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Michelin-starred Swedish restaurant to close

Edsbacka Krog, one of only two Swedish restaurants currently in possession of two Michelin stars, is to close, the luxury Stockholm eatery said in a statement on Thursday.

Published: 5 November 2009 13:53 CET

The restaurant, located in Sollentuna in northern Stockholm, is to close its doors for good on February 27th 2010 after 27 years of successful operation.

Edsbacka Krog was operated until 2008 by Christer Lingström and was the first Swedish restaurant to receive two stars in the prestigious Guide Michelin.

The restaurant was taken over by its staff in November 2008 and managed to retain its two Michelin stars in the 2009 edition of the guidebook.

Edsbacka lost its exclusive status in the guide however as it was joined by Mathias Dahlgren’s Matsalen in Stockholm’s Grand Hotel.

The first restaurant was opened on the site by the picturesque Edsviken in Sollentuna by royal charter in 1626.

A decision in 1853 to revoke the popular inn’s licence to serve spirits ultimately sounded the death knell for the watering hole located near the main Stockholm to Uppsala road, and its doors closed in 1872.

After 111 years Christer Lingström re-opened a restaurant on the site in 1983 and under his tutelage it rose to claim its place as Sweden’s premier eatery.

Lingström explained the decision to close in a statement on the restaurant’s homepage saying that the time had come for fresh challenges.

Edsbacka Bistro, located directly opposite will remain open, with a further branch in Strängnäs, north-east of Stockholm.

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OPINION: Are tips in Sweden becoming the norm?

The Local’s guide to tipping in Sweden is clear: tip for good service if you want to, but don’t feel the pressure: where servers in the US, for instance, rely on tips to live, waiters in Sweden have collectively bargained salaries with long vacations and generous benefits.

SEE ALSO: What’s the tipping etiquette in Sweden?

But there are signs that this is changing, and the change is being accelerated by card machines. Now, many machines offer three preset gratuity percentages, usually starting with five percent and going up to fifteen or twenty. Previously they just asked the customer to fill in the total amount they wanted to pay.

This subtle change to a user interface sends a not-so-subtle message to customers: that tipping is expected and that most people are probably doing it. The button for not tipping is either a large-lettered ‘No Tip’ or a more subtle ‘Fortsätt’ or ‘Continue’ (it turns out you can continue without selecting a tip amount, but it’s not immediately clear to the user).

I’ll confess, when I was first presented with this I was mildly irked: I usually tip if I’ve had table service, but waiting staff are treated as professionals and paid properly, guaranteed by deals with unions; menu prices are correspondingly high. The tip was a genuine token of appreciation.

But when I tweeted something to this effect (a tweet that went strangely viral), the responses I got made me think. Many people pointed out that the restaurant trade in Sweden is under enormous pressure, with rising costs, the after-effects of Covid and difficulties recruiting. And as Sweden has become more cosmopolitain, adding ten percent to the bill comes naturally to many.

Boulebar, a restaurant and bar chain with branches around Sweden and Denmark, had a longstanding policy of not accepting tips at all, reasoning that they were outdated and put diners in an uncomfortable position. But in 2021 CEO Henrik Kruse decided to change tack:

“It was a purely financial decision. We were under pressure due to Covid, and we had to keep wages down, so bringing back tips was the solution,” he said, adding that he has a collective agreement and staff also get a union bargained salary, before tips.

Yet for Kruse the new machines, with their pre-set tipping percentages, take things too far:

“We don’t use it, because it makes it even clearer that you’re asking for money. The guest should feel free not to tip. It’s more important for us that the guest feels free to tell people they’re satisfied.”

But for those restaurants that have adopted the new interfaces, the effect has been dramatic. Card processing company Kassacentralen, which was one of the first to launch this feature in Sweden, told Svenska Dagbladet this week that the feature had led to tips for the average establishment doubling, with some places seeing them rise six-fold.

Even unions are relaxed about tipping these days, perhaps understanding that they’re a significant extra income for their members. Union representatives have often in the past spoken out against tipping, arguing that the practice is demeaning to staff and that tips were spread unevenly, with staff in cafés or fast food joints getting nothing at all. But when I called the Swedish Hotel and Restaurant Union (HRF), a spokesman said that the union had no view on the practice, and it was a matter for staff, business owners and customers to decide.

So is tipping now expected in Sweden? The old advice probably still stands; waiters are still not as reliant on tips as staff in many other countries, so a lavish tip is not necessary. But as Swedes start to tip more generously, you might stick out if you leave nothing at all.

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