The Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 company Wasabröd is the largest producer in the world of Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

n style crisp bread

Crisp bread

Crisp bread or hard bread is a flat and dry type of bread or cracker, containing mostly rye flour...

 ' onMouseout='HidePop("23317")' href="/topics/Finnish_language">Finnish

Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

: näkkileipä, , ). The Wasabröd company has been in business since 1919, opening its first bakery

Bakery

A bakery is an establishment which produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cakes, pastries and pies. Some retail bakeries are also cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who wish to consume the baked goods on the premises.-See also:*Baker*Cake...

 in the city of Skellefteå

Skellefteå

-Industry:*Boliden AB, a big mining and smelting company*Alimak*Natural User Interface Technologies AB - NUITEQ, a promising emerging technology start-up company-Sports:*Skellefteå AIK, an ice hockey team in the highest Swedish league, Elitserien....

. Since 1983 it has been under foreign ownership, first by the Swiss pharmaceutical corporation Sandoz

Sandoz

Founded in 2003, Sandoz presently is the generic drug subsidiary of Novartis, a multinational pharmaceutical company. The company develops, manufactures and markets generic drugs as well as pharmaceutical and biotechnological active ingredients....

 (Later merged with Ciba Geigy to become Novartis

Novartis

Novartis International AG is a multinational pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland, ranking number three in sales among the world-wide industry...

), and from 1999 by the Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 food producer Barilla Alimentare S.p.A..

The first bakery in Skellefteå, founded by Karl Edvard Lundström, was supplemented by another, completely mechanized, one in Filipstad

Filipstad

Filipstad is a locality and the seat of Filipstad Municipality, Värmland County, Sweden with 6,177 inhabitants in 2005.Filipstad was granted city privileges in 1611 by Charles IX of Sweden, who named it after his son Duke Carl Philip .After a major fire destroyed forest and town in 1694, Filipstad...

 in 1931, which has since become the main seat of the corporation. It later acquired several other Swedish bakeries. It started exporting bread in the 1940s, with the first foreign subsidiary founded in Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 in 1965 and the first foreign bakery built in Celle

Celle

Celle is a town and capital of the district of Celle, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the River Aller, a tributary of the Weser and has a population of about 71,000...

 in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 in 1967. In the early 21st century Wasabröd sells about 80% of its production outside Sweden.

K. E. Lundström, the founder of the company, had run his own bakery in Skellefteå since 1915 (Firma K. E. Lundström), with the corporation founded in 1919, AB Skellefteå spisbrödsfabrik, taking its original name from the hometown. The Filipstad subsidiary which developed into the main part of the company took the name AB Wasa spisbrödsfabrik in 1934, which was shortened to AB Wasabröd in 1964. The brand Wasa was originally that of one particular product, Vasaknäcke, featuring an image of King Gustavus Vasa

Gustavus Vasa

Gustavus Vasa may refer to:* King Gustav I of Sweden* The play Gustavus Vasa by Henry Brooke, first English play to be banned under the Licensing Act 1737* Alternate name of Olaudah Equiano, African ex-slave living in 18th century Britain...

. The company has used both a royal crown and the peculiar heraldic charge, the garb , which gave name to the Vasa dynasty, in its marketing. (Using the letter W instead of V is an archaism in Swedish; it is not uncommon in marketing, but does not affect the pronunciation.)

Wasabröd produces a wide variety of crisp breads. The original crisp bread is made of rye

Rye

Rye is a grass grown extensively as a grain and as a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe and is closely related to barley and wheat. Rye grain is used for flour, rye bread, rye beer, some whiskeys, some vodkas, and animal fodder...

, but their various products include sesame

Sesame

Sesame is a flowering plant in the genus Sesamum. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cultivated for its edible seeds, which grow in pods....

, wheat

Wheat

Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...

, and other grains

Cereal

Cereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran...

. Like matzo

Matzo

Matzo or matzah is an unleavened bread traditionally eaten by Jews during the week-long Passover holiday, when eating chametz—bread and other food which is made with leavened grain—is forbidden according to Jewish law. Currently, the most ubiquitous type of Matzo is the traditional Ashkenazic...

, Wasa is noted for its shelf longevity.

The company has the status of a Purveyor

Royal Warrant

Royal warrants of appointment have been issued for centuries to those who supply goods or services to a royal court or certain royal personages. The warrant enables the supplier to advertise the fact that they supply to the royal family, so lending prestige to the supplier...

to the Royal Court of Sweden.