Nordic Bites Group is a Finnish restaurant group that has grown from a single Subway franchise restaurant into a major Nordic operator. Today, the company serves as Subway®’s Master Franchise partner in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. It is responsible for developing the Subway brand and restaurant network across these markets, while also operating a significant restaurant network of its own in Finland, Sweden and Denmark. The Nordic Subway network now consists of more than 350 restaurants.
The company’s story began in Vaasa in 2006, when CEO Petteri Lehtimäki and his business partner Markku Jyrkiäinen opened their first Subway franchise restaurant. At the time, Lehtimäki was still working in the mobile phone industry, while the restaurant business grew alongside his day job during the early years. By 2010, the company already operated eight Subway restaurants, and what had started as a side business had developed into a full-scale restaurant operation.
In 2010, the business took its first major step in a new direction. Through a business acquisition, Nordic Bites Group acquired Subway’s agency rights first for Western and Northern Finland and later for the entire country. Alongside growing its own restaurant network, the company became responsible for developing the Subway chain and growing the network of franchisees in Finland. Over the years, the expertise built through this work gradually took Nordic Bites Group from operating individual restaurants towards a broader role in developing the brand as a whole.
The experience accumulated over the years ultimately opened the door to expansion beyond Finland. In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, Subway offered Nordic Bites Group the opportunity to take responsibility for developing the business in Sweden, and at the end of 2021 the company also acquired the agency rights for the Swedish market. International expansion quickly changed the scale of the growth journey: a relatively small Finnish company now had to build an organisation and capabilities to operate across several countries.
A partner for Nordic growth
Expansion into Sweden changed the scale of Nordic Bites Group’s growth and highlighted the need to strengthen the company for its next phase. Building international growth required more capital, expertise and resources than before, and the company began looking for a partner to support the journey. Juuri Partners became a significant minority shareholder in early 2023, and the collaboration began with a joint business plan outlining how Nordic Bites Group would be developed over the coming years.
Since Juuri joined the company, Nordic Bites Group has focused particularly on strengthening its leadership and the structures needed to support growth. Juuri has been closely involved in building the management team and recruiting key people, while also supporting the company’s development into a Nordic organisation. As the management team and the company’s own structures have strengthened, Juuri’s role has gradually shifted from more operational involvement towards board work and strategic sparring.
“Juuri has been closely involved in building our management team and has brought us expertise and resources that a company of our size would not otherwise have had access to. In just a few years, we have gone from a small organisation to a company operating in four countries, and Juuri has played a significant role in that transformation,” says Petteri Lehtimäki, CEO of Nordic Bites Group.
In the picture: Nordic Bites Group CEO Petteri Lehtimäki.
From Juuri’s perspective, Nordic Bites Group combined strong entrepreneurial expertise, a well-known international consumer brand and the opportunity to build the company into a significantly larger Nordic operator. Juuri Partners also identified several areas where it could support the company’s next phase of growth, from strengthening the management team to digitalising the business.
“We were particularly interested in the opportunity to build a new kind of Nordic business platform around a well-known international brand, alongside a highly motivated entrepreneur. We saw numerous growth opportunities in the company and the potential to build something that has not really been seen before in the Finnish restaurant industry,” says Iiro Salminen, Investment Manager at Juuri Partners.
A new role in the Nordic Subway network
One of the most significant milestones in the collaboration was reached in May 2025, when Nordic Bites Group signed a Master Franchise agreement with Subway covering Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. The agreement fundamentally changed the company’s position and business model.
Under the previous agency model, Nordic Bites Group had acted as Subway’s local representative. Under the Master Franchise model, responsibility for operating and developing the chain shifted much more extensively to the company. Nordic Bites Group is now responsible for areas including franchisees, procurement, marketing, systems and the development of the restaurant network across its markets.
The change has also required the company to renew its internal systems and operating models to support a Nordic organisation. At the same time, it has opened up significantly broader opportunities to develop the brand in different markets and build further growth. In Denmark, for example, Nordic Bites Group has been able to build the business largely from the ground up, opening 14 new restaurants during its first year of operations in the market.
“Without a private equity investor, we would not have secured the Master Franchise agreement that now forms the foundation for our growth. We had strong Subway expertise, but we needed a partner alongside us who could bring the credibility needed for a Finnish company to take responsibility for such a large Nordic operation,” Lehtimäki says.
Growth in new markets
Nordic Bites Group’s growth has accelerated rapidly since Juuri joined the company. At the time of the investment, the company’s revenue was approximately EUR 25 million, while the 2026 forecast is more than EUR 70 million. The number of employees has also roughly tripled in just a few years.
Much of the growth has been built outside Finland. Nordic Bites Group now operates nearly 120 of its own restaurants across Finland, Sweden and Denmark, with the possibility of expanding its own restaurant network into Norway in the future. Operations in Denmark began in autumn 2025.
The new market has also provided an opportunity to test new operating models. In Denmark, all ordering is fully digital, and the company plans to introduce a similar model more widely across the other Nordic markets. Digital ordering solutions, loyalty programmes and other shared systems are an important part of the operating model and will play a key role as Nordic Bites Group expands in the future, potentially also with other restaurant brands.
Growth has been primarily organic, but it has also been complemented by selected restaurant acquisitions. In spring 2026, Nordic Bites Group acquired a portfolio of nine Subway restaurants from franchisees. Juuri supported the company in evaluating the transaction and brought a more systematic approach to calculations and return expectations in the decision-making process.
Looking beyond Subway
Although Subway is currently at the heart of Nordic Bites Group’s business, the company’s ambitions extend beyond a single brand. The goal is to build a Nordic Master Franchise operator and create a platform that enables new brands to be added alongside Subway. The organisation, logistics and digital systems already in place provide a foundation on which the next phase of growth can be built.
What began with a single franchise restaurant in Vaasa has taken Nordic Bites Group into four Nordic markets and into an entirely new role as the developer of an international brand. In recent years, the company has grown rapidly, built new capabilities and created a foundation for the next phase of growth together with Juuri.
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This article is part of the Building Growth 2026 blog series by the Finnish Venture Capital Association and PwC, introducing the growth stories of this year’s competition finalists. You can find the competition page here! The final will take place at the Finnish Venture Capital Association’s annual flagship event, the Finnish PE-VC Summit, on 8 October 2026.
