PAULIINA PIRKOLA

Founder of SAUCE

SAUCE is an international community that brings together restaurant professionals and all of us with a keen interest in food to explore the future of food. It is on-going conversation that culminates in an annual forum in September, this year taking place in Helsinki. Sauce is a blend of festival, conference and a dining pop-up. 

Originally from Finland, Pauliina has a background in strategy within international mobile business sector. A lifelong love for food spurred Pauliina to embark on a career change in 2005 when she co-founded the ground-breaking Nordic restaurant, FINDS, in Hong Kong. Winner of multiple awards including: 100 Top Tables 2013 by South China Morning Post; Cordons Bleus 2012 (GHM) Recommendation Restaurant – Best European Cuisine; voted one of the 25 World’s Best Hot Spots by Conde Nast Traveler 2006. 

In 2009, Pauliina moved back to Finland to pursue opportunities through her new-found creative side. She was working in advertising before re-locating to Estonia in 2014 and founding SAUCE in 2015. SAUCE today has become a leading culinary event in the Baltic countries for restaurant professionals and has brought key leaders within the industry such as: Massimo Bottura; Magnus Nilsson; Ana Ros; Christian Puglisi; to name just a few; helping to kickstart and influence the development of young chefs and the future of food. 

Pauliina drives SAUCE’s international initiative to build a global culinary community that shares awareness and ideas for better food future. She is also indispensable creative partner to several companies and is leading a mission of a radically different education platform for culinary professionals.