Martin & Servera Delivers Fresh Produce to Finnish Lapland
Ready to Expand in Finland
Martin & Servera is Sweden’s leading wholesaler and supplier to restaurants and institutional kitchens. It delivers food, beverages and equipment to thousands of customers across Sweden every day – and since last autumn, also to northern Finland. The enterprise is very interested in the Finnish market and ready to expand to other parts of Finland as soon as the right logistic solutions are found.
Martin & Servera is headquartered in Stockholm but they have thirteen sales offices and warehouses strategically sited in four cities – the northernmost in Umeå. Mr. Ulf Sedlacek is the sales manager in the enterprise which has long been interested in the Finnish market.
– The owners want to invest in Finland and we now know that there is a great demand for our products here. Sweden has a wider product selection in foodstuffs, especially in fresh produce, and we have been received well in the places where we now deliver goods, Mr. Sedlacek says. The enterprise recognized the opportunity for business in Finland as most wholesalers are here concentrated around the capital Helsinki region in southern Finland. It means that deliveries to the northern parts of the country take long – often more than 48 hours – in a branch where forward planning is short-term and deliveries have to be quick.
– Thanks to our warehouse in Umeå, we can deliver fresh produce to Finnish Lapland with less than 24 hours from the order.
Martin & Servera delivers food, beverages and equipment to thousands of customers across Sweden every day – and since last autumn, also to northern Finland. Mr. Ulf Sedlacek, sales manager, hopes to expand the enterprise’s sales territory in Finland. The ferry traffic is the key factor in this ambition.
The company has been adjusting its operations for the Finnish market for about one year now – all from product markings and website in Finnish and so on – and the first deliveries to Levi ski resort in the Finnish Lapland took place last November. Starting from May, Martin & Servera will deliver goods down to Oulu and they have set their sight at the rest of Finland, too.
– A wider range of products is a big competitive advantage. All in all, we have about 35,000 products, and Sweden is ahead also as regards ecological produce for restaurants and institutional kitchens.
Martin & Servera is building up a joint organization for exports to Finland and Umeå will be the hub for deliveries. Salesmen are being recruited on both sides of the Kvarken Strait, and language skills and awareness of cultural differences between the countries are important in the recruitment.
Salesmen are being recruited on both sides of the Kvarken Strait, and language skills and awareness of cultural differences between the countries are important in the recruitment
– In the long term, this investment is expected to generate 1.5 billion Swedish crowns and it would also benefit many other commercial actors in the regions. We are talking about many new jobs and deliveries with over 5,000 lorries per year, Mr. Sedlacek explains.
In the restaurant and catering branch, forward planning is short-term and deliveries have to be quick. As a Swedish wholesaler, Martin & Servera can offer a wider range of products compared with Finnish wholesalers.
Ferry traffic across the Kvarken Strait is the key factor. We are ready to proceed and are now discussing with the ferry company, hoping to have more departures.
Logistics is the great challenge.
– We want to grow and the ferry traffic across the Kvarken is the key factor, Mr. Sedlacek says. We hope for more frequent departures and, of course, a completely new ferry in the long term. We are ready to proceed and are now discussing with the ferry company, hoping to increase the number of departures.
If everything goes as Mr. Sedlacek hopes, Martin & Servera is likely to become a strong player in northern Finland and also in other parts of the country within a couple of years.
Text: Anna Sand
Photos: Anna Sand and press photo from Martin & Servera