The story behind the Mushroom House
The history of the mushroom house is one of true entrepreneurial spirit and solid knowledge. Before the Mushroom House, there was no generally known way to grow gourmet mushrooms at home,
something that Johnny Ammer would change.
Johnny Ammer on the right celebrates handing over the Svamphuset to new owners.
It all started with a qualified mushroom consultant and his dreams of making more people mushroom growers.
During their studies at Umeå University where Johnny Ammer, the founder behind the Mushroom House, studied to become a mushroom consultant, the students learned during the last day of a semester how to grow mushrooms. For Johnny, a seed was sown every now and then.
"I need to do more of that," thought Johnny.
He threw himself into the internet to find information on how to grow mushrooms and noticed to his great surprise that there was hardly any knowledge at all available about mushroom cultivation. He bought books written by prominent mycologists on various mushroom cultivation methods and absorbed everything he could.
As time went on, Johnny had learned so much about mushroom farming that he could not only provide for himself, but saw an opportunity to provide for others as well.
It was a long and tough journey with lots of lessons learned along the way. Nobody had tried this before and everything from choosing mycelium and ratios to finding approximate incubation times had to be tested and standardized.
Johnny on one of his many market visits.
On July 5 , 2012, Johnny launched the Mushroom House at Höörby market. Over ten years have passed since then, and over time the Mushroom House has grown into what today can be called Scandinavia's largest platform for mushroom cultivation.
The mushroom house in one of many media features.
There is a time for everything, and for Johnny, as the Mushroom House progressed, a new dream emerged. The dream of a well-stocked delicatessen!
Johnny ran a deli store a few years ago at the same time as managing the Mushroom House, but an expansion of one could not be combined with the other. And it was in that vein that we, Fabian and Emil, came into contact with Johnny.
Johnny was looking for a successor to the Mushroom House and announced on Sweden's cultivation forum that the keys to the Mushroom House needed new owners.
As mushroom-interested customers of the Mushroom House, we decided to visit Johnny and talk further about the matter!
It took two weeks. Johnny felt it as strongly as we did - we drive!
We signed the papers and took on the responsibility of managing and developing the Mushroom House further.
With Johnny as a helping hand, we got started and at the same time moved the production premises from Höör to the outskirts of Stockholm.
Now we continue the ongoing work of making more people mushroom growers and are also the new faces of the Mushroom House.
But one thing is certain. Without entrepreneurs like Johnny, the mushroom cultivation culture in Sweden would not be in the same place it is today. Since the start in 2012, Johnny's products have found their way to primary schools, some of Sweden's largest department stores, universities and to gardening associations all over the country. It should be added that all this was done without the Swedish people showing any interest whatsoever in mushroom cultivation. It is the founding of the Mushroom House itself that has created the interest in mushroom cultivation, and Johnny Ammer has played a large and decisive role there.
We at Svamphuset have now taken over the baton and work every day to make more people mushroom growers. When we need advice, we call Johnny, and when Johnny needs mushroom growing supplies, he calls us.
"It was time to move on and do something new, provided that someone I could trust would run the Mushroom House further and make it even better. From the very first moment when I met Fabian and Emil, I felt that they were exactly the right people and could hand over the keys to the Mushroom House with a warm hand.
A big thank you to all lovely customers for all the great years! And good luck on the road to Emil and Fabian, I know you will lift the Mushroom House to new heights."
- Johnny Ammer, founder of the mushroom house
So what does the road ahead look like?
Of course, we don't know exactly what it looks like, but we know where we will put our energy on the road - to make as many as we can into mushroom growers and spread the knowledge as far and wide as we can!
Good luck with the farming!
//Emil, Fabian & Johnny
