Located in the heart of Itäkeskus, in a hub of traffic routes and transport services, Cultural Centre Stoa is one of the cultural centres of the City of Helsinki. At the cultural centre, services are provided by Stoa Cultural Services, Itäkeskus Library, Kipinä Youth Activity House, the Helsinki Finnish Adult Education Centre and Arbis.
The aim is to lease the restaurant premises that serve visitors at Cultural Centre Stoa and Stoa Plaza to an operator capable of providing a high-quality service to people visiting the building and to production groups performing there.
The restaurant of Stoa provides lunch on weekdays to both customers and Stoa staff, catering for performance intermissions and restaurant services for events. The restaurant has an alcohol serving licence and willingness to serve. The restaurant takes the events and opportunities of Stoa Plaza into account in its operations and is committed to collaborating with other operators in the building.
A major expansion and renovation project is currently being planned for Cultural Centre Stoa. According to the current plans, construction is set to start in early 2029.
In addition to the indoor facilities, the restaurant also has an outdoor terrace area
The premises to be leased are located on the first floor of Cultural Centre Stoa, at Turunlinnantie 1, 00900 Helsinki. The facilities include a fully equipped kitchen with a sales counter, a furnished restaurant hall, an office room, and three cold storage rooms and two dry storage rooms located in the basement, as well as social facilities for staff. Serving and dining utensils are not included in the lease agreement. The total area of the kitchen is 64 m2. The restaurant hall has seats for 150 customers and room for 300 people during cocktail events. The premises also include an outdoor terrace area on the edge of Stoa Plaza, which provides a beautiful setting. The premises to be leased also facilitate part-time catering operations.
The facilities are leased in the condition that they are in at the time of their transfer. Before leasing the facilities, the operator must determine and obtain the official permits necessary for its operations. The lease for the facilities can be signed once the official permits are in order.
The lease includes access to the kitchen equipment, electricity, water and waste management, as well as cleaning of the restaurant hall on weekdays in accordance with Stoa’s cleaning agreement. The restaurant will be responsible for decorating the restaurant, disposing of waste in the waste collection shelter, cleaning the kitchen and keeping the changing rooms, office and food storage areas tidy.
Applications must be submitted by Friday 17 October 2025 at 12.00
The facilities will be leased based on an open call aimed at companies holding a valid business ID. If more than one offer to lease is received, we will choose the operator who presents the most comprehensive, viable proposal for the implementation of the restaurant services, taking primarily into account the range of services of the building.
We will assess the suitability of operators for the facilities based on received offers to lease and invite those who appear to be the most suitable for the operations of Stoa to a negotiation session to plan our potential cooperation. Negotiations can take place before the deadline as potentially suitable actors are found.
Please submit your written offer to lease, together with your business plan and required attachments, by Friday 17 October 2025 at 12.00 to kuva.hankinnat@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program) (the link will open your default email client).
Please provide the following information as attachments to your offer to lease:
• company name, address, contact person, contact information and business ID
• name of the facilities to be leased
• register number of the facilities: HEL 2025-013275
• report on past operations and experience in the restaurant sector
• credible business plan for the facilities in question
• free-form plan for restaurant operations in the facilities in question, including examples of products to be served, taking into account vegetarian options and the use of seasonal, organic and fair trade products. The plan must also include an example lunch list covering one week.
