A family company with a long history

In 1930, as the world’s economists were nervous at the prospect of a depression after the stock market crash the year before, Bertil Tielman founded what is now Tielman Sweden AB. Conditions were not the best, but determined entrepreneurs can’t be kept down, not even by gloomy economic forecasts. Instead they trust their intuition and conviction that their particular concept is going to bear fruit.

With his inventory stored under the bed, he sold all kinds of products while his wife Gunhild took care of administrative tasks. A business card from this time period shows how little information was required then — not even a telephone number was needed.

Little by little they started their own manufacturing, and the operation was run in various small cellar spaces. Sales increased and the company was soon in need of more suitable quarters. After several years of rapid growth, in 1940 the business moved into a new building, part of which included rental apartments. The combination of industrial operations and residential apartments in the same building was not optimal, especially not when production expanded to two shifts and neighbors started complaining about noise and traffic in the courtyard.

The focus was increasingly on bakeries and coffee shops. Machinery was purchased from abroad, but some was developed and constructed in Sweden as well. The rudimentary marketing of the time mainly stressed the Swedish aspects of their products, and the fact that Swedish raw materials were used. This was of added importance with the unrest beyond the country’s borders, when relying on imports put the reliability of deliveries at risk.

During the 1950s the number of products increased, and now everything from paper plates to sandpaper was manufactured and sold. A growing product group catered to the burgeoning fast food market. In 1955 the company had grown to the point that new premises were required, and the choice was made to construct a new building. The building pictured was erected on the outskirts of the city, and here the operation was run until 2006 when it was once again time to move.

The second generation

During the 1960s and ’70s grandfather’s sons started working in the company. As always with a change of generation, this meant new ways of thinking and ideas. The technology was refined and the company continued to grow, but by the late 1980s a crossroads had been reached. The building was not adequate, competition was stiffer, and capital and a network of contacts were required to enter the export market. For that reason, the company was sold in 1988 with the promise that operations would remain in Linköping.

Unfortunately, that promise was only kept until 1993 when the new owners decided to move operations out of Linköping. As a direct consequence of this the brothers Bengt and Bo as well as Bo’s son Björn decided to re-start the old family company that same year. The focus would be on various types of baking cups, which still constitutes the base of the product line. These cups are used by individual consumers as well as by large industrial bakeries. The cup is most often adapted to the requests of each customer, and for that reason most of the company’s products are custom designed for a single end customer. 

Third generation: focus on innovation and establishment in North America

Production is done on high specialized proprietary quipment, designed and built by Tielman, which offers greater possibilities to adapt production to today’s modern baking processes. The core values of the company are to be genuine, flexible and inventive, and these values also permeate the entire operation, as confirmed by our many loyal, highly skilled employees and long-term customers who have been using Tielman cups for decades. There are many possibilities for customization and through close collaboration with the customer, new ideas and new products are often conceived. The company’s business concept includes developing new products that no one else is making and that help bring out the quality of the bakery product.

Every day several million cups are produced and over 70% of these are for export, primarily to customers in Europe, but also to countries in the Middle East and Asia. In 2014 the company started a subsidiary in Canada to better be able to supply the North American market and in 2016 Tielman Sweden acquired the Danish company Fin Form. Interest in the company’s products is great, and the goal is to grow further in these markets.