Peter Steer had been running a cheese and wine shop in North London before moving to Finland four years ago with his Finnish wife Nelli. They landed in Espoo, and two days later, there was the first Covid lockdown. That meant all their plans flew out of the window in an instant.

After living in Espoo for a year, they moved to Töölö, Helsinki, and on one of their daily walks, they saw a shop space on Museokatu and realized it would be an ideal spot for a cheese shop. Pretty soon, the shop was up and running, and it will be three years old come June.

Initially, it was just Peter working in the shop, but after six months, Nelli came aboard as well. Last year, they expanded the shop by taking over the neighboring unit and this spring they opened a cheese boutique in Vanha Kauppahalli, Helsinki.

The biggest challenge?

When starting a business, the biggest challenge is always not knowing how it’s going to go and how your business concept will fit into the environment and the local taste palette. It’s been surprising how some things we thought would never work here have really worked out well. As an example, we imported recently an extremely strong French blue, and weren’t quite sure how people were going to take it, but it turned out to be surprisingly popular.

What do you enjoy most at work?

I like to introduce new things to people. We’re expanding the business now, and we have new staff, so it’s nice to train them to become cheesemongers, a cheese expert who specializes in the selection, storage, and presentation of artisanal cheeses.

What do you bring to the work community?

I think I’m an approachable person who wants to provide not just sales but also aftercare to our customers. Quite often, we have people coming to our shop with a bottle of wine asking which cheese would go with it, and I enjoy being able to help people in this way.

What do you hope for the future?

We’ve been organic in growth so far, so our definite plan is not to be a chain of shops everywhere. We like doing different kinds of projects, so we will see what the future holds for us!

Your favorite British dish?

There are two. Fish and chips because I miss the good chippies. I also miss a proper chicken Jalfrezi because we have extremely good Indian and South-Asian food in the UK.

The strangest Finnish dish or ingredient?

I can’t really say because I’m keen to try everything. A great example of using Finnish ingredients would be restaurant Skörd on Fredrikinkatu. They do amazing things with deer and reindeer.

Further reading: Hello, Suomi! Working in Finland: Diarisoa Joëlle would like to create a space where people can eat and dance simultaneously

Further reading: Hello, Suomi! Working in Finland: Malaysia-born chef Boo Niinivaara talks surprises, challenges, people

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