The 1930’s – Brunberg survives the recession
The 1930’s was a decade of social upheaval.
The Finnish people were twice put to the test: first after the stock market crush and the second time when World War II broke out in September of 1939.
However, the decade also held hope and belief in the future.
Cars, ships, trains and airplanes were hallmarks of the new times, even though horses still was the most common mode of travel. In the countryside slash-and-burn agriculture, harrows and horse-drawn ploughs were still in use.
The inhabitants of Porvoo amounted to 6 800 and cars, American fashion, silver and delicacies were available. Old-fashioned shops sold everything from sweets to tools.
The number of cars and gas stations increased. The new road between Porvoo and Helsinki made the journey faster.
Adjacent to the Town Park, the Brunberg-Lindfors sweets factory struggled to get out of the economic recession. Consumption of sweets had dropped with one third and in 1931 the production was barely 110 tons of sweets.
The company was close to bankruptcy.
Brunberg-Lindfors needed to find new customers in Finland. Sales representatives were distributed throughout the country and the factory started to cooperate with other food companies.
In spite of the hard times, in 1932 Brunberg-Lindfors added a new product to the assortment, and the wonderful aroma of liquorice filled the streets. The black delicacy soon won the Finnish people’s hearts. Read more about licquorice.
The line of products included, among other, Chocolate and Porvoo sweets. There was no lack of imagination in the 1930’s and the sweets were called, for instance, Radium and Knock-Out.
By the middle of the decade, Brunberg-Lindfors had reached a new upswing and the end of the decade was a prosperous time: the production had reached over 200 tons and had thus doubled in ten years. Close to 100 employees worked in the factory.
The price list in 1939 included 200 different products, even though some of them were the same sweets in different wrappings. Most of the work was still made by hand.
The economic situation in Finland improved, but, at the same time, the international tension grew. In 1939 the war between Finland and the Soviet Union broke out.
When raw materials were no long available, the machines were greased and packed away.
The factory stood still for many years.
