Gourmet Food Store Industry in Asker: A Comprehensive Analysis

Gourmet food store activity in Asker municipality is concentrated in two key areas: Sætre and Slemmestad, with a total of 11 registered companies in the industry. Despite fluctuations in employee numbers and sales over the past decade, the sector has shown resilience, particularly in recent years. Notably, Smak Av Italia AS operates in both Sætre and Slemmestad, contributing significantly to local sales and employment. The industry exhibits strong financial metrics, with EBITDA margins of 12% and gross margins exceeding 900%, indicating robust profitability. However, several newer companies (founded in 2022–2026) report zero revenue and employees, suggesting potential challenges for new entrants.

Sales Development: Gourmet food store sales in Asker increased by 47.5% from 2023 to 2024, reaching NOK 11.3 million in 2024. This is the highest level in over ten years, although it was followed by a 11.7% decline in 2025. The cause of this fluctuation is not clear from the data, but it may be due to seasonal factors or changes in competition.

Wage Development: The number of employees in the industry has been stable at around 8 in 2026, after a 166.7% increase from 2022 to 2023. However, there is a clear decline in the number of employees in 2025, from 8 to 7, which may indicate a short-term instability in the labor market.

Financial Indicators: The industry has high profitability margins, with an EBITDA margin of 12% and a gross margin exceeding 900%. This indicates that the companies have good control over costs and high prices for their products.

In Asker, there are 11 companies registered in the gourmet food store industry, with the following details:

Legal Forms: Most companies are AS (2 companies) or ENK (9 companies). There are no companies in the form of CAPITAL PARTNERSHIP (K/S) or ANSWER.

New Companies: Five companies were founded after 2020, but all have 0 employees and 0 sales in the data, which may indicate that they are in the start-up phase or not actively operating.

Gourmet food store activity in Asker is concentrated in Sætre and Slemmestad, with the following details:

Sætre has higher sales and more employees compared to Slemmestad, but both locations have high gross margins. This indicates that Sætre is a more active marketplace for the gourmet food store industry, with potential for improvement in Slemmestad.

Bankruptcies: No companies in the gourmet food store industry in Asker are registered as bankrupt in the data, which indicates stability in the industry.

New Companies: Five companies were founded after 2020, but all have 0 employees and 0 sales in the data. This may indicate that they are in the start-up phase or not actively operating, which may be a challenge for new entrepreneurs.

Development Over Time: The number of employees has been stable at around 8 in 2026, after a 166.7% increase from 2022 to 2023. However, there is a clear decline in the number of employees in 2025, from 8 to 7, which may indicate a short-term instability in the labor market.

Outlook for Entrepreneurs

Strengths: The gourmet food store industry in Asker has stable financial indicators, with an EBITDA margin of 12% and a gross margin exceeding 900%. This indicates that the companies have good control over costs and high prices for their products. Sætre is a more active marketplace with higher sales and more employees, which can be an advantage for new companies.

Development: Sales had an increase of 47.5% from 2023 to 2024, reaching NOK 11.3 million in 2024. This is the highest level in over ten years, although it was followed by a 11.7% decline in 2025. The cause of this fluctuation is not clear from the data, but it may be due to seasonal factors or changes in competition.

Education: There are five new companies founded after 2020, but all have 0 employees and 0 sales in the data. This may indicate that they are in the start-up phase or not actively operating, which may be a challenge for new entrepreneurs.

Service Sector in Asker has 182 companies, which shows that it is a much larger sector than the gourmet food store industry. Sales in the service sector had an increase of 22.7% from 2019 to 2020, reaching NOK 3.75 billion in 2020. This is the highest level in over ten years, although it was followed by a 15.8% decline in 2022.

Peer Companies: Current peer companies in the service sector include supermarket chains such as Ng Kiwi, Meny, and Coop Mega, as well as discount stores such as Normal Norge. These companies have high EBITDA values (up to NOK 7.9 million) and larger sales (up to NOK 158.3 million), which indicates that they are larger and more stable than gourmet food store companies.

Competitiveness: The gourmet food store industry has high profitability margins, but less volume compared to the service sector. This may be a challenge for new companies, but also an opportunity for specialization and quality focus.

The gourmet food store industry in Asker has stable financial indicators and high profitability margins, which indicates that the companies have good control over costs and high prices for their products. Sætre is a more active marketplace with higher sales and more employees, which can be an advantage for new companies. However, there are five new companies founded after 2020, but all have 0 employees and 0 sales in the data, which may be a challenge for new entrepreneurs. The service sector in Asker has 182 companies, which shows that it is a much larger sector than the gourmet food store industry. This may be an opportunity for collaboration and support for new companies in the gourmet food store industry.