Good Practice - Project
Food Region Savo 2020
A food cooperation project to promote the North Savo region in eastern Finland as a culinary destination.
General information
RDP Priority
- P6. Social inclusion and local development
RDP Focus Area
- 6A: Diversification & job creation
RDP Measure
- M16: Cooperation
Summary
Based on the needs analysis and interviews with around 60 food companies operating in the North Savo region, this project was designed to establish North Savo as food destination by the year 2020. This cooperation project provided coordination between regional educational institutions. It implemented communication, marketing and networking activities, created a marketing brand and organised food events to promote the region as a culinary destination.
Results
The “Satoa Food Festivals” in Kuopio attracted 10 000 visitors in 2016, 14 000 visitors in 2017 and 20 000 visitors in 2018. 32 restaurants took part in these three festivals and in total they sold about 135 000 food portions.
The project prepared a regional gastronomic book that enabled North Savo to secure ERG membership.
The North Savo food tourism website attracts around 50 visitors per week.
Three regional food related Master’s theses were published during the project.
Promoter
ProAgria Pohjois-Savo Association / Rural Women’s Advisory Organisation
Funding
Total budget 754 000.00 (EUR)
EAFRD 316 680.00 (EUR)
National/Regional 437 320.00 (EUR)
Resources
Documents
Food Region Savo 2020
(PDF – 2.57 MB)
Context
The vision of the Regional Council of North Savo (Union of North Savo municipalities) was to make the region an internationally well-known food destination by the year 2020. This project was designed to make that vision become reality and was designed on the basis of a needs analysis and interviews involving 60 food companies operating in the North Savo region.
Objectives
The first goal of the project was to strengthen the position of the food region locally, nationally and internationally. Another core goal was to strengthen the growth, know-how and cooperation of food companies within the region. The third element was the introduction of food tourism to North Savo. In order to better attract and meet the needs of international food tourists, the project also aimed to build cooperation between companies in the food, tourism and creative sectors.
Activities
The project activities were divided into six work packages:
- Provide coordination between the regional education institutions and food network development, e.g. launching Master Thesis studies on the regional food topic.
- Create a website to provide all relevant information and to promote the regional food culture.
- Establish international networks and provide communication and marketing, e.g. preparing and submitting the application to become one of the European Regions of Gastronomy.
- Develop and market a food export brand, in close cooperation with local food businesses.
- Authenticate food products of the North Savo region. The EU has more than 1 000 authenticated food products, but only ten of them come from Finland.
- Organise food events and support food tourism development, e.g. by organising a series of “Satoa Food Festivals.”
Main results
The “Satoa Food Festivals” in Kuopio attracted 10 000 visitors in 2016, 14 000 visitors in 2017 and 20 000 visitors in 2018. 32 restaurants took part in these three festivals and in total they sold about 135 000 food portions.
The project prepared a regional gastronomic book that also served as an application for membership of the Network of European Regions of Gastronomy (ERG), which has 12 regional members in 12 European countries). North Savo was accepted as a member, and ERG membership brought in new working methods such as ‘food ambassadors’; new, responsible products, services and events; a young chef award contest; and a food gift event.
The project website is a central point for promoting food tourism in North Savo. It has had about 50 visitors per week.
Three regional food related Master’s theses were published during the project, including: ‘Suggestions for Developing International Events in Finland’, ‘Describing Connections and Lack of Connections Between Branding, Country of Origin and the EU Quality Schemes: the Finnish and Italian Food Entrepreneurs’ Perspectives’.
The project also helped to prepare a new food authentication application for the nationally well-known strawberries that are grown in the Suonenjoki municipality, which is one of the northernmost locations in the EU for commercial scale strawberry cultivation.
Key lessons
The project aims were ambitious and so was the project partnership, which consisted of 60 different organisations. Bringing together such a large partnership is not always easy. For example, while preparing the regional gastronomic book, the stakeholders raised many different views and ideas that had to be compromised in the final product.
Slow processes involved with gaining EU food authentication can risk being a disincentive for participation in authentication schemes.