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‘There’s something for everybody in Malmö’

Jonathan Luck is no stranger to the Malmö restaurant scene, but the Welshman who has already overseen one eatery in the city now has an entirely new challenge on his hands.

Published: 15 August 2016 06:59 CEST
'There's something for everybody in Malmö'
Jonathan Luck's fish and chips restaurant will open in Malmö this autumn. Photo: Jonathan Luck

In October he will open the Fish and Chip Shop in the new Studio building in Hamnen, and attempt to make perhaps the most British of foods a Skåne staple. 

“It’s not going to be a fish and chips shop that is just cheap fatty good,” he tells The Local.

“It’s going to be upmarket, we’ll do a lot of scallops and fried oysters, then we’ll also do the traditional cod and chips.”

“Everything is homemade, nothing is frozen,” he insists.

“We’ll make our own chips, tartar sauce, mushy peas. We hope to pull in students, but also families. People who want to enjoy quality food but don’t want to spend 500 kronor a head. We’re going to break the mould.”

For Luck, there couldn’t be a better place for the venture than Malmö. Perhaps the most culturally diverse of Sweden’s cities, he sees it as somewhere where most minds are open to new eating experiences.

“If I was to open a Mexican out in the countryside they’d ask why is that there? But because we’re in Malmö we have an opportunity to tap into everybody. I think that because it’s so multicultural when you do something different it’s accepted straight away,” he explains.

“There are no religious boundaries with fish and chips too. Everyone can eat fish, everyone can eat chips, so we’re open for everybody.”


Luck working in the kitchen. Photo: Jonathan Luck

That doesn’t mean it will be easy however. Having previously worked for years in London, Luck can see a clear difference between running a restaurant there and running one in Sweden: the Swedes have unforgivingly high standards.

“In Sweden and Malmö particularly nobody is fooled. In London you can get away with a lot, but in Malmö people have high expectations, and I like that,” he says.

“It drives you to do the best you can. You know you can’t get away with serving shit because they’ll come and talk to you. In England it’s the stiff upper lip, we’ll speak to the manager. In Sweden, they come and find you directly! It’s an open kitchen and they’ll easily find you.”

Along with the demanding customers, there are also the demands of opening a business in Sweden to contend with. That's where having a Swedish business partner comes in handy.

“I’m lucky. You have to have a good business partner to make any business succeed. If you’re a foreigner who wants to open a business in Sweden it’s different to the UK, of course,” he notes.

“I do sometimes have to deal with the form-filling though. I shake my head in disbelief sometimes. But that’s the process you have to go through. If you’re not fluent and don’t know the laws it can be tricky.”

Another challenge is finding the right ingredients to provide an authentic fish and chips experience in a country which doesn’t have the same culture of eating that kind of food.

“It’s very difficult to get good vinegar, it’s a little bit sweet here,” he laughs.

“It’s difficult to get Maris Piper potatoes too, the type that I want. I’ve done some research and I can’t really find it. So we have that coming from Pembrokeshire in Wales. It’s through a Swedish company though, so I don’t feel too bad about it.”

There are plenty of positives to running a business in Sweden, on the other hand:

“I really like that in all the companies in Sweden everyone is protected. If you do it correctly you can have a very happy working environment,”.

“You maybe don’t make as much money as you would in the UK or America, but I want to have a nice working environment and in Sweden it’s easy to have that. A lot more is made of appreciating people and staff. That’s very high on the agenda for companies. You get rewarded emotionally as well as financially.”

Being the first true fish and chips restaurant in Malmö also means Luck has the potentially rewarding bonus of a unique position in the local market.

“We’ll probably compete with all of these burger bars that are opening up, as well as maybe the cheaper end restaurants, but because we’re so different in what we’re offering there’s no direct competition.”


Preparing fish in the kitchen. Photo: Jonathan Luck

For Luck, the Fish and Chip Shop isn’t just about making the most of his surroundings, but also giving something back to the community.

“We’re going to do a ten percent discount for police, fire, ambulance and hospital workers. Anyone with the emergency services,” he explains.

“It’s something we feel strongly about: we want to give back to the community. We don’t have money to donate, but if you can come with your family and have a 100 kronor discount that’s something. We’re trying to give you something back for a difficult job.”

Pay enough attention to the media and it would be easy to conclude that Malmö’s emergency services have one of the most difficult jobs in the country.

The city is often portrayed in a negative light – and a few high-profile incidents in recent months haven’t helped – but after living there for nine years now, Luck couldn’t be more positive about his adopted home.

“I see Malmö as a great city. It has a negative image sometimes but maybe that’s because there was nothing happening before. I came here with my wife for a holiday 18 years ago and there was nothing where I’m sitting now. It was a run down industrial town that had to have a huge re-generation,” he says.

“It gets a rough deal. Maybe because there’s a higher concentration of foreign-born people to Swedes than elsewhere, I don’t know. But I’ve never seen any trouble. In eight years I’ve never seen a fight on the street.”

“Either people haven’t travelled much, or they’re just very nervous of people. But I really don’t see it as a troubled city,” he emphasizes.

Luck’s ambitions for The Fish and Chip Shop extend well beyond Malmö. While he admits that things could change depending on what customers want, the goal is to roll the venture out elsewhere eventually.

“We want to establish the name, which comes with trial and error. When you open a business the public always changes it into something else through supply and demand,” he notes.

“But what would be really nice in the long term is to have maybe 10 or 15 of the restaurants, then franchise it, who knows? It’s something that could be done that way: I think every small town will have one. I think big.”

For that to happen the Malmö restaurant will need to be a success. But the Welshman is fairly confident that the residents of a city he trusts will take to it.

“I have faith in the people of Malmö. I love it. It’s a great city: there’s something for everyone here.”

For members

READER INSIGHTS

How to find a job in Sweden: Five tips from those who’ve been there, done that

The Swedish job market poses unique challenges for newcomers. The Local's readers share their best tips for cracking the career code.

Published: 10 April 2024 11:32 CEST
Updated: 13 April 2024 15:50 CEST
How to find a job in Sweden: Five tips from those who've been there, done that

Network, network, network!

A statistic that often gets tossed around is that seven out of ten jobs in Sweden are obtained through personal connections, and there’s no doubt that a good network is crucial to your job hunt, making the labour market extra challenging for newcomers to the country.

In fact, networking was the main tip mentioned by The Local’s readers.

“The job market is quite hot in Sweden, and talent is in short supply. People hiring do not have a lot of time to find the right talent, and tips from friends, colleagues and former colleagues are the way to first, find out organisations are hiring, and secondly, get your CV on the short list,” said Kyle, a Canadian reader who works in innovation management in Gothenburg.

“If you are going for a major employer like Volvo, network gets you in the door, as HR does not have much to do with hiring… the hiring managers do all of it and have no time, due to the insane number of consensus meetings. If you are looking for smaller organisations, they have even less time to find people, and networking is their primary way to find talent,” he added.

NETWORKING IN SWEDEN:

Some of the networking tips readers mentioned were going to job fairs, getting an internship to help you establish connections in your preferred field, joining clubs (this could be anything from your local gardening association to meetups for coders, but focus on clubs that may be popular among people working in your chosen field), and drawing on your organic network of friends, neighbours and others.

Don’t neglect the groundwork

The saying “dress for the job you want, not the job you have” is getting worn out (and people may look at you funny if you turn up to interviews in a Batman suit), but there’s truth to the notion of making sure you know what you want – and preparing for it.

In other words, don’t wait for a job ad to appear before you start to customise your CV and figure out what skill set you need. Create your CV now so that you’re ready to tweak it to your dream job – you could even have a general look at job ads in your field to see what requirements are needed. And don’t forget to spruce up your LinkedIn profile so that it fits with your career goals.

“I believe that several factors contribute to successfully landing a desirable job in Sweden. It’s essential to prepare to meet the requirements beyond just having a university degree. Many individuals realise these requirements only after completing their studies when they start searching for a job, which can be too late,” said Adnan Aslam from Pakistan, who works as a food inspector.

“I recommend identifying the job advertisements for positions you aspire to hold in the future and then preparing for those requirements during your studies. For me, acquiring a basic level of proficiency in the Swedish language and obtaining a Swedish driving licence were crucial. I pursued these goals during my studies and was able to secure a desirable job before graduating,” he added.

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Felipe Cabral even has a GPT assistant trained on his own CVs and old cover letters, and said the set-up only takes ten minutes if you already have your documents. “With that in place, you can give instructions like: Read this job description and create a tailored version of my CV and letter for it. (…) Remember to always review and ask it not to create data aside from your documents.”

Be flexible and ready to adapt

Moving to a new place inevitably means having to learn not just the practicalities such as how to write a CV or which websites to use to look for job openings, but also learning how to navigate a new culture with all its unspoken expectations.

Swedish workplaces are generally less hierarchical than many other countries, but that doesn’t mean you can say whatever you want whenever you want without anyone raising an eyebrow. Swedes are usually direct, but be careful of being too abrasive or boastful: raising your voice, even during a spirited argument, or banging your own drum to show off your skills may not go down well.

“Talk, deliberate, complain like a Swede and you’ll come across like you know what the job entails, so your trustworthiness increases,” said an Indian data analyst who preferred to remain anonymous.

“Office politics are just as strong in Sweden as anywhere else. The flat hierarchy is deceiving as social hierarchy is enforced quite a bit in that lack of formal hierarchy. Take your time in learning these dynamics wherever you work before revealing your talent and capabilities. Expect those internal politics to happen, and they won’t hurt so much when they do,” said Kyle, the Canadian reader in Gothenburg.

This article about Swedish office politics may be useful.

Stay true to yourself

Adapting to your surroundings is one thing. Completely changing who you are is another.

For one thing, your happiness is as important as your career progression, and for another, your foreignness need not be an impediment: it’s also a skill that sets you apart from the rest. It means you have unique experience, and also, in the right setting, provides an opportunity to sometimes violate those social rules we mentioned above, because people assume you will, anyway.

“Trust is key. Build trust in your network, work with integrity. It’s OK to violate jantelagen if you are maintaining integrity. Sometimes your outsider and more honest/open opinion will burn bridges, especially those that may feel threatened by talent. But it will build trust with other colleagues who see it as brave and more trustworthy to work with,” said Kyle from Canada.

Hunker down for the long haul

We don’t want to scare you, because there are plenty of examples of people who quickly find their dream job in Sweden and settle into their new workplace, enjoying perks such as long summer holidays, generous parental leave and the famous work-life balance.

But if you do find it tougher than you expected: know that you’re not alone.

Several readers who responded to the survey said they were still trying to find a job in Sweden.

“I found jobs all over Europe but not here. They say they have a lack of experienced senior engineers but the don’t seem to be doing much to solve this,” said a Brazilian in Gothenburg.

A reader from Bangladesh said she was “at a loss” as to how to make a career change from her current AI role in Stockholm, despite many years of experience as an IT project manager.

“Over the past 18 months, I’ve submitted over 600 applications to various organisations. Unfortunately, despite being overqualified for some positions, I’ve faced rejections at every turn, from both large and small companies. The job market here, especially for foreign-born women, feels overwhelmingly challenging,” she said, adding that the struggle had impacted her mental health.

The Local has on several occasions reported on foreign residents’ struggle to get a foot on the Swedish job ladder, with many facing hurdles such as employers’ unfamiliarity with international degrees, discrimination, or a lack of network that can provide paths into a company.

So during the job hunt, don’t forget to care for yourself. Share your concerns with fellow job-seekers, ask for help and join networking groups – this is good not just for creating new contacts, but also in terms of your social well-being and meeting people who are in a similar situation.

And finally, as one British reader in Stockholm advised, keep looking: “Be open-minded with the opportunities that present themselves. It isn’t an easy market to enter and doesn’t feel inclusive.” But he added, “don’t give up”.

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