Pontus Frithiof is without exaggeration one of Sweden's great restaurant entrepreneurs. Totally unintentionally! Trained by the best chefs in Sweden plus years of hard work Pontus got his own fine dining restaurant. The property was owned by the financier Jan Stenbäck who provided Pontus with invaluable advice on entrepreneurship. After years of success with Jan’s good advice in his back pocket it was time to start something new.

Pontus is celebrating 25 years as a successful chef, restaurateur and restaurant entrepreneur with no signs of stopping. Pontus said, “I had an idea and the following years have been extremely busy and enormously successful.”

Passionate about making food better nothing is too big, too small, too exclusive, too simple Pontus sees potential in everything. “We get an incredible number of offers, we move on one if we feel that it could be fun, that it fits into our strategy and that we have the opportunity to make money. We rarely look for something, most things just turn up anyway.”

“We love doing what others don’t. Nothing is impossible. We start from the same core values as 20 years ago, well-cooked food with best ingredients, focusing on the guest and always with a twinkle in our eye.”

His unique ability is to sense what will happen though not yet happened. Pontus is lightning fast to change direction always arriving at the finish line. “We are always on our toes, we are about ourselves, we like challenges, maybe a little more than most others. We are definitely among the ‘fastest-footed’. We have done all this or are still doing it.”

Pontus has converted an entire car factory into a huge event venue where he builds environments. The factory hall can accommodate 2000 guests or an intimate dinner for two with a glam, flashy, extravagant Rolls Royce to offer his guests.

His staff is on board. “It's always fun when things go well, then the staff feels good too.”

His office? Perched on a bar stool with his computer. Always present, eyes open with his chef’s coat on.

Since closing his fine dining restaurant, Pontus has secretly dreamed of a new one. Not actively looking he has waited for the opportunity which “suddenly happens”. When given the opportunity to take over the entire 23rd floor of a well-known newspaper building with the city’s finest 360-degree view, Pontus’ dream came true.

Here, delicious lunches, dinners, afternoon teas are served. Definitely hard to match! The afternoon tea has its own-composed tea blends. No other wines have such a fabulous view from their wine “cellar” on top.

“La Tour will not make us successful purely financially, but it has many other purposes and is a project of the heart that we love. Now we have the perfect combination with La Tour and with everything else we do.”

“Many successes over the years have given us a lot of experience, what didn't work has become lessons learned. Not the easiest way to live, but a fun way,” concludes Pontus.

Catarina Offe
Conseiller Gastronomique