The renewed Wihuri Metro-tukku will be opening a restaurant wholesale flagship for Helsinki at The Train Factory
Wihuri Metro-tukku, one of Finland’s leading wholesalers, responds to the changing market in the restaurant industry by renewing its restaurant wholesales around Finland and by investing in service and digital channels. A restaurant wholesale flagship will be opened in Helsinki Konepaja in 2023.
Wihuri Group’s Antti Aarnio-Wihuri (pictured in the middle) and Wihuri Metro wholesaler Antti Leisté (left) and Jukka Heinänen (right) in front of the flagship store being built at Konepaja.
Wihuri Metro-tukku, which has promoted Finnish food culture for more than 120 years, is renewing its restaurant wholesale and investing in expert service and digital channels. The reforms will take place in stages during the years 2022–2024.
In addition, Wihuri Metro-tukku will open a completely new restaurant wholesale flagship store in Helsinki’s Konepaja area, Vallila, in 2023. The flagship store, which will be built in a historic, huge assembly hall, will serve the city’s restaurateurs both because of its location and its versatile selection. For ordinary city dwellers, a cozy food culture center with pop-up restaurants and food-focused events will be built next to Konepaja’s flagship store.
“The restaurant industry and the needs of restaurateurs towards wholesalers have changed rapidly in recent years. Digital service channels are in a greater position than before, but also in traditional brick-and-mortar, customer service and delivery flexibility are very important. Thanks to its long experience, Wihuri Metro-tukku will be a pioneer in the changing wholesale industry,” says Antti Aarnio-Wihuri, chairman of the Wihuri Group’s board of directors.
“More and more comprehensiveness is expected from food retailers. The fact that you can get high-quality fresh products, dry products, and drinks in one place. Metro-tukku wants to be a restaurant entrepreneur’s expert partner who listens, guides, helps, and responds to needs. This will be reflected in our restaurant wholesale operations throughout Finland as even better service packages,” says Jukka Heinänen, branch manager of Wihuri Metro-tukku.
“Konepaja’s flagship store meets the wishes of restaurateurs and focuses especially on fresh products – fruits and vegetables, fish and meat, as well as our imported wines. Together with Konepaja as a whole, it will be a focus of food culture and a lively event center, the influence of which will radiate throughout the restaurants of Finland”, describes Antti Leistén, BtoB Business Director of Wihuri Metro-tukku.
Konepaja’s flagship store will be built in a protected assembly hall owned by The Train Factory in cooperation with Train Factory Oy and the Finnish Museum Agency. Together with other restaurants, theatres, and event and sports centers in the area, the Konepaja area is currently becoming a new living room for the people of Helsinki.