Swedish fish aren’t the only candy from Scandinavia. The region’s sugary exports also include sour skulls, citrus taffy, gummy eggs, chocolate wafer bars, and creamy, red-and-white strawberry twists.
Those are just the sweet ones. There’s an entirely different — and distinctly polarizing — type as well: sweet-and-salty licorice logs. Bracing, anise-flavored, and tinted blackish-brown by molasses, they’re as common in the Nordic nation as M&Ms are in the U.S. Salty licorice might not please all palates; tasting a piece may make an unsuspecting American child cry.
“It’s an acquired taste,” says Amelia Eudailey, owner of the “Swede-ish” hot dog pop-up Hej Hej (opens in new tab). “But just like anything, when you get older, you’re like, ‘Oh, I crave this.’”After spending much of 2025 taking her concept on the road, Eudailey has returned to San Francisco to open a temporary candy store on Cortland Avenue in Bernal Heights. It’ll be there through at least the third weekend in May.
A Colorado native, Eudailey spent many summers visiting relatives in Sweden. Hej Hej, pronounced “hey hey,” is the friendly way her aunts always greeted her. Candy is ubiquitous there, with walls of treats found everywhere from department stores to gas stations. Although she does stock plenty of gummies made by the Swedish confectioner (and TikTok sensation) Bubs (opens in new tab), Eudailey aimed primarily to re-create the flavor of those childhood visits via 30 candy bins, only one of which contains earthy, pungent licorice logs. A gentler, cactus-flavored licorice chew has proved so popular that she’s had trouble keeping it in stock.
As for Swedish fish, the version Americans are familiar with is not the kind you get in Stockholm. “It’s not a super chewy gummy,” she says. “It has a cured quality.”
Painted the blue and yellow of the Swedish flag, Hej Hej occupies the space that formerly housed the electric bike shop The New Wheel. The landlord was open to a temporary candy store, and while Eudailey hunts for a permanent space, she might extend for one weekend each month this summer.
Candy is dandy, but for two years, Hej Hej has been mainly about hot dogs — specifically, Swedish ones. Piled high with bay shrimp salad, cheesy mashed potatoes, dill pickles, crispy onions, ketchup, and mustard, her all-beef franks from Cream Co. have popped up at Dolores Deluxe, the Sunset’s former Hotline, and Rampant, a wine bar in the Richmond. In Bernal, she’s grilling them — along with a trout version sourced from Fish in Sausalito and a pork bratwurst by Lottie’s Meats — on the candy store’s front patio for the next three Saturdays from 4 to 7 p.m.
San Francisco is enthralled by fancy glizzies, and over the past few weekends, as many as 100 people have come through for a loaded dog. “In Sweden, you’re not just eating hot dogs in the summer. You have them after every celebration. They’re integrated into life,” she says. “Everyone’s happy when they’re eating hot dogs.”
To that end, Hej Hej stocks lots of hot dog-themed merch, including coloring books, stickers, and hair clips. The shop’s collection has drawn the attention of more than a few Swedish expats, including one woman who spotted a bag of hard-to-find OLW brand Cheez Doodles and ran in from across the street. “They ask about salted licorice, and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I have it!’”
More about the author
Astrid Kane (they/them) aspires every day to be San Francisco’s No. 1 boom-loop booster, focusing on food and drink, culture, and LGBTQ+ issues. They live in the Mission.
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