Bagsværd Lakrids Licorice

The idea of ​​making licorice in a new way started in the head of civil engineer Søren Beier one December day in 2014. With enthusiasm for his first tasty licorice tests, he dragged his DTU fellow student Morten Kornbech Larsen into the project. As the two chemical engineers lived two minutes apart in Bagsværd, the desire sprouted on the long winter evenings to try to rein in the challenging caramelization process (maillard reaction) to the creation of a licorice product with sufficient stability for a small door sale. The hobby company Bagsværd Licorice was created. Søren experimented with ingredient composition, cooking process and packaging types, while Morten arranged tastings in the Bagsværd Center and ran the mail order sale on Facebook.

In the beginning the production was six plates of licorice daily. It was difficult to scale due to the complicated process and grew to 24 plates a day. After six months it was clear that this day production could not keep up with demand. So Rasmus Hansen joined the company after a healthy portion of persuasion, and the production was moved to a rowing club north of Copenhagen. Rasmus skillfully scaled the daily production up to 100 plates, and he handled all contact to the authorities regarding. food safety in its suitable and approved kitchen.

In the summer of 2018, after a long search, Morten managed to find the perfect home for production in the middle of Bagsværd Hovedgade. Right next to Bagsværd Vinhandel, which in 2015 was among the first five stores to focus on licorice. And there – in the premises of the neighbors Bagsværd Licorice and Bagsværd Vinhandel, licorice parties were held every month with dining and live music for 24-25 customers.

Today the company is still expanding and has a tota of 535 resellers in 7 European countries. Staff equals 14 full time employees.