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Today, we're putting together how IKEA became a restaurant that sells furniture
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Founded by Swedish-born farmer Ingvar Kamprad, in 1943, IKEA operated as a mail-order service
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allowing customers to order things like imported watches or leather wallets. In 1948, the IKEA catalog added basic tables and small chairs for mail order
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Ingvar used the flat pack method and shipped furniture unassembled. This delivery system revolutionized affordable furniture and is the standard today
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In 2011, Elisabeth Ouspring's book, And in the Vienna Woods, The Trees Remain, exposed not only
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the IKEA founder's paper trail connecting him to the Nazi organization headed by ultra-creepy
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nationalist Paul Engdahl, but also Kamplad's role as an active recruiter for the group. In fact
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Kamplad used money made from IKEA's first sales to bankroll the publication of Engdahl's nationalist
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book. Ingvar Kamplad envisioned a world of shoppers with no desire to leave, and if the
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store sells food, you never have to leave until you're done shopping. So in the late 1950s
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IKEA gave shoppers a jolt with their first coffee stand. Then in the summer of 1960
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the company committed and built IKEA bars in their stores. They soon installed microwaves
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a scarce new gadget, which opened the door to all manner of quick service delights
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These additions, along with strange, seemingly unrelated words used to name their furniture
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soon became staples of IKEA Those funky names by the way are a product of Comprade dyslexia Before long full ovens came along and the IKEA ideal of full shoppers became a reality
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But as IKEA's furniture designs and affordable offerings expanded, so too did their culinary ambitions
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The IKEA Swedish meatball was introduced in 1985. After Chef Severin Scherstedt painstakingly developed the treat over 10 months
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Throw in that sweet, sticky lingonberry jam, and wah, a star is glazed
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According to reports, once the meatball rolled into town, 650 million shoppers spent $2 billion a year at IKEA kitchens
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In April 2018, Sweden's official Twitter account dropped this tweet. Swedish meatballs are actually based on a recipe King Charles XII brought home from Turkey in the early 18th century
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Let's stick to the facts. With this startling information, consumers soon took a microscope to the IKEA menu and discovered that only half of the offerings are truly Swedish
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From allegations of forced labor in Cuba, to an outbreak of horse meat found in their signature Swedish meatballs
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to a truly unbelievable instance of fecal matter discovered in their market cakes, it's a lot to take in
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After Ingvar Kamprad's passing in 2018, IKEA has forged ahead without its founder and continued to grow
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But make no mistake, their ongoing success is due to the kitchen as much as the sales floor
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In fact, 30% of IKEA visitors enter with the sole purpose of chowing down
