- Alfred Kilis opened Svea, a Scandinavian food truck, in Eagle Mountain Utah.
- Svea offers homemade pastries using high-quality ingredients, inspired by Swedish cafe culture.
- Kilis plans to expand with a brick-and-mortar store to promote the Fika tradition.
EAGLE MOUNTAIN — Alfred Kilis is on a mission to bring the baked goods he loves from his home country of Sweden to the people of Utah.
That's why he quit his full-time job in finance to open up a Scandinavian food truck called Svea in Eagle Mountain that serves up delicious pastries and refreshing drinks.
The food truck is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so the rest of the week, Kilis spends prepping for the weekend.
Everything he serves, he bakes himself from scratch.
"We make it ourselves because fundamentally we want to recreate the authentic Scandinavian cafe experience," Kilis said. "And in order to do so, we want to make sure that we can control every aspect of, I guess you could call it the supply chain, as possible."
Svea only uses the highest quality ingredients — from King Arthur flour to free-range eggs, and everything is made in-house. They offer up iconic Swedish pastries and sandwiches, as well as Danishes and other goodies that are renowned in the Scandinavian region.
Growing up around kitchens in Sweden
Kilis didn't grow up baking, but he did grow up around food — both his parents were chefs in the southern Swedish city of Kristianstad. His mom even owned two restaurants. And that's how his parents met each other — working in a restaurant.
"Growing up, I was always surrounded by great food," Kilis said. "You know, they would cook for us, and they were both super busy all the time. But they always found time to sit down and have dinner with us as often as they could."
Although he didn't start baking until later in life, he believes his experience working with customers makes a difference in the business now and argues that the chef skills are in his genes.
"The food and beverage and the culinary scene is definitely in my blood," Kilis said. "And I'm grateful to have been surrounded by parents who were in food and beverage."
It wasn't until he met his wife Maddy that he started baking. They were both foodies, and she pushed him to get back to his Scandinavian roots in the kitchen.
"She really pushed me and pushed us to, you know, explore Scandinavian cuisine more, and she wanted to bake, and that was really it," Kilis said. "We baked a lot together."
Moving to Utah
The pair met while attending university in Florida. When she graduated, she got a job with Crumbl Corporate, so the couple moved to Utah.
It took him a little while to get used to the culture of Utah, but after a year, Kilis said he grew to love the place.
"The people here are incredible. They're so genuine. They're so kind," Kilis said. "The family values here, the neighborly values are unmatched by any other place that I've been to in the states."
Kilis grew up coming to Florida and the United States to escape the cold and dark Swedish winters. So when he graduated from high school, he knew he wanted to come to America for his next stage of schooling.
While attending the University of Florida, he studied political science and economics, graduating with both those degrees four years later.
Opening a food truck in Utah
He first landed a job at Morgan Stanley and then he went to work for Goldman Sachs for a year and a half until he made the decision to pursue the food truck venture full time.
"I kind of came to this realization of that this is actually my calling. Like food and beverages, that's my bread and butter in a way," Kilis said.
It's a journey that's a little over a year in the making, not including the four years he has used to perfect the dough recipe for the popular cinnamon and cardamom buns.
Svea started out selling the Scandinavian pastries at the Saratoga Springs Farmers Market and then Shopfest at Eagle Mountain.
The markets went from 9 to 5, but by 11 a.m. each day, they had sold out of everything. He would run back home to bake more, come back around 2 or 3, and by the end of the day, they would be sold out of everything again.
"It was unbelievable," Kilis said. "And that's when both she and I kind of knew that this is something that could maybe be more than just a hobby."
A vision for a brick-and-mortar Scandinavian cafe
Kilis and his wife came across the food truck for sale that used to be owned by a bakery in Salt Lake City and knew this was the next step. They hope to eventually open a brick-and-mortar store someday to really deliver that cafe experience he had grown to love from the Swedish culture.
Kilis is inspired by the Swedish tradition of Fika, where Swedes take time in the middle of the day to take a break and enjoy a sweet treat and a yummy beverage. That's what he's hoping to bring to people with Svea.
"We're hoping to kind of introduce the idea of Fika to people, incentivize them to, hey, take a moment, 15, 30 minutes, just sit down with a friend or a neighbor or a family member and just connect and enjoy your time over a baked good or a pastry and a beverage and just enjoy the moment, savor the moment," Kilis said.
What I ordered
Full disclosure: I served an 18-month mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Sweden, and one of the joys of serving the people of Sweden was trying all the delicious treats they had to offer.
So I had high expectations for the truck when I pulled into the Eagle Mountain parking lot.
And Svea delivered on every element.
Here's what I ordered:
- Salami & Brie Sandwich: It's a ciabatta layered with salami, creamy French Brie, fig jam to add a layer of sweetness, crisp green apple, cucumber and butter lettuce. The sandwich tasted fresh and delicious, and the fig jam was a nice add.
- Elderflower Lemonade: It's freshly squeezed lemonade mixed with elderflower. It's the perfect balance of sweetness and acidity.
- Strawberry Rhubarb Mint Iced Refresher: This one has strawberry, rhubarb and mint mixed together. Both drinks were delicious, but this was probably my favorite. It's refreshing and sweet in the best way.
- Cinnamon Bun: This is the classic pastry and the one I had the highest expectations for, and Svea delivered on taste, texture and aesthetic. It was my favorite thing I tried. And I will be back again for this one. It's an enriched dough filled with rich, house-made cinnamon filling topped with decadent cinnamon sugar.
- I must go back to get the Cardamom Bun, but they were sold out both times I've gone. So get there early if you're hoping to try out that one.
Kilis said he is planning on starting to have a rotating menu with different offerings each week, giving customers the opportunity to try different things each time they come to the truck.
"There's so much where it's hard for me in a food truck to offer all of it at once, but at least I can offer different things over the course of weeks and months that'll help introduce people to all the great things that have come out of Scandinavian culture," Kilis said.
Store information
- Address: 3729 E. Campus Dr., Eagle Mountain
- Hours: Saturday-Sunday 8 a.m.-3 p.m.
- Price: $
