__________________________________________________________________________________________________ Satotukku
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Due to their popularity, bananas account for a significant share of Satotukku’ s business, making local ripening both a strategic and a technical capability – a method that Kaisa says provides flexibility, resilience, and control over quality for the customer.“ The full process, from origin to Finland, takes roughly six to eight weeks to get a beautifully ripe, yellow banana to our market, so we need to plan everything around that timescale. At our volumes, a very small mistake can have a major commercial impact, which of course we need to avoid.”
Constant collaboration
Turning 60 years old in 2027, Satotukku has formed long-established routes to market and sources fresh fruit and vegetables from Finland and around the world. The company serves some of the largest retailers and food service customers in the country – but Kaisa describes it as much more than an importer or wholesaler.
“ Our job is to connect growers and suppliers around the world with the Finnish market, managing the sourcing, quality, availability, logistics, ripening, and packaging in a category where everything moves extremely fast,” she continues.“ Fresh produce is a very unforgiving business, because essentially, the product is alive; seasons, availability, and prices change, as do customer demands. You must make the right decisions every single day to succeed.” Kaisa deems that expertise, along with the relationships it has built with customers and suppliers, at the heart of what Satotukku is today.
After more than a decade with the company, Kaisa became CEO in 2024. She joined as a buyer, before progressing to Purchasing Manager and then Commercial Director. She explains how she took the top role at a crucial moment:“ The company had been successful for a long time, but in some ways, it had become a little static,
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