Synnøve Finden is a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

company that produces

cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During production, ...

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condiment ...

and

juice Juice is a drink made from the extraction or Cold-pressed juice, pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat ...

with farms in

Alvdal Alvdal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Alvdal. Other villages include Barkald, Plassmoen, and Strømmen ...

and

Namsos ( sma, Nåavmesjenjaelmie) is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Namdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Namsos. Some of the villages in the municipality include Bangsund, Kl ...

. The company launched its yellow cheese on 21 September 1996 and brown cheese in 1997. The company was listed on the

Oslo Stock Exchange Oslo Stock Exchange ( no, Oslo Børs) (OSE: OSLO) is a stock exchange within the Nordic countries and offers Norway’s only regulated markets for securities trading today. The stock exchange offers a full product range including equities, deriv ...

. Synnøve Finden is today the only Norwegian challenger to Tine in the Norwegian cheese market.

History

Synnøve Finden (1882-1957) is today considered to be Norway's first female cheese founder and factory owner. Together with Pernille Holmen and her daughter Evy (13), Synnøve Finden opened her first cheese factory in 1928 on the Grefsen Plateau in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

. The breakthrough for the production came when the cheese was first introduced to the housewives' associations Hjemmenes Vel. In 1987, Synnøve Finden A / S was sold to Dag Swanstrøm and production moved to

Enebakk Enebakk is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the Follo traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kirkebygda. The parish of ''Enebak'' was established as a municipalit ...

. With Swanstrøm also came the breakthrough (1996) to be a challenger to the dairy monopoly Norwegian Dairies (Tine) and the cooperative. In January 1997, Minister of Agriculture

Gunhild Øyangen Gunhild (with variants Gundhild, Gunhilda, Gunhilde, Gunhjild, Gunilda, Gunnhild, Gunnhildr, Gunnhildur) is a Germanic feminine given name composed of two words meaning "war" (gunn and hild/hildr). It may refer to: *, allegedly a Danish queen cons ...

from the Labour Party stated that the state and the Norwegian Farmers' Association had agreed to open up for competition in the dairy sector. In 1995, the new owner had gone to purchase the closed Tine dairy in

. From the period 1996–2008, Synnøve Finden had become Tine's first nationwide competitor with both yellow cheese and

brunost Brunost ("brown cheese") is a common Norwegian name for mysost ("whey cheese"; da, myseost; sv, mesost; fi, mesjuusto; is, mysuostur), a family of cheese-related foods made with whey, milk, and/or cream. The term is often used to just refer t ...

. In 2008, the company got new owners, Norwegian founders Jan Bodd and Stig Sunde. Ten years after the takeover, Karl Kristian Sunde joined as partner and owner.

Synnøve Korea

In 2020, Synnøve Finden expanded its sales of brown cheese to South Korea, where more than 52,000 brunost have been sold by May 2021.

References

Dairy products companies of Norway Companies established in 1996 Companies formerly listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange {{Norway-company-stub