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‘When people ask me if I’m a love refugee in Sweden I say no…it’s the insulation’

It wasn't the usual allure of love or even the Scandinavian lifestyle that brought Irishman Jack Ryan to Sweden. Rather, it was the love of something much more simple: decent insulation.

Published: 31 July 2017 06:59 CEST
'When people ask me if I'm a love refugee in Sweden I say no...it's the insulation'
Irishman Jack Ryan runs a Swedish startup that delivers specialty coffee to members. Photo: Muttley & Jack's Coffee Roasters

“It was the really boring things like the fact that there was really good insulation and you could walk around indoors in your underwear even though it’s minus 20 outside that got me,” he tells The Local, laughing.

“So when people ask me if I’m a love refugee I say no… it’s insulation. And the other thing is I like the fact that there are seasons here. Ireland has not so much variation between winter and summer. I enjoy the seasons we have here that are very different.”

Ryan was working for Greenpeace when he first came to Sweden as part of a six month project in 2007, and indeed has spent most of his adult life working NGOs. Though he had long wanted to go out on his own and run a business, he always found the prospect of compromising his morals to be tricky:

“The only thing I could think of is that it’d be interesting to start a business that could use some of the ethical principles of non-profit, and in a way that both the consumer, the supplier and the business owner could benefit. I had lots of ideas but when I thought them through I would see that someone, somewhere would get screwed so it wasn’t the thing for me”.

READ ALSO: Here's where to get Sweden's best coffee

That changed when he had the idea for his startup, Muttley & Jack's Coffee Roasters, which buys high quality coffee from growers at a fair price then delivers it to the doorstep of its members. The concept was inspired by his travels back home: though Ireland is not traditionally known as a nation of coffee specialists, the downturn of the Celtic Tiger years started to changed that.

“Ireland has been a tea drinker's haven for centuries. I travel back there four to six times year and have done ever since I moved here, and I just noticed that there was something exciting happening in the whole food scene in the aftermath of the Celtic Tiger collapse. Cheaper spaces were allowing people to come in and set up businesses they couldn’t afford before. People started focusing much more on delivering a quality product because the population was more discerning in what they would do with their now much more limited capital,” he recalls.

“So I noticed there were more and more great coffee shops popping up all over the place, and serving things that tasted of more than just roasted coffee beans. You could taste different elements. So because of that I started to get into coffee.”


The roasting process. Photo: Muttley & Jack's Coffee Roasters

Sweden by contrast is a nation of coffee drinkers, but not necessarily a nation that drinks high quality coffee across the board. Ryan saw an opportunity to join the fledgling specialty coffee scene in the Scandinavian country however, using a model where customers pay for a membership and have beans delivered straight to them, rather than the more standard practice of selling the product in cafés or stores.

“We’re only two months into the venture and I think people are surprised in some way that coffee can have such a wide variety of tastes. Swedes drink a lot of coffee but most of it has been roasted to death,” he points out.

“There’s about 50 speciality coffee roasters all over Sweden and every year a couple more join them. It’s growing. I think it’s a bit like wine was maybe 20 years ago, when people had a choice between ‘red’ and ‘white’ and didn’t know much about the origin and how it would taste different from different countries. Nowadays people have favourite countries, regions, grapes, they’re much more discerning and can talk about what they like. I think coffee is on the same path, that in maybe five or 10 years more than half of people will have a favourite country for their coffee’s origin.”

READ ALSO: 10 places to get a perfect cup of coffee in Stockholm


Ryan thinks customers will soon be better informed about the coffee they buy, and he wants to help. Photo: Muttley & Jack's Coffee Roasters

The focus on high quality coffee is combined with focusing on giving a fair deal to the farmers themselves, which isn’t always the case with more popular mass-produced coffee:

“Most of the commodity coffee you get in normal chain stores is bought and sold on the stock exchange either in New York in London. Speciality coffee skips over that and buys directly from the growers, and generally pays 200 to 400 percent more than what they’d get if they sold it on the market.”

“We work very closely with the producers to give them feedback on what we think is good, and what they could do better, and that we’d be willing to pay more if they’re able to produce a consistent level of quality year after years. So they get paid two to four times as much as they would otherwise and invest in working sustainably and delivering ever increasing quality,” he adds.

The ethical focus is an easy sell in Sweden where those issues are given greater attention than in some other countries. But that can also be a double edged sword when it comes to trying to help small scale coffee producers, the entrepreneur argues.

“A lot of the growers we work with are very small growers. Even if they’re part of a cooperative, if that cooperative is going to be certified as organic, every member has to be certified as organic, and it’s quite expensive to get certified as both Fairtrade and organic. A lot of the farmers we work with simply don’t have the money to prioritise that. Even though, in 99.9 percent of cases, they’re actually practising organic farming.”

“We go and see if the farms are organic in practice if not in certification. That’s still a business we want to support and product we want to deliver, but it creates a challenge here in the marketplace to communicate why organic isn’t on every single bag. That’s a good chance to engage people though, and if they have an open mind they can understand a bit more about some of the shortcomings about the labelling and certification game,” he elaborates.


How the coffee looks when it reaches members. Photo: Muttley & Jack's Coffee Roasters

Another of the company’s goals is to try and reach people who are not already coffee experts, and perhaps feel intimidated by the sometimes elitist specialist coffee world, then try to make it accessible to them and provide knowledge in a manageable way.

“Speciality coffee is still mostly consumed by coffee nerds – and what can you teach them? But there are lots of people who have heard about speciality coffee then maybe gone into a coffee shop and felt intimidated. What we’re trying to do is take speciality coffee, make it approachable, and answer questions that maybe I was curious about a couple of years ago but didn’t have answers for.”

As such, each delivery of beans comes with an info card containing a small piece of information about coffee, with the idea being that customers build up their knowledge over the long term by reading small nuggets of information each month.

READ ALSO: This Swedish entrepreneur wants to own 'covfefe' trademark

Workshops are also offered three times a year, teaching members skills like how to brew coffee at home and how to roast beans. For the die-hards meanwhile, there is even the opportunity to join Ryan on a trip to visit his coffee growers – provided they can make their way there.

“People will get themselves to the meeting place, it could be an airport in Kenya for example, and the next five days we’ll have everything organized: we’ll take them to coffee farms to see the coffee growing, meet the people who grow it and the communities that benefit from it, and I guess this is the one thing for the coffee nerds. But it’s the kind of thing that’s only open to people in the trade at the moment.”

“But again, like wine, people go on vineyard tours, so I think there’s a possibility people will want to do that as well,” he predicts.


The company is currently based in Hammarby Sjöstad south of central Stockholm. Photo: Muttley & Jack's Coffee Roasters

Though it’s still early days, one thing the startup owner has noticed after a few months in business in Sweden is that people in the country’s specialist coffee scene are surprisingly helpful towards their competitors.

“It surprised me at first because I thought going from the non-profit world where people help each other a lot between different companies, to the commercial world, would be so different. But the speciality coffee market is very much like the non-profit world in my experience, people do help each other. One guy who was coaching me for a while explained that a rising tide floats all boats: so if you can lift the overall quality of coffee in the country, you don’t have to squabble over the pie, you can just make the pie larger.”

It only felt right to tap into the coffee expert’s knowledge while we had him at our disposal, so we asked Ryan a question that will likely be one plenty of people have pondered: with so many different ways to make coffee now offered these days, which method is the best?

“I think the old school method of a hand pourover brewing is best. You have total control, and if you do it in the morning it can be a moment to slowly have this meditative practice. It takes three or four minutes.”

“The main thing I would say though is invest in a grinder at home. If there’s one thing you can do to improve the taste experience it’s to grind the beans before you brew them. It’s a bit like if you buy a loaf of bread and cut it all up into slices then use it for the rest of the week, the bread’s going to taste worse and worse. It’s the same with beans,” he concludes.

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.

READ ALSO:

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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