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Ten Swedish dates every visitor must discover

How much do you know about the most traditional, tasty and sometimes bizarre dates in the Swedish calendar?

Published: 23 December 2015 06:53 CET
Ten Swedish dates every visitor must discover
Christmas in Sweden is often washed down with glögg (mulled wine). Photo: Leif R Jansson/TT
 
Find out why Swedes scoff on semla buns and how to make your own.
 

Semla buns. Photo: Susanne Walstöm/Image Bank Sweden
 
 
Celebrate the beginning of spring by feasting on delicious gridded cakes that have been popular in Sweden since 500AD.
 

Swedish-style waffles. Photo: Mikaela Vazquez/Image Bank Sweden
 
 
From witches to feathered twigs, here's how to embrace six super Swedish Easter traditions.
 

Easter 'witches' in Sweden. Photo: Lena Granefelt/Image Bank Sweden
 
 
Learn why Swedes love dancing around bonfires every April.
 

Walpurgis night on Djurgården, Stockholm. Photo: Lola Akinmade Åkestöm
 
 
 
Most Swedes couldn't care less about June 6th. But it is a special day for new citizens in the Nordic nation. Here's why.
 

A citizenship ceremony for new Swedish citizens on June 6th. Photo: Ola Ericson/Image Bank Sweden
 
 
Don't miss The Local's guide to Sweden's Midsummer madness. From eating raw fish to guzzling down homemade snaps and making some strange shapes around a maypole, this party is the biggest festival of the year.
 

A Swedish Midsummer party. Photo: Carolina Romare/Image Bank Sweden
 
 
Swedes used to be banned from eating crayfish during the winter, with the official season getting underway on August 7th. Discover why feasting on the snappy red seafood remains a major tradition.
 

A traditional crayfish feast. Photo: Carolina Romare/Image Bank Sweden
 
 
Swedes eat a lot of cinnamon year-round. But here's how to make the spicy buns yourself on October 4th, a very delicious date in the Swedish calendar.
 

Cinnamon buns. Photo: Fredrik Broman/Image Bank Sweden
 
 
Why Swedish girls wear candles on their heads at the start of December.
 

Lucia celebrations in Stockholm. Photo: Cecilia Larsson/Image Bank Sweden
 
 
The Local's essential guide to celebrating Christmas in Sweden – and surviving some of the country's more baffling traditions.
 

A Swedish Christmas tree. Photo: Helena Wahlman/Image Bank Sweden
 
 
 
 

FOOD AND DRINK

OPINION: Are tips in Sweden becoming the norm?

Should you tip in Sweden? Habits are changing fast thanks to new technology and a hard-pressed restaurant trade, writes James Savage.

Published: 5 April 2024 13:59 CEST
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. 

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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