Story of Teerenpesä

Armi and Juha Rutanen have run Restaurant Pub Teerenpesä for over 16 years. When Hessu Saviharju offered Teerenpesä to them, the couple finally decided to fulfill their dream and bought it as a Christmas gift for each other.

I am Armi Rutanen, a local Palkisoja girl, and my husband Juha Rutanen is originally from Ylivieska. Both of us have almost 30 years of professional experience. We have managed Restaurant Teerenpesä since 2006. The previous owner Heikki Saviharju asked us whether we’d be interested in running our own restaurant, which had been a dream of ours for a long time. In 2015 the dream came true, when we had the chance to buy the whole Restaurant Teerenpesä. In the late 80’s Juha came to work as a chef in Saariselkä and never looked back. Teerenpesä was by no means unfamiliar to us, having both worked there for the previous owners Hannes Mikkola and later Heikki Saviharju.

 

What started as a work romance in “Tepe” has morphed into an almost 20 year shared experience, and this whole time we have worked together. For the last 16 years we have been together 24/7/365, which requires a lot from the marriage but we believe that the secret behind a long relationship is appreciation, trust and respect. It’s lovely to be able to say that your life partner is also your best friend and a soul mate. As we don’t have too much free time during the busy season, we try to spend as much time as we can in our cottage during summer and in May-June we head to the small islands in Greece to relax, recharge our batteries and to prepare for the upcoming season. Even though our work is sometimes heavy and hectic, it gives us so much. Nothing is more fulfilling than the sight of satisfied customers.

We have divided the workload in the following manner: I take care of the bar and all the paper stuff, while Juha is in charge of the kitchen, with all the major decisions being made together, naturally. We have been fortunate to have professional and enthusiastic employees, and it has been delightful to work with them and to develop Teerenpesä. Without these people this restaurant wouldn’t have been successful, so a big thanks to them.  

See you at Tepe.