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Famous Swedish snack gets 2015 makeover

One of Sweden's best loved sweet treats, the semla bun, has been given a revamp in Stockholm, with huge queues outside a cafe selling the new flat, wrapped version of the snack, designed to be eaten on the go.

Published: 20 January 2015 14:04 CET
Famous Swedish snack gets 2015 makeover
The new semla wrap. Photo: Mattias Ljungberg/Tössebageriet
The Swedish cream bun (known as a 'semla' or 'semlor' if you're having a few), is a doughy ball that oozes out a sweet almond paste and is topped with oodles of whipped cream.
 
Traditionally eaten only on the day before Lent, it has become a staple in Sweden's cake-packed bakeries and coffee houses. But unless you want a creamy moustache, it isn't that easy to eat if you're walking along at the same time.
 
One bakery has come to the rescue of busy Stockholmers and invented a 2015 version of the bun – a tortilla-style paper-wrapped snack, which incorporates the bun's key ingredients, but is designed to be much less messy.
 
The move has led to long queues outside the store – Tössebageriet – with more than 500 of the new snacks (called 'Semmel-wrappen') sold on Tuesday alone.
 
“We realized that there was not really an easy way to eat the semla on the go, but now it is a lot easier if you are in a hurry and you don't really have time to sit down,” pastry chef Maria Strandlund told The Local.
 
“Usually we only sell 20 or 30 ordinary semla buns a day but the new wrap has really taken off.”
 
 

Traditional semlor buns. Photo: TT
 
Swedes have a long love affair with cakes and regular 'fika' coffee breaks are a staple in most people's work and social lives. Asked if the new speedy snack threatened the ritual, Strandland added: “Yes, Swedes do love to take their time over a fika, but there are also a lot of people who are always in a rush, especially in Stockholm.”
 
Online news stories about the snack were trending on some of Sweden top newspaper websites on Tuesday.
 
“All the ingredients are the same, the difference is that the dough is rolled out very thin and is then baked very lightly so it can be rolled up, and then we squirt cream and almond paste in it. It tastes a bit different…the bun does not become dry like with the ordinary bun,” inventor Mattias Ljungberg from Tössebageriet told Sweden's Metro newspaper.
 
“This is a product I believe in. You can eat it on the train, around town or sit in the car and eat it,” he added.
 
For the moment the bakery has no plans to sell the snack to stores or cafes in any other parts of 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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