"Keep Högfors alive!"

The Covid-19 pandemic have had a huge negative effect on hotels worldwide. For Tehtaan Hotelli in Högfors (Karkkila in Finnish) outside of Helsinki, Finland, there is no difference. Since the first cases of Covid-19 were reported and the societies started to shut down and their bookings more or less disappeared, and with that their source of income. A very serious situation that a lot of businesses can recognise today.

But instead of giving up they looked for other possibilities and saw a demand for high quality take away. Together with Kanto Burgers & Bites, a local entrepreneur, they planned to test providing take away meals during a weekend. And in mid March they offered home made meals, made from local products, for pick-up and home delivery.

In order to raise awareness of this they turned to social media and communicated with the hashtag #supportyourlocal. “Keep Högfors alive” they wrote in their posts and invited their followers help them and the local entrepreneur by ordering their food. They also dropped menus in the Högfors residents mailboxes. In order to not ensure a hygienic process, people ordered the food via phone or Whats app. They then had to pick a time slot for delivery or for pick up.

By the end of that first weekend they had served hundreds of customers and it was of course a success. People started to talk about it and the word spread from mouth to mouth. Of course, they then decided to do this again. Now also people outside of Högfors started to order food. Some of ordered for their parents or relatives who lived there and couldn’t go out.

They put an ad in their local newspaper, had some targeted posts in social media and since many orders came via Whats app, they could send out the new menu to their customers directly. With this the Take Away business grew and they have now sold more than 1 200 meals in total.

They were open for Take Away again during the first weekend in May. This time together with a new local entrepreneur. Even before they opened, they had hundreds of pre-orders and they have now put another successful Take Away weekend behind them.

Are you also interesting in starting with take away? Maybe you are struggling right now and need help getting on the right track? – We are happy to help you and look forward talking to you. Get in contact with you local Duni Group salesperson or contact our Customer Care.

Also, if you happen to be close to Helsinki, why not contact Tehtaan Hotelli and make sure you not miss the next time they offer high quality take away?