leksands crispbread history
Our story begins in the 1920s when our founders, Joon Olof and Anna Olsson, became the village bakers and took on the task of providing bread for all the other families in the village.
The business grew as more and more families made use of the village baker, and the children in the family had to help with the bread-making from a very early age. In those days production was completely manual. In order to make the work easier, Martin the bakers’ son, constructed a machine that was able to knead the dough and then the bakery began to sell bread to the hotels and boarding houses in the district.
In the beginning the family baked both round and square crispbread crackers that were pricked in traditional style and also crispbread with small square shaped air pillows
“rut bröd”.
As the company continued to grow, production was concentrated on one variety, the popular and traditional large round crispbread cracker.
A small mistake became a great success
Quality has always been high priority at the Leksand Crispbread bakery and all the rounds that are not first-rate are rejected. In fact, this is still done very carefully by hand. Martin used to take care of the crispbread that had been in the oven too long. He rather liked the taste of the “reject” dark brown bread, and in the middle of the 1960s this led to a new product – Brown-baked Leksand Crispbread. A lot of other people shared Martin’s taste and the new product became a success. Production increased and the family firm continued to develop from a small home bakery into a larger, more modern business.
Another successful product
In 1990 production at Leksand Crispbread increased by more than 30%. This was due to the re-introduction of an old product, “Rutknäcket” (light baked rye crispbread crackers with square shaped air pillows) but now in a new large round variety. “Rund-Rut” - literally Round-Squared - became the company’s biggest ever success and showed that there was and is a demand for a new type of crispbread among the existing Leksand range.
In 1995 the family invested in the re-launch of another old product. Sawn-off square crackers, traditionally patterned crispbread and squared crispbread were all produced in order to meet household demands for a modern Leksand crispbread for sandwiches. They were so successful that the bakery increased its sales again in 1997, this time by 25%. Since then many good new products have been launched such as Multi grain crackers, coarse wedge shaped crackers and “Mini-rut” (Mini-squared) crackers. All are still popular and in demand in the shops today.
Only natural raw ingredients
We bake genuine delicious Dalecarlien crispbread in our bakery every day and we are extremely careful to follow our traditional family recipes. We use rye with the Swedish Seal of Quality “Svensk Sigill”, fresh pure water from our own spring, yeast and a pinch of salt. The fact that the rye has a Seal of Quality means that the growers are strictly controlled by the European Food Safety Authority which has very high demands. It also means that we can trace all the rye back to the farms where it was grown. Naturally, we use modern equipment in our bakery and adapt our operations to modern demands for proper food hygiene standards and a good working environment. However, basically it is our bakers’ tradition and professional pride that makes Leksand Crispbread so delicious. Today we are the most modern and second largest bakery in Sweden. We never lose sight of good workmanship and we will probably never be the largest one.
Change of Management
At the turn of the year 2006/2007 Rune Joon stepped down from the post of Managing Director and his son Peter Joon, (4th generation) took over. Peter’s sister, Annika Sund, is Marketing Manager and their father Rune is Chairman of the Board. So the spirit of a family firm from the time of Joon Olof still exists and our exciting journey continues. New chapters in our history have yet to be written
The business grew as more and more families made use of the village baker, and the children in the family had to help with the bread-making from a very early age. In those days production was completely manual. In order to make the work easier, Martin the bakers’ son, constructed a machine that was able to knead the dough and then the bakery began to sell bread to the hotels and boarding houses in the district.
In the beginning the family baked both round and square crispbread crackers that were pricked in traditional style and also crispbread with small square shaped air pillows
“rut bröd”.
As the company continued to grow, production was concentrated on one variety, the popular and traditional large round crispbread cracker.
A small mistake became a great success
Quality has always been high priority at the Leksand Crispbread bakery and all the rounds that are not first-rate are rejected. In fact, this is still done very carefully by hand. Martin used to take care of the crispbread that had been in the oven too long. He rather liked the taste of the “reject” dark brown bread, and in the middle of the 1960s this led to a new product – Brown-baked Leksand Crispbread. A lot of other people shared Martin’s taste and the new product became a success. Production increased and the family firm continued to develop from a small home bakery into a larger, more modern business.
Another successful product
In 1990 production at Leksand Crispbread increased by more than 30%. This was due to the re-introduction of an old product, “Rutknäcket” (light baked rye crispbread crackers with square shaped air pillows) but now in a new large round variety. “Rund-Rut” - literally Round-Squared - became the company’s biggest ever success and showed that there was and is a demand for a new type of crispbread among the existing Leksand range.
In 1995 the family invested in the re-launch of another old product. Sawn-off square crackers, traditionally patterned crispbread and squared crispbread were all produced in order to meet household demands for a modern Leksand crispbread for sandwiches. They were so successful that the bakery increased its sales again in 1997, this time by 25%. Since then many good new products have been launched such as Multi grain crackers, coarse wedge shaped crackers and “Mini-rut” (Mini-squared) crackers. All are still popular and in demand in the shops today.
Only natural raw ingredients
We bake genuine delicious Dalecarlien crispbread in our bakery every day and we are extremely careful to follow our traditional family recipes. We use rye with the Swedish Seal of Quality “Svensk Sigill”, fresh pure water from our own spring, yeast and a pinch of salt. The fact that the rye has a Seal of Quality means that the growers are strictly controlled by the European Food Safety Authority which has very high demands. It also means that we can trace all the rye back to the farms where it was grown. Naturally, we use modern equipment in our bakery and adapt our operations to modern demands for proper food hygiene standards and a good working environment. However, basically it is our bakers’ tradition and professional pride that makes Leksand Crispbread so delicious. Today we are the most modern and second largest bakery in Sweden. We never lose sight of good workmanship and we will probably never be the largest one.
Change of Management
At the turn of the year 2006/2007 Rune Joon stepped down from the post of Managing Director and his son Peter Joon, (4th generation) took over. Peter’s sister, Annika Sund, is Marketing Manager and their father Rune is Chairman of the Board. So the spirit of a family firm from the time of Joon Olof still exists and our exciting journey continues. New chapters in our history have yet to be written