Finnish ice cream to go big in Japan

“Our small ice cream is finally here,” Horst Neumann, the managing director of Suomisen Maito, declares in a press release issued after the opening ceremony of Jymy Ice Cream Cafe in Akishima, Tokyo. “It’s wonderful to see that our vision of a high-quality food product that is based on sound values also resonates outside the borders of Finland.”

“For the time being, we are still small in Japan,” he reminds. “We are only starting to build our distribution channels.”

Suomisen Maito established its ice cream factory in a former pastille manufacturing plant in Aura, south-west Finland, in 2014. Its Jymy ice creams have since gained a notable foothold in Finland and been exported to Germany, Sweden and the UK.

Expanding to Japan had been an objective for the boutique ice cream maker for quite some time due to the country’s fascination with Finnish design, Finnish products and the Nordic lifestyle.

“We want to bring many aspects of the Finnish lifestyle to Japan,” tells Shoichiro Yoshinaga, the chief operating officer at the local importer, Metos. “Jymy ice creams are an excellent example of this, alongside saunas. We will be opening more Jymy cafés soon.”

Suomisen Maito is also eager to pave the way for other domestic food producers to succeed in Japan and the rest of Asia, says Erkki Mikola, the board chairman at Suomisen Maito. “Jymy is a product that respects primary production, the countryside and the consumer, and that comes from a country with the cleanest soil, air and water in the world. It is a delight to export Jymy,” he adds.