8.12.2021
Pioneers in plant-based protein products, the inventors of the ground-breaking Finnish plant-based foods, Härkis® Fava Bean crumb and Pulled Oats®, have received a novel environmental award Blue Globe. The award provides recognition for work that aims to solve the ecological crisis, i.e. climate change and loss of biodiversity. The launch of these two innovative products in 2016 caused a huge boom around plant based foods and practically established the whole category in Finland. It was decided that the award, granted for the first time this year, would be shared by the developers of the Härkis® and Pulled Oats® products. These products have had a significant impact on the consumption habits of people in Finland, all while competing and spurring each other on.
For the Härkis® product, the award was accepted by Leena Saarinen and Tarja Ollila. The sisters have been a part of the Härkis® journey since the early days. The innovation has since evolved into a whole range of Finnish fava bean foods that nowadays get to be part of Raisio Group’s portfolio with their Beanit® brand.
“It is an amazing honour that the food revolution is selected as the first recipient of such an environmental award,” Leena Saarinen sums up. Tarja Ollila continues: “It is great that the significance of food for the environment and supporting climate action is understood. I’m humbled by this recognition.”
Leena Saarinen says that the growth of plant-based food starts with diverse products that can replace the animal-based protein in dishes. Over a decade ago, it could be seen that people enjoying vegetarian food, in particular, would display more interest towards diverse sources of protein. Tarja Ollila already saw this need when she was working on soya products at Alpro. Sales grew, and people became increasingly aware of the significance of plant-based products.
“We wanted to find a Finnish ingredient and product that would be easy to use: something you can add to familiar recipes – the dishes that people usually make at home – and just replace the meat,” Leena says.
Härkis® fava bean product entered the market in 2016. Tarja Ollila says that the biggest surprise was the rapid increase in sales volumes during the launch stage. “It was just incredible. The sales exploded right at the start.”
Consumers’ interest was piqued by Pulled Oats®, which made it onto the market first. Alongside, Härkis® got a flying start and advanced on the market faster than anyone could have thought. After this, Pulled Oats® and Härkis® continued to build the market for plant proteins, while intensively spurring each other on. Leena Saarinen states that many actors played an important role during the rapid start, which is why this new award is a recognition for the whole team: Elli Laukkala, who was a part of the product development from the start, and Jaakko Päivinen and Sonja Hakala, who were in charge of the commercialisation in the early stages. However, she also sees the award as a recognition of the franchising groups and retail shops that did their part and got off to a good start in building the product category.
In addition to the rapid growth in the sales, another surprising element was the antagonism. “The fava bean is a Finnish ingredient, but still people opposed it, especially at the start. It is surprising, since bringing Finnish food to the spotlight adds value for everyone,” Leena Saarinen ponders. The way they both see it, the category of plant proteins still has room for new arrivals. “The more options there are on the shelf, the better it is for the consumer. The diversity of the available products encourages people to experiment with them and expands the whole product category, which benefits everyone,” Tarja Ollila states.
The start-up phase of Verso Food approached its end during Kavli’s ownership and came to an end, at the latest, when Raisio Group acquired Verso Food in spring 2021. Leena says it is great to see plant-based food and Beanit® and Härkis® at the centre of Raisio’s strategy. Tarja adds that she also believes it is great to have Härkis® under Finnish ownership.
“Raisio focuses on the exact things that this award is granted for,” Leena Saarinen says, smiling.
Leena Saarinen and Tarja Ollila
In 2010, nutrition specialist Patrik Borg and consultant Marko Parkkinen joined the Food Strategy 2020 working group. There, an idea for using Finnish plant proteins was born. Until 2013, the company founded for this purpose operated under the name Nofu Oy. The name was changed to Verso Food when the fava bean product was discovered.
Leena Saarinen was asked to join as an owner in 2010. She was the company’s chair of the board until 2019 when Verso Food was acquired by Kavli. She also continued on the board during the time with Kavli. Raisio acquired Verso Food in spring 2021. Currently, Leena holds a Senior Advisor position. As for her primary occupation, Leena Saarinen is a professional board member. She is a part of the boards and committees of several Finnish listed companies, as well as the Hallituspartnerit network.
Tarja Ollila became the CEO of Verso Food in 2013. For a long time, she was the company’s only employee. Tarja ended up working with plant proteins through soya: before Verso Food, she worked at Alpro’s product management and marketing for soya products for more than a decade. She moved away from Verso Food in 2019 in connection with the acquisition by Kavli. These days, Tarja Ollila says she is ‘semi-retired’ – enjoying life and the results of her past work – without schedules.
Award from three foundations
The Blue Globe (Sininen pallo) award provides recognition for work that aims to solve the ecological crisis, i.e. climate change and loss of biodiversity. The award, funded by three separate foundations, is granted for groundbreaking technology or scientific research that helps humankind brave the ecological crisis. The award is granted by the Tiina and Antti Herlin Foundation, the Maj and Tor Nessling Foundation and the scholarly society Svenska litterattursällskapet i Finland SLS. The portion of SLS is funded by the Ingrid, Margit and Henrik Höijer II Fund. The first ever award ceremony took place on 8 December 2021. In addition to Leena Saarinen and Tarja Ollila, the award was granted to Reetta Kivelä, Maija Itkonen and Zhong-Qing Jiang.
More about the award: https://en.sininenpallo.fi/
