Gourmet Food Store Industry in Indre Østfold: A Comprehensive Analysis

The gourmet food store industry in Indre Østfold is a small but stable industry with two registered companies. Helsekost & Hobby As in Askim is the most established player with 5 employees and an operating income of 4.5 million NOK. Holther Nutrition in Tomter is a new company with no employees, as it was founded in 2024. The industry shows a weak positive development in sales over the past few years, with an increase of 2.3% from 2024 to 2025. There are no bankruptcies reported in the industry, indicating a stable industry structure. At the same time, the broader service sector in the municipality shows a more dynamic development, with total sales exceeding 11 billion NOK in 2025.

Sales in gourmet food stores in Indre Østfold have been variable over the years, with a decline of 7.5% from 2016 to 2017, but a strong increase of 26% from 2019 to 2020. The most recent data shows sales of over 4.5 million NOK in 2025, which is an increase of 2.3% compared to 2024. Employees in the industry were 5 in 2016, but decreased to 3 in 2021 before stabilizing at 4 in 2026. This shows a weak negative trend in the number of employees over the past few years, but a stabilization in recent times. The EBITDA margin for Helsekost & Hobby As is 0%, indicating weak profitability in the industry.

There are two companies registered in the gourmet food store industry in Indre Østfold:

1. Helsekost & Hobby As (Eidsbergveien 5, Askim)

• Organizational form: AS
• Founded: 1990-07-01
• Number of employees: 5
• Operating income: 4.5 million NOK
• Sales: 4.5 million NOK
• EBITDA: 35,000 NOK

1. Holther Nutrition (Sporveien 10, Tomter)

• Organizational form: ENK
• Founded: 2024-10-05
• Number of employees: 0
• Operating income: 0 NOK
• Sales: 0 NOK

The organizational form AS is the only one registered in the industry, indicating a dominance of company forms with higher liability.

Activity in the industry is concentrated in Askim, where there is one company and five employees. There are no reported companies in other parts of the municipality. This indicates a concentration of gourmet food stores in a single district, which may be a challenge for market diversification. This could present an opportunity for new players to establish themselves in other districts of the municipality, especially in Tomter where there is a new company, Holther Nutrition, registered.

There are no bankruptcy-reported companies in the industry, indicating a stable industry structure. However, data on the number of employees shows a weak negative trend over the past few years, with a decline from 5 in 2016 to 3 in 2021 before stabilizing at 4 in 2026. This may be due to a combination of a decline in the number of companies and a reduction in the number of employees per company. There are no reported bankruptcies, indicating that companies in the industry have been able to manage economic challenges.

Outlook for Entrepreneurs

The industry shows a weak positive development in sales over the past few years, with an increase of 2.3% from 2024 to 2025. This indicates a potential growth opportunity for new players in the industry. At the same time, the broader service sector in the municipality shows a more dynamic development, with total sales exceeding 11 billion NOK in 2025. This could provide entrepreneurs with an opportunity to leverage the broader service sector as a support base for gourmet food stores. It is, however, important to note that the industry is small in size, which may limit opportunities for scale and economic efficiency.

The broader service sector in Indre Østfold has a much larger scale than the gourmet food store industry, with 96 companies in 2025. Sales in the service sector have been more dynamic, with a strong increase of 29.7% from 2019 to 2020, but a decline of 27.8% from 2024 to 2025. The number of employees in the service sector has been 579 in 2026, which is an increase of 3.0% compared to 2025. This shows that the service sector has a more stable development than the gourmet food store industry. Nevertheless, gourmet food stores can leverage the broader service sector as a support base to further develop.

The gourmet food store industry in Indre Østfold is a small but stable industry with two companies. The industry shows a weak positive development in sales over the past few years, with an increase of 2.3% from 2024 to 2025. There are no bankruptcy-reported companies, indicating a stable industry structure. At the same time, the broader service sector in the municipality shows a more dynamic development, with total sales exceeding 11 billion NOK in 2025. This could provide entrepreneurs with an opportunity to leverage the broader service sector as a support base for gourmet food stores. SmartGrunder can help entrepreneurs find suitable addresses in the municipality to establish themselves in the industry.