Spanish Herkut Oy was born in January 2018 with the idea of bringing high quality Spanish products to Finland. From the very beginning, we wanted to import as many organic and name-protected foods as possible, and to promote the Spanish culinary culture among Finnish customers.

But let’s go back in time a few years, or a decade, and remember how it all started.

In 2014, I followed my wife from Seville, Spain to Finland when she received a job offer for a dentist in Kuopio.

In Finland, I studied Finnish language and graduated as a cook from the Savo Vocational and Adult Education College in 2017.

Encouraged by my friends and colleagues, I opened my own import business and took the first steps on my journey to entrepreneurship.

Spanish Herkut started importing in September 2018, and in June 2019 we opened a Tapas Bar & Gourmet shop in Kuopio’s shopping hall.

Soon our premises became too small and, in line with our customers’ wishes, we moved to larger premises inside the hall in February 2020.

For the next two and a half years, we operated in 12 customer premises, through a period of heavy interest rates and turmoil.
In early 2023, our journey took a new turn. We saw an opportunity and together with my partner, long-time friend and colleague Juuso Luostarinen, I founded El Barril Oy.

In March, we found premises for our restaurant and refined our concept. After a little renovation and tweaking, El Barril, a Spanish tapas bar, was ready to open in June in Kuopio’s Kauppakatu.

El Barril is for me a modern and unpretentious Tapas bar for anyone who loves Spanish food and culture!

Unfortunately, in December 2023 we had to deliver sad news to our customers. Spanish Delicacies in Kuopio Market Hall would be closing down by the end of the year. This also meant that we would no longer have a place to sell our wonderful cheeses, cold cuts, and groceries!

It bothered me, and our customers, so we started planning our own little boutique restaurant. The restaurant had already operated as a free pick-up point for customer orders before.

In September 2024, we will open the El Barril boutique! A small, but all the more desirable, sample of the Spanish Delicacies catalogue will be available for sale in our restaurant!

Our product range is always quality first and on demand, so don’t hesitate to leave us your wishes for future products!