Welcome to Vendion: How Kilen Mat & Bar is Building the Future of Dining in Ljungskile

Today, on October 5, 2026, we are incredibly proud to welcome Kilen Mat & Bar in Ljungskile to the Vendion family. This is not just any restaurant opening. It is a story of lifelong friendship, deep culinary expertise, and the courage to break new ground with a completely unique à la carte concept. Behind the venture are Matts Johansson, former founder of the acclaimed coffee chain Da Matteo, and Pierre Hanell. Their story began when they were just 16 years old, serving together in the navy. Now, as 67-year-old gentlemen with a lifetime of success in the restaurant and café industry under their belts, they are uniting once again to create something truly special on the Swedish west coast.

At Kilen in Ljungskile, they have chosen an exciting and unexpected path. During the day, they serve a high-class lunch that attracts both locals and visitors, but it is in the evenings that the truly unique concept takes over. Instead of a traditional à la carte menu, Kilen has chosen to focus entirely on stews. It is a brilliant and bold move that demands exceptional ingredient quality, enormous precision in the kitchen, and a delicate touch for flavors that need time to develop. Such a concept also places high demands on the operational flow, from the moment the guest books their table to the moment the food leaves the pass.

Experience Demands the Right Tools

When you have been in the industry as long as Matts and Pierre, you have seen it all. You have tested countless systems, experienced the frustration of integrations crashing in the middle of a busy payday weekend, and worked with suppliers who lack an understanding of the restaurateur's reality. Before opening Kilen Mat & Bar, they met with virtually every player on the market. The choice ultimately fell on Vendion. Why? Because they demanded an absolute holistic solution and wanted to work with an entrepreneur-driven company that speaks their language.

"After testing most of the systems on the market, we realized that Vendion gave us exactly the comprehensive solution we were looking for. We wanted to build Kilen with a partner who shares our entrepreneurial drive and understands that technology should facilitate, not limit," the founders state. By choosing Vendion 360, Kilen gets access to all our modules in exactly the same system. There are no gaps between booking, point of sale, and the kitchen. Everything talks to everything, in real time, without complicated middlemen.

KDS and AI Elevate the Stews to New Levels

For a concept based on stews, timing in the kitchen is absolutely crucial. Kilen Mat & Bar has therefore chosen to implement our Kitchen Display System (KDS). By replacing paper tickets with digital screens in the kitchen, the chefs get a crystal-clear overview of all orders. The KDS system syncs directly with the restaurant's POS system and the staff's mobile POS, which means that an order from the table lands on the screen in the kitchen before the waiter has even had time to turn around. For stews, where side dishes and temperature are decisive for the overall experience, KDS ensures that every dish is assembled and served exactly when it is at its best.

But Kilen does not stop at the kitchen. By utilizing the full Vendion 360 suite, they take advantage of our industry-leading AI technology right through the entire operation. With Vendion AI, the system works proactively in the background. When guests book a table via Kilen's website, our table booking module takes over and uses AI to optimize table placement. The engine calculates the perfect fit for every party, ensures that no chairs are left empty unnecessarily, and maximizes the restaurant's occupancy – completely automatically.

A Complete Platform for Staff and Guests

Running a modern a la carte restaurant is about more than just the food; it's about the team behind it. With the Vendion Personal module, Kilen gets a seamless flow for scheduling, time tracking, and payroll data. Here too, AI steps in to help create schedule proposals based on the restaurant's actual history and booking status, saving management hours of administrative work every week. This gives Matts and Pierre more time to be out in the dining room, talking to guests, and ensuring that the quality of the stews is always top-notch.

The payment flow is just as smooth. By using our card terminals that are fully integrated with the POS via Vendion Inlösen, the risk of manual errors is minimized, and guests get a fast and elegant conclusion to their dining experience. All sales data then flows directly into Analytics++, where the founders can monitor in real time which stews are selling best, what the product mix looks like, and how staff costs relate to revenue.

We at Vendion are enormously happy to be a part of Kilen's journey. The fact that two such highly qualified industry veterans choose our platform for their new dream project is fantastic proof that Vendion 360 is the future standard for Swedish restaurateurs. We look forward to visiting Ljungskile, taking a seat in the dining room, and enjoying a steaming hot stew in the autumn darkness. A warm welcome to Vendion, Kilen Mat & Bar!