We started our day with a bus ride towards Vantaa. Maybe it was because of the excessive studying from previous night (for real?) or due to the excitement that was silently growing inside, but the atmosphere in the bus was unusually quiet as we were on our way to every child’s fantasyland. Once we got to the entrance hall of Fazer, the students gathered around the sofas where huge bowls were filled with chocolates. At the latest this point everyone knew that most likely we would exit the building with sore stomachs - and this time it would not be because of the usual reason for university students.
After the formalities we gathered in an auditorium. Once again, we were offered a bowl full of chocolates to keep us awake during the presentation. However, this was unnecessary as it turned out, since the presentations were getting our full attention on their own right.
At first Maija Hellman, Manager in Business Development, gave a few introductory words about Fazer and told us what our day was going to include. Then the board was given to Mika Sarimo, VP of Fazer Bakeries & Confectionery Marketing, who shared to us bits of Fazer’s current strategy. Sarimo informed about the Fazer’s position in the Nordic and the Baltic markets, and how Fazer was beginning to enter new foreign markets while also maintaining and even improving their already strong position in Finland and the other core markets. We were provided with insights on Fazer’s way of utilizing its focus brands for expanding to new product categories and bringing out new varieties. Sarimo also presented us the Cookie challenge, Fazer’s present mission in the cookie sector.
Next Heli Arantola, Senior Vice President in Fazer Mill BU and Business Development, gave us a presentation of the Fazer strategy and especially the strategy development within the company. We watched a video about Fazer’s new strategy called “Our Journey to New Places” and Arantola explained how the strategy was developed and communicated internally. After Arantola’s presentation we were treated with lunch; have to tell you, once again our stomachs were singing with joy.
After our bellies were full, we were ready to continue munching some more chocolates while Antti Tapiolinna, VP of Fresh Bakery Business and Head of Go-to-market activities, told us how Fazer was seeking growth in a declining market. Tapiolinna explained that traditionally the bakery market has been very different from how Fazer sees it today, with fresh lunch and snack products and suchlike.
Next up was Heli Holttinen, the director of Shops & Cafes Business Unit. She offered us a sneak peak into a new café concept Fazer is launching during the upcoming summer. The valuable lesson of the presentation was about how Fazer is making their in-depth ground research through multiple method research from benchmarking to netnographic studies.
The last presenter was Kirsi Puoliväli, HR Manager, who told us about careers and employee management at Fazer. The most exciting fact was Fazer’s strategy as a responsible employer, and how the company translates its corporate values into practice. We were happy to hear about Fazer’s family-like focus, since it seems rare in today’s corporate world, where market forces and efficiency dominate.
After presentations, the fun part was beginning. Before our actual tour in the factory, we were taken to another auditorium where we were shown a video about Fazer’s history, cocoa and CSR. After this we were truly excited of the opportunity to taste different kinds of chocolates and to see how those small beans that used to be treated as currency were turned into something so much sweeter. Hence, we were given a tour through various production lines where the chocolate mass was turned into all those familiar products we can find in our next-door markets. It was amazing to see the amount of automated power as well as handcraft skills required to produce the variety of products – all this so that we could have something sweet in our mouths!
While touring in the factory, we stopped at tasting points were mountains of chocolate were waiting to be “tasted”. Once we bravely finished the tour, we were taken to a final chocolate eating point where - as if we had not had enough - we were once more offered more chocolate. “Eat as much as you want, this is the final stop” the tour guide said. Oh, and did we listen to her.
