DeliVerde provides great tastes for all kinds of needs

 

DeliVerde started in 1996 and it has grown from the familiar salad seller at the market square of Turku to a reliable supplier of Finnish top restaurants and a standard brand in home kitchens.

At first, it was only a summer season job at the market square alongside studies but in the early 2000’s trade started first with supermarkets in Turku and then also in Helsinki. There has been co-operation with local restaurants since the beginning. Liisa Lindroth from DeliVerde sees that the different operations sections help one another all the time.

”The market trade taught us to produce high-quality salads and herbs at a reasonable price – so we made local food long before the trends. As regards long discussions about product development with top chefs, they first lead to new products at restaurant tables and further to home kitchens”, says Lindroth.

The 20-year-old co-operation with restaurants is based on interaction which helps DeliVerde to keep up-to-date. The trends often rise from the raw materials found by the chefs and end up in home kitchens which are still DeliVerde’s biggest area of activity. Although the specialities sold to restaurants are only a fraction of DeliVerde’s daily trade, the product development done for them benefits not only restaurants but also home kitchens.

DeliVerde often chooses new products specifically according to customers’ wishes but DeliVerde’s own intuition for products to come must also be strong. Alternatives are searched for at fairs and abroad and they are then tested among Finnish people. Liisa says that DeliVerde was in the frontline of introducing rosemary and mint which you find in every shop nowadays.

”Sometimes we have advanced strongly with our own vision and have wanted to push certain products to the market so that finally consumers also get excited about them”, says Liisa.

Direct customer feedback creates advantage

Today the social media plays an important role also in DeliVerde’s operation – when the customers find a new product on the shelf of their own shop, they get excited about it also in the social media.

"We get, for instance, recipe ideas for new products unbelievably quickly through the social media", says Lindroth.

Additionally, DeliVerde’s own counters in some big grocery shops and the market stand quickly give news about favourite products. Where the introduction of new products to consumers is a part of pleasures of work, no corresponding action is needed with restaurants. The chefs are often ahead of their time and they have a strong ready vision of what is wanted.

For example, restaurant Kaskis in Turku often asks questions about products that they would like to have in their restaurant. The operation of DeliVerde is certainly so extensive already that it is no use starting to grow very small batches of a certain herb but they are ready to test new products separately for restaurants’ needs if possible.

In DeliVerde’s wide selection there are lots of products which are actively used all the time both in home kitchens and top restaurants. The same basic salads which are on the local shop shelves are also the basis for countless restaurant portions. DeliVerde’s asset has always been salads which are bigger than others. They require time to grow but stick out from the shop shelf due to their big size and great taste.

Effect of raw materials on the portion

Chef Pekka Terävä of restaurant Olo also uses DeliVerde’s products and Terävä’s idea was baby turnips with honey which have found their way to many restaurants. The ideas of top chefs are often challenging but at the same time they make work interesting for their part.

”Heikki Linkola wanted to have radishes of specific size of 1 euro coin in Olo at some point. At the collecting line it was difficult to picture at first how to relate 1 euro coin to a radish. When I finally brought pictures of portions taken by Olo’s creative leader Jari Vesivalo, it was much easier to perceive the size” says Liisa and continues ”It was an eye-opening experience for us to see how much the raw material delivered by us affects the assembly of a perfect portion in the end.”

Though DeliVerde cooperates directly with top restaurants today, selling to home kitchens is still the most important part of the operation. Liisa Lindroth sees a clear reason for it:

”Food is an infinitely interesting subject which everyone can make in his or her place and way and within his or her resources, and that is why it is great to work in this line of business.”

See the Caesar salad recipe created by Erik Mansikka for DeliVerde:

See other recipes made for DeliVerde:

Further information