World class restaurants, first class ingredients with seafood as fresh as you can get without wetting your feet – Gothenburg has it all. But there is also a group of talented chefs ready to cooperate whenever Gothenburg hosts a large event. Stefan Karlsson explains how they succeed.

You have probably heard the expression “Too many cooks spoil the broth”. It is not true when it comes to Gothenburg’s gourmet scene. The city boasts six Michelin-starred restaurants, and several with high ambitions to cook and serve mouth-watering culinary experiences. An extraordinary achievement for a relatively small city.

The key to success is a tradition of close collaboration between the chefs. They are competitors, but also friends and colleagues. Stefan Karlsson currently runs three restaurants in Gothenburg of which SK Mat & Människor (Food & People) received a Michelin-star in 2015, less than a year after it opened.

– When I started some 30 years ago, we were a bunch of young, eager chefs that learned from the old ones and from each other. Over the years, we’ve shared ideas and developed a collegiality that you don’t often see elsewhere, says Stefan Karlsson.

One catalyst has been the development as an events and meetings city that Gothenburg has undergone since the 1990’s. Whenever a large championship, a political summit or a convention with thousands of delegates takes place, the chefs plays an important role.

– Preparing a dinner for a banquet with a great number of guests is a challenge in many ways. At these occasions chefs from different restaurants work together, which creates a great team spirit.

The collaboration was taken a step further when Gothenburg Restaurant Association “Taste of Gothenburg” was founded in 1999. Taste of Gothenburg has a mission to strengthen and profile Gothenburg as a culinary destination, the relationship with local producers and suppliers as well as working together to ensure a high level of quality.

One upcoming task for Gothenburg’s chefs is to create the menu for the Congress Dinner and awards ceremony at Associations World Congress 7 – 10 April. Stefan Karlsson plans and coordinates the work.

– We want to give guests a taste of all six restaurants, with flavours based on Swedish traditions and culture, but with a delicious twist from the participating chefs that reflects their special focus, concludes Stefan Karlsson.