Starting a business in food industry.

bmb8ds · Post by **bmb8ds** » Wed Nov 21, 2012 10:56 am

Hello everyone. My name is Dennis and i am from Greece. I am half Greek half Finnish though since my mother is from Helsinki!

I am thinking about starting a small business in Helsinki. A quick meal shop with traditional food recipes. I do not know though where do i have
to go or to apply in order to start. How can i find a place to rent for my business, how much it will cost me, am i eligible for a small business loan, and what
forms should i send in order to start my business.

If someone can inform me about these things it would be very helpful for me.
Thank you in advance,
Dennis.

**Sponsor:**

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Wed Nov 21, 2012 2:31 pm

bmb8ds wrote:Hello everyone. My name is Dennis and i am from Greece. I am half Greek half Finnish though since my mother is from Helsinki!

I am thinking about starting a small business in Helsinki. A quick meal shop with traditional food recipes. I do not know though where do i have
to go or to apply in order to start. How can i find a place to rent for my business, how much it will cost me, am i eligible for a small business loan, and what
forms should i send in order to start my business.

If someone can inform me about these things it would be very helpful for me.
Thank you in advance,
Dennis.

http://www.infopankki.fi/into/
http://www.evira.fi/portal/en/food/manu ... lishments/
http://www.hel.fi/hki/Ymk/en/Firms+and+Businesses

Adrian42 · Post by **Adrian42** » Wed Nov 21, 2012 11:03 pm

bmb8ds wrote:Hello everyone. My name is Dennis and i am from Greece. I am half Greek half Finnish though since my mother is from Helsinki!

Do you also speak the Finnish language?

bmb8ds wrote:I am thinking about starting a small business in Helsinki. A quick meal shop with traditional food recipes. I do not know though where do i have
to go or to apply in order to start. How can i find a place to rent for my business, how much it will cost me, am i eligible for a small business loan, and what
forms should i send in order to start my business.

When you write "what forms should i send" you are starting with the wrong questions, and you can easily lose all the money you will invest in your business that way.

Things you have to research first for your business plan when you come to Helsinki include:
What kind of food do people in Finland like?
At what time are people eating?
Where in town are people eating?
What is the competition situation in different parts of Helsinki?
Price level of the competition.
...

cors187 · Post by **cors187** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 11:01 pm

A quick meal shop with traditional food recipes.

which tradition?
I parked in an underground car park to-nite in Helsinki and came up to the street via this mini mall, transit/metro place, grabbed a snack of crap from K market for 5e.On my way back i went via another entry and found a quick meal shop which had some meaty buns ,salad pockets, whatever they are called for 3 euro.

My stomach agrees with the immigration of various traditional foods!

kiwijim · Post by **kiwijim** » Sat Nov 24, 2012 6:47 pm

This is also a nice place to start, just to get an idea about what you may need to do.... http://www.yrityssuomi.fi/web/enterprise-finland/home
There is a lot of information on the web for this subject.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 9:16 pm

cathe wrote:
And you will also need Evira for giving you the final ok
http://www.evira.fi/portal/en/food/

Hope this helps!

No, the final OK comes from the municipality (Helsinki) health and hygiene office. They will want to see your plans, hygiene protocol, layout etc and visit the premises before you can open.

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 1:14 pm

Main question is, besides how much capital investment you have, how much do you have experience in running a catering/restaurant business? I mean not only working in one, but also doing the buying, books & all that. The half-life of a restaurant seems to be shorter than a year, so it seems a lot of people come in "thinking" and end up in the gutter while the bank laughs. What I suggest is, if you don't have professional catering education, to sign up to a school, Perho or Haaga, they have entrepeneurial classes which are a must so you can actually "know" what it takes besides just "thinking".

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Fri Dec 07, 2012 11:37 am

Evira has a big role to play in the production of food (eg farming) and sales of raw food (fish etc). But they rely on the municipalities to oversee the health and hygiene of commercially-prepared food and drink products.

There is a link on Evira's frontpage that gives you the contact details of all the municipal offices.

vaxtang · Post by **vaxtang** » Mon Dec 10, 2012 12:41 am

Thanks for all links

To not open a new thread I will ask my questions here.
1/ Do I (business owner) need to know Finnish to have a business ?
2/ Is it MUST for employee to know Finnish ? /// I know if he/she doesn't know then it will affect my business
3/ Do I need to have some deposit in bank in order to be allowed to open a place ?
4/ Am I allowed to have my place (restaurant/cafe) open/work for more than 12 hours ? // e.g. as McD do that !, or need special license /

Thanks

Adrian42 · Post by **Adrian42** » Mon Dec 10, 2012 2:00 am

vaxtang wrote:Thanks for all links
To not open a new thread I will ask my questions here.
1/ Do I (business owner) need to know Finnish to have a business ?
2/ Is it MUST for employee to know Finnish ? /// I know if he/she doesn't know then it will affect my business

There is likely no legal requirement.

Obviously everyone who interacts with customers must speak Finnish if you want to sell anything.

vaxtang wrote:3/ Do I need to have some deposit in bank in order to be allowed to open a place ?

Not sure about legal requirements, but you definitely need money for all the expenses you have when opening.

rinso · Post by **rinso** » Mon Dec 10, 2012 7:25 am

4/ Am I allowed to have my place (restaurant/cafe) open/work for more than 12 hours ? // e.g. as McD do that !, or need special license /

There are local requirements how long a shop/restaurant can be open. 12 hours is probably no problem. There might be restrictions for the time after midnight.
Working is an other matter. Your employees can work no longer than the legal maximum (don't know the details for the restaurant business).
For the owner there are less restrictions. (unless you give yourself a contract as a salaried employee).

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Mon Dec 10, 2012 8:32 am

rinso wrote:
4/ Am I allowed to have my place (restaurant/cafe) open/work for more than 12 hours ? // e.g. as McD do that !, or need special license /
There are local requirements how long a shop/restaurant can be open. 12 hours is probably no problem. There might be restrictions for the time after midnight.

The landlord might have something to say about operating hours too. Or rather the people living in the same building who might put pressure to the landlord, unless the building is mall or other purely commercial building.

snorlonikins · Post by **snorlonikins** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 2:55 am

Hi Dennis,

I would suggest you work in a Greek restaurant first to get a feel of what is acceptable to the locals (afela, tavas and fasoulia may be too exotic). You could probably pick up some information there, if you ask discreetly. One thing I do miss is lamb kebab, hate the donner crap!

vaxtang · Post by **vaxtang** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 8:21 am

Hey, sorry for late reply and thanks to all.
Another question, I don't have a Finnish or any Schengen citizenship, but I have working and resident permit ( for one year now).
Can I open a business and register a company here ?
and am I allowed to invite someone to work outside of Finland ?

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 9:09 am

vaxtang wrote:Hey, sorry for late reply and thanks to all.
Another question, I don't have a Finnish or any Schengen citizenship, but I have working and resident permit ( for one year now).
Can I open a business and register a company here ?

http://www.yrityssuomi.fi/web/enterprise-finland
Also take a note about http://www.migri.fi/working_in_finland/ ... yed_person

vaxtang wrote:and am I allowed to invite someone to work outside of Finland ?

Sure... but if the work is something that could be done by someone who already is in Finland or EU then him/her getting the RP isn't certainty.

edit. then again, if the working language in the company is Liki, there probably isn't candidates available in Finland/EU...

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