumpunen appreciates that the collaboration is developing and improving as they go along. – A long-term partnership is always nice – I almost consider my contact persons at Scandic Express as colleagues, she smiles.

Among them are Jan Svarfvar and Aleksi Koivisto, both transport planners at Scandic Express in Turku. Four express vehicles daily run the route Stockholm-Turku-Helsinki.

– In other words we have two express vehicles in Stockholm and the surrounding regions every weekday and two in the Helsinki region, Svarfvar explains.

Besides this, a route truck between Turku and Vaasa, and one more, with Turku as starting point, in the southwestern part of Finland.

– The offices in Turku and Mustasaari work closely together, he adds.

The express vehicles are driver specific and FRC-classified cars that mainly transport food, but also other things, among other express goods, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, package freight and ADR-classified goods. They are all equipped with tail gate lifts, so the driver can independently take care of the loading and unloading without access to a forklift or a loading ramp. An express vehicle takes around 20 EUR-pallets.

In connection to the harbor in Turku, Scandic Trans disposes of over 2 300 m2 terminal and storage space, including cooler and freezer storage. Most of Sevan’s products are taken directly to the end customer in the southern part of the country, but merchandise bound further inland is distributed from the terminal in Turku. – The collaboration with Sevan works like a charm and both parties do their best to be accommodating when it comes to transport bookings, time tables and other wishes, Svarfvar finally concludes.

• Hratch Maroutian comes to Sweden from Beirut in 1967. He starts to import goods from the Middle

East in 1988. Sevan is founded in 1989, they buy their first truck and acquires their first storage. The corporate group is today led by the son Michael

Maroutian. • In 2001 Sevan buys Isaksson Food and they double their turnover. Thereafter they make several other company acquisitions in order to strengthen their position when it comes to food from the Middle East. • Sevan’s goods are introduced to grocery stores in 2003. • In 2014 Sevan starts planning a production business with focus on fresh hummus and fresh meze dishes.

The first products were fresh hummus with four different flavors, fresh falafel and pressed garlic. • In 2009 Sevan builds warehouses and offices in

Upplands Väsby with an area of 6 000 m2 and with 10 000 pallet places. In 2020 Sevan has outgrown

Upplands Väsby and new facilities with factory, main office and warehouse are opened in Rosersberg.