Restaurants | The pizzeria in Espoo became a phenomenon: customers have to reserve a table months in advance

Espoo restaurant has launched into startling popularity from the wigs of the city. According to the reservation calendar, there is a two-month queue for tables at Edvin Pizza Napoletana located in Kauklahti.

Usually the restaurant is full, but now there are still a few hours until its opening time. Therefore, the founders have time to chat in peace.

“For the first few months, I thought that this was initial enthusiasm and that this could not continue. But this has gone on and on. There was definitely a demand”, the entrepreneur Markus Nikko inches.

“The fact that the interest has continued at this level is something I still wonder about every day,” another entrepreneur Fairy tale Ilola tells.

At Edvin, you can get Neapolitan pizza, starters, desserts and, for example, cocktails.

The restaurant’s old brick building stands in the middle of a residential area. You would never guess that a very popular restaurant is located there.

Edvin opened in a brick building in 2022.

Edwin is special in that it hasn’t been hit hard by the difficulties that plagued the restaurant industry.

Its story began in difficult circumstances. Before the corona, Niko and Ilola had the Krog 16 restaurant in Helsinki. The jobs were there, the home was in the Suur-Kauklahti area.

At some point, they started thinking that they wouldn’t be able to go all the way to Helsinki for pizza. At the same time, the idea arose that the area could need a bistro-style restaurant.

The idea remained dormant until the pandemic hit. The duo had to close the Helsinki restaurant because it had a heavy expense structure.

“Corona served as a catalyst,” says Nikko.

You rarely hear this from a restaurateur. Few people say that the pandemic has done anything good.

At the end of the year 2020 Ilola and Nikko opened the Edvin restaurant in a small wooden house in Kauklahti.

Due to the restrictions, they mainly focused on selling take away portions. The locals welcomed them enthusiastically. Information about the restaurant spread even before it opened.

“The demand was huge right from the start. We had almost two-week take away queues all the time”, Ilola recalls.

Soon the restaurant needed a bigger space. After the worst of the corona period subsided, it opened in a brick building built in the 1930s. Before the restaurant, at least a cork factory, an ammunition factory and a car repair shop have operated there.

According to Ilola, the increase in costs has not affected the restaurant much. For example, there has been no need to increase the prices of pizzas.

HS reports also about the phenomenon where customers reserve a table at several restaurants and leave it uncancelled or cancel at the last minute the reservation where they are not going. According to Ilola, nothing similar has happened in Edvin.

When asks the duo what is the secret of the restaurant’s popularity, they name a combination of two things. They are what many people like: artisanal pizza and an atmospheric dinner restaurant.

The main course is only pizza, and they wanted to make it as good as possible. Niko has experience in fine dining restaurants such as Savoy. It is most visible in desserts.

HS tested the restaurant in the fall of 2022, and it passed appreciation.

White tablecloths are missing, because the atmosphere was not too stiff.

Ilola and Nikko say that the starting point was to design a restaurant where they themselves would like to visit.

An Italian pizza oven resembling a copper disco ball rises impressively from the kitchen in the restaurant’s hall. The oven and the kitchen take up space from the customer seats, but it was a conscious solution from both sides. Now customers can watch their pizza being made almost from start to finish, and that’s part of the experience.

Kauklahti the sense of community has been of great importance to the restaurant’s success, the duo praises.

“Locals support local entrepreneurs,” sums up Ilola.

The information about the restaurant has spread so effectively through push radio that they have not had to market it themselves. According to the duo, they were not well-known figures in the area before opening the restaurant.

The booking calendar opens new days for booking at midnight. According to Ilola, some of the regular customers have said that they set the alarm clock in the middle of the night so that they can definitely get a table.

Customers also arrive from outside Espoo, such as Helsinki. They have even come from Italy, when regular customers have wanted to introduce Edvin to their friends.

With two are planning to continue in the same way for the time being, and not, for example, to expand the restaurant.

“We have really enjoyed ourselves in this property,” assures Ilola. So this is where they intend to stay.

It has been said that Edvin has been asked for different places, but the entrepreneurs don’t feel that it would fit in new locations.

In addition, they are currently very satisfied with the balance between work and free time. The restaurant is open four days a week, and Tuesdays are preparation days. Ilola and Nikko are thus able to have two days off a week.

“The beauty of this is that we don’t get too greedy,” says Nikko.

“However, sooner or later you will burn yourself out.”