Café Salteriet – from a fish-salting plant to a café and a Yle radio studio

To celebrate the jubilee year of the Kvarken World Heritage Site, the Finnish broadcasting company Yle’s radio stations YLE Radio Suomi and Radio Vega broadcast from the 13th to the 19th of June from a studio built in the Café Salteriet’s facilities. The owner of Café Salteriet, Gunilla Sandler, is very happy with the visibility this afforded the Kvarken region.

The Kvarken’s beautiful, unique nature attracts a lot of tourists to the region, and many of them stop by Café Salteriet. Last year the café was visited by 39,000 customers. The café is easy to find and visit, and the whole family is welcome. Sandler was positively surprised by the large number of customers already in 2013 when she bought the café, and the numbers just keep growing.

Café Salteriet also organises private events, such as weddings and meetings. This spring, the café has had its toilets and some other facilities renovated and in the autumn the kitchen will be extended. These facilities will serve the growing number of visitors even better than before.

You can feel the history

Café Salteriet is located in the Svedjehamn harbour in an old fish-salting plant built in the 1920s. In the 1990s, it was turned into a café. You can still see the history of the building in its salt barrels, fishing nets and the old rowing boat in the larger room. Upstairs you can view various historical articles that relate to fishing.

The history of the fish-salting plant is still visible in the café’s décor.

At first, the café was run by a youth association, but it soon became too laborious for them. As Sandler retired from her duties as an education and cultural services inspector in 2013, she had the opportunity to really sink her teeth into running the business.

“I embarked on this because I wanted to run my own business. Of course, it helped that the café is in a gorgeous location and you meet a lot of people. Sometimes it feels like having lots of visitors at the summer cottage,” she laughs.

“I wasn’t nervous about running a business, but the kitchen was another thing altogether. Luckily, I have great friends who are catering professionals and they have given me lots of good tips and advice. In the beginning, the Vaasa Region Enterprise Agency Startia also helped and supported me a lot in getting my business going.”

“I’m motivated by my customers’ happiness”

From Café Salteriet it’s only a short walk to the observation tower Saltkaret. Sandler highly recommends visiting the tower, which affords a spectacular view of the World Heritage Site’s unique scenery, especially the De Geer moraine ridges that were formed at right angles to the flow direction of the ice. The Björkö region offers one of the best examples of De Geer moraines in the world.

Gunilla Sandler, owner of Café Salteriet, can be found in the café every day in the summer. The Saltkaret observation tower can be seen in the background.

In Sandler’s opinion, the Kvarken region should be marketed as a whole. Customers should be told about all the wonderful opportunities on offer here.

“Marketing should also focus more on what can be done here in the winter, such as ice fishing, cross-country skiing or driving a snowmobile. Today’s customers are more quality conscious than before, which means that they expect a higher quality of services.”

Café Salteriet is open every day this year from the end of May to the end of August. Sandler works in the café most days in the summer and calls in every day.
“This is a good place to be and I don’t want to be anywhere else. I have plenty of time to relax and enjoy my retirement in the winter.”

Sander’s workdays in the café consist of managerial duties and administrative tasks. In the summertime, Café Salteriet employs six seasonal workers. Sandler also helps the staff whenever needed.
“What I like best about my work is seeing happy customers and receiving thanks from them.”

Text & photographs: VASEK
Translation: Taina Pemberton

The Kvarken archipelago is the only World Natural Heritage Site in Finland listed in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The archipelago is rising from the sea in a process of glacio-isostatic uplift in which the land that used to be weighed down by the glacier during the last Ice Age continues to lift today. Nowhere in the world is this uplift better displayed than in the Kvarken, and at rates that are among the highest in the world. Consequently, you can see unique glacial formations in the Kvarken archipelago, such as De Geer moraines and ribbed moraines, which make the scenery so exceptional and varied.

For more information go to: http://www.kvarkenworldheritage.fi/anniversary 

Read the other articles about the Kvarken archipelago:
Molpehällorna island, Cruise to the Mickelsörarna, Granösund Museum, Sommaröhallen crafts shop, Aava Kerttu homestead, Merenkurkun Majatalo inn, Kvarkenturer, & Villa Meribjörkö.