Chymos Oy was a Finnish company founded in 1906,Lukka, Juhani
Laatua, tehokkuutta ja ergonomiaa
''Cimcorp customer magazine''. Accessed on 6 January 2017. producing

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 ...

, jam, wine, liqueurs and

candy Candy, alternatively called sweets or lollies, is a Confectionery, confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, also called ''sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, including chocolate, chewing gum ...

. In 1993 the company's candy production was bought out by

Fazer Fazer (, ) is one of the largest corporations in the Finland, Finnish food industry. The company was founded by Karl Fazer in 1891, as a "French-Russian café" in central Helsinki. Today, it employs over 6,000 people across Finland, Sweden, Lat ...

, and in 2006 Chymos was fully assimilated into Cloetta Fazer. The name Chymos comes from the

Greek language Greek (, ; , ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic languages, Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece, Cyprus, Italy (in Calabria and Salento), south ...

word ''khymos'' (χυμός), meaning juice. According to the company's publication the name is properly pronounced starting with "k", but the public pronounced it with "h", "s" or "ts".

History

Foundation and early years

The mountain councillor Wäinö Tammenoksa founded ''Alkoholittomien Juomien Tehdas Chymos'' ("Chymos Factory of Non-alcoholic Beverages") in Tainionkoski in Ruokolahti municipality (nowadays part of Imatra) in 1906. This was the first time Finnish forest berries were refined industrially. The name was changed to ''Tehdas Chymos'' in 1918. In 1922 the company moved to

Lappeenranta Lappeenranta (; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of South Karelia. It is located in the southeastern interior of the country and in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Lappeenranta is approximately , while the Lappeenranta sub-r ...

Jukka Tammenoksa's time as CEO

Wäinö Tammenoksa's son Jukka Tammenoksa was appointed CEO of Chymos in 1929, when he was only 23 years old. His time as CEO, which ended in 1952, saw very little time considered normal. First came

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

, then the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

of the 1930s, the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

and the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet–Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 ...

, and finally the post-war time of famine with ration stamps for food products.Interview with former Chymos employee Aimo Vuorinen
/ref> There was great doubt towards industrially produced juice, and Finns made their juice at home. The market for industrially produced juice slowly improved. After prohibition was repealed, the product line also included wine and liqueurs. It had already included non-alcoholic liqueurs. The product line also included jelly, jam and marmalade. The entire 1930s was a time of steady development. The product line also included candy, of which the best known are

Marianne Marianne () has been the national personification of the French Republic since the French Revolution, as a personification of liberty, equality, fraternity and reason, as well as a portrayal of the Goddess of Liberty. Marianne is displayed i ...

, Omar, Pantteri and London drops. For sales outside Finland, the Chymos Company of America was founded in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1934. In 1937 Chymos Tehdas became the Chymos Oy

limited company In a limited company, the Legal liability, liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a c ...

, whose shares were owned entirely by the Tammenoksa family. In 1936 the factory employed about 150 people.Talka, Anu; Möttönen, Tuomas
Kauppaneuvos Jukka Tammenoksa (1906–1980)
''Suomen talouselämän vaikuttajat'' (for-pay content), Finnish Literature Society 5 September 2011. Even during war time, the company underwent positive development despite the tight control of the food industry. The factory and its production was expanded, and it also sold products to the

Finnish Defence Forces The Finnish Defence Forces (FDF) (; ) are the military of Finland. The Finnish Defence Forces consist of the Finnish Army, the Finnish Navy, and the Finnish Air Force. In wartime, the Finnish Border Guard becomes part of the Finnish Defence For ...

. In war time part of the production was moved to Toijala closer to the frontline. Despite its great success, the company went into rapid decline in the 1950s. This was caused by reduction of demand for conserved food and increase of personnel size and expenses. The company had invested in a macaroni factory, which proved to operate at a loss. The company's economy was further negatively affected by working at two places simultaneously. The Toijala factory was discontinued in 1952, and production returned to Lappeenranta. At the same time Jukka Tammenoksa resigned as CEO.

Financial difficulties and end of Tammenoksa ownership

Jukka Tammenoksa's brother Olavi Tammenoksa succeeded him as CEO for a year. This was a last attempt to keep the company under the ownership of the Tammenoksa family. Ultimately the financial difficulties were so severe that the bank financing the company moved the Tammenoksa family aside in 1953 and appointed a new CEO from outside the family. The Tammenoksa family sold their shares of Chymos Oy to Regulus Oy in the middle 1950s. It was a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

founded when the medicine production of the Orion Corporation was separated from the rest of the corporation's activities.

As part of the Orion Corporation

The Orion Corporation had been founded in 1917. During the years, it had acquired numerous business branches which were not part of the medicine business. In the middle 1950s the corporation was split into two parts: a new medicine factory keeping the Orion name was founded. The "old Orion" took the name Regulus Oy. Its daughter companies were Oriola Oy and Noiro Oy. Regulus also founded other daughter companies, rescued companies in difficulties and sought to revive their activities. The most prominent acquisition in this principle was Chymos.Kauria, Leena (ed.): ''Meidän tehdas Chymos, Chymoksen historiikki'', pp. 29–31, Chymoksen perinneyhdistys ry. . Chymos had a good name, up-to-date machinery, strong knowledge about the food industry and professional staff. The reasons for the difficulties were bad economic circumstances caused by the post-war famine years and erroneous solutions. In 1955 the new CEO of Chymos was Jouko Keränen from the Huhtamäki corporation. In 1959 he joined Orion as its CEO instead. Keränen's successor as CEO was diploma engineer Yrjö Ylijoki, who had joined Chymos as an operational engineer in 1945. From 1951 to 1952 he served as supervisor of the company's Toijala factories. The Toijala factories were discontinued in 1952, and production returned to Lappeenranta. Ylijoki followed along and served as the technical supervisor of the Lappeenranta factory. In 1959 he was appointed CEO of Chymos as the successor of Keränen, who had moved to Orion.Talka, Anu; Möttönen, Tuomas
Teollisuusneuvos Yrjö Ylijoki (1915–1998)
''Suomen talouselämän vaikuttajat'' (for-pay content), Finnish Literature Society 3 September 2012. Under Ylijoki's leadership the factory expanded and became a prestigious factory in its field. According to the 1957 report, Chymos produced thirty different kinds of juice and marmalade, almost a hundred kinds of candy and macaroni. Production of macaroni was done in the Regulus factories in Keuruu. A major breakthrough happened in the early 1960s as sales increased, which caused the factory to enter production difficulties, even though its machines were working at peak efficiency and the staff worked three shifts. The factory had to be expanded, which happened in 1962. In the early 1970s Chymos was exporting its products to over thirty countries worldwide. There were over four hundred employees, and the company was the third largest private employer in Lappeenranta. The next expansion phase happened in the middle 1960s. The new premises were mostly for candy production and storage. Organisational changes and ownership solutions were accepted in 1969, which caused Regulus Oy, Orion Oy, Chymos Oy and Noiro Oy to cease being separate companies and form a joint company Orion-yhtymä Oy. The last landmarks of the Tammenoksa era disappeared in 1972, when the old main building was dismantled and the offices were temporarily relocated into an old riding hall acquired recently. For future use the company acquired land from elsewhere, with Chymos eventually owning 27 hectares of industrial space in Lappeenranta. In the early 1970s Chymos employed 650 people. Yrjö Ylijoki retired in 1975.

End of independent activity

In 1993 the candy production of the company was acquired by

. In 2006 Chymos was fully assimilated into Cloetta Fazer and ceased being an independent company.

Company products

Chymos started producing candy in 1934.Marianne ja merkkari on keksitty Lappeenrannassa — Chymoksen historiasta kirja
, ''Etelä-Saimaa''. Accessed on 7 January 2017. The company's best-known product is

, a peppermint chocolate candy wrapped in a red-white striped paper. It has been produced since 1949. Other famous candies include Julia, Pantteri, London drops, Omar, Ässä Mix and Pirate coins. Chymos has also produced

baby food Baby food is any soft, easily consumed Human food, food other than breastmilk or infant formula that is made specifically for human babies between six months and two years old. The food comes in many varieties and flavors that are purchased ready ...

, juices, and marmalade. The company has also produced

alcoholic drink Drinks containing alcohol (drug), alcohol are typically divided into three classes—beers, wines, and Distilled beverage, spirits—with alcohol content typically between 3% and 50%. Drinks with less than 0.5% are sometimes considered Non-al ...

s such as Polar, Minttu and Lakka liqueurs as well as Kavaljeeri sparkling wine. Production of Lakka later moved to V & S Finland. In 2008 its parent company, the Swedish V&S Group was sold to Pernod Ricard. Nowadays Chymos alcoholic drinks are marketed by Pernod Ricard Finland Oy.Miedot alkoholijuomat
Pernord Ricard Finland 2010. Accessed on 17 April 2017.

References

Sources

*Kauria, Leena (ed.): ''Meidän tehdas Chymos, Chymoksen historiikki'', Chymoksen perinneyhdistys ry 2014. . *Vuorinen, Aimo: ''Mestareita ja Tekijöitä.'' Lappeenranta: Chymos, 1980. {{ISBN, 951-99287-6-6.

External links

Chymoksesta tehtiin erilainen historiakirja
''Akaan seutu'' 5 December 2014. Defunct food and drink companies of Finland Fazer Companies established in 1906 Companies disestablished in 2006