Halmeen leipomo

Halmeen leipomo was founded in 1899 at a storefront on Kuninkaantie in Kauklahden, Espoo. From there, Emil Halme sold bread by horse-drawn cart to passing travelers. Times have changed, and so has the company. Stefan Åsten, CEO of Halme Bakery, notes that many things trace their roots back 120 years.

– Our core business remains the same; we continue to sell baked goods. Our product selection evolves to meet the demands of the times, but some of our products are still made by hand using traditional recipes. Our baked goods have found their way into the selections of cafés, stores, and supermarkets, and we have our own online store. We also serve our customers from our bakery shop on Kuninkaantie, in almost the same location where Emil Halme once operated,says CEO Stefan Åsten .

The bakery’s shop-café, which was expanded in connection with the 2006 Housing Fair, is a gathering place known for its friendly service, attracting visitors even from far away. According to Åsten, half of the concept is a good product and half—if not more—is good service. Every customer is a regular, and receives the same level of service, whether they shop online or in the bakery shop.

Sales and Order Management in a Single System

The company led by Åsten has invested heavily in e-commerce technology and a business management system. The company has worked closely with Confirma since 2005. The bakery management system plays a central role in managing the company’s operations. The system handles sales at the bakery, in the café, and in the online store, as well as bakery orders, invoice printing, sales figures, and product pricing.

– Almost everything related to our business is handled through the Confirma bakery system. It would be easier to tell you what it doesn’t do, Åsten chuckles.

Halmeen Leipomo is one of Confirma’s first customers to implement all of its various sales channels, as well as a feature tailored for bakery use to manage orders. The bakery application within the point-of-sale software is used to process orders from retailers. For example, orders from the S Group are received directly into the bakery system, from which the next day’s order list can be easily retrieved.

Still worthy of our customers' trust in the 2100s

Åsten explains that rapidly changing seasonal and specialty products are the current trend in the baking industry. Still, the company carefully considers which trends to follow. Only finished products are brought to market.

– We’re a small, agile company, and we’re able to bring new products to market quickly. Still, we must invest in product development, and new products must be perfected before we make them available to our customers. We work hard every day to earn our customers’ trust and ensure that we’ll still be here for another 120 years.

Åsten also appreciates the reliability and security of Confirma's bakery solution.

– The best support for our business is the system’s excellent functionality. It gives us the peace of mind to focus on our core business. It has been developed in collaboration with us from the very beginning to meet our specific needs. We wouldn’t even consider switching to something else. The strength of the system lies in the fact that it was good from the start, but it’s also constantly being improved.

– The whole system is designed so that there’s always a backup in case something breaks. We just bypass it and keep going—it works that way. And if we’ve found that there’s a flaw in our own system or that something isn’t working, the issue has been resolved with just one or two calls to support. We need to highlight the people involved. Ultimately, it all comes down to the people—whether things work or not. The system is great, but the biggest thanks go to the people behind it.