A CENTURY OF SERVICE AND INNOVATION
Our story began in the newly independent Finland, and in a time marked by the nation’s desire to develop.
In 1923 Dayton Vaaka Oy was established by Leino Molander, and the company opened its first business premises at Jääkärinkatu in Helsinki. The company started to import mechanical scales manufactured by Dayton Scale Company in Ohio, USA.
In the early years, in addition to scales, the company imported a variety of technical equipment such as slot machines. In those days, they were quite common, and their operation was not as regulated as it is today. In the early 1930s, Dayton acquired, installed and maintained slot machines as a service to the Mannerheim Children’s Welfare Association (MLL). In 1933 Dayton donated all its machines to MLL. Meanwhile in the USA, Dayton Scale Company became part of the IBM group.
After World War II, Dayton expanded its operations in Finland to include production as the company began to manufacture own mechanical scales, floor scales, coffee grinders and meat grinders for the needs of retail, wholesale and industrial clients. In 1956, the company moved to new premises in Kilo, Espoo.
In the same year, Dayton faced a serious loss when the company’s founder Leino Molander suddenly passed away. The family’s women took over the reins. The founder’s daughter, Marie-Louise, became the company’s managing director, and her mother, Else Molander, took over the company’s accounting and finances. The third generation was already growing up – Jerker Molander was born in 1955, only one year before his grandfather’s death.
From the 1960s to the 1980s, Dayton established a strong position as a scale and equipment supplier to grocery retail and industrial customers. The long-term relationships with these customers were formed.
As a result of the deep recession of the early 1990s, many Finnish companies, including Dayton, ran into financial difficulties. The company’s staff was reduced to five, and even bankruptcy was not far away. Jerker Molander, who had been working as a lawyer and managing director of a major car dealership, returned to the family business and took over its management in 1995.
In 1998, Fred Ramberg was appointed CEO of the company, and Jerker Molander transitioned to Chairman of the Board. The duo began to grow the company. Organic growth would not be enough – they started preparing acquisitions that would expand Dayton’s offering.
YEARS OF CONSISTENT GROWTH
A significant turning point occurred in 2000, when Dayton bought the business operations of Monilaite Oy. Monilaite had a strong position in the market, especially as an equipment supplier to the fastfood industry, which brought Dayton a new business area to serve. At that time, the company was located at Salpakuja, Vantaa.
In 2005, the next growth step was taken. Dayton acquired Thomeko Oy’s operations in grocery retail equipment. The Thomeko deal turned Dayton into a significant partner and equipment supplier for the leading grocery retail groups. In the same year, Dayton moved to its current premises at Tikkurilantie, Vantaa. The number of the staff reached 50 people.
In 2023, Dayton turns one hundred. The group’s turnover has grown to 55 million euros and the personnel consists of 300 colleagues in Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The operations outside Finland constitute half of the group’s turnover.
With the strengthened position within grocery retail, Dayton grew its geographical presence to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as well as Russia and Belarus.
Dayton’s operations were now growing fast in the Baltic countries. In 2014, Dayton acquired Rolvika UAB and Robiga UAB in Lithuania. Robiga was at the time already a key manufacturer of stainless-steel fixed furniture in its markets. Due to the difficult-to-predict business environment and differences in values, Dayton started to withdraw from Russia and Belarus in the late 2010s and exited these markets fully in 2022.
In 2023, Dayton turns one hundred. The group’s turnover has grown to 55 million euros and the personnel consists of 300 colleagues in Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The operations outside Finland constitute half of the group’s turnover.
Our vision is a customer-centric operating model that evolves together with the needs of the food grocery and processing sectors
Dayton is today a financially strong Finnish family business, which has developed into a versatile house of business-to-business brands. We specialize in equipment and concepts for the food retail, fast food, café, and food processing industries.
In addition to the product and service portfolio based on leading brands, our selection includes solutions chosen for the needs of professionals within food preparation, weighing, pricing, storage and presentation as well as packaging and product safety. Furniture made from stainless steel at our own factory are an important part of Dayton’s offering.
Dayton’s commitment to our customers is manifested by our service and maintenance networks with full national coverage. They guarantee the uptime and usability of our machines and equipment for our customers. Packaging materials complement equipment sales and strengthen Dayton’s position as a holistic concept supplier.
Dayton began its journey as a scale company, but over the years our offering has developed to cover the full needs of our customers. The offering will continue to evolve to satisfy the ever-changing needs of our customers.
The last few years have been a good example of this. We have strengthened our position with several new concepts and solutions. Among others, they include freshly squeezed juice, cold and hot food presentation, and solutions for modern food preparation. We have also increased our presence as a supplier of sustainable packaging materials. For the food processing industry, we are able to supply complete production lines.
SERVICE, INNOVATION AND CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT
Dayton’s culture is based on entrepreneurship, trust and efficient execution.
Close cooperation with our customers is at the core of our identity. We combine customers’ needs and know-how with our own expertise to offer the exactly right food and beverage concept solutions responsibly and reliably.
Our goals and principles are clear. We want to grow our business profitably. We create food and beverage concepts for different sales channels, develop efficient processes, offer nationwide service and maintenance, and always ensure high customer satisfaction. We are also committed to close cooperation with the leading partners in the business.
Our common journey continues. We will continue to complement our offering with new services and innovations to enable the growth of our customers.
Rasmus Molander
Chairman of the Board
Pekka Tiainen
CEO