Hallernes Smørrebrød
From 1,000 to 5,600 monthly visitors — and catering leads at 300 kroner each. SEO and Google Ads for a Copenhagen open-faced sandwich business with shops in Torvehallerne, Magasin, Tivoli and the airport.
Tech stack in this case study
Case studies
400+
Trustpilot
4.8
Years of experience
10+
The results
From 1,000 to 5,600 monthly visitors
Hallernes makes quality Danish open-faced sandwiches from shops in Copenhagen — including in Torvehallerne, Magasin, Tivoli and the airport. Alongside retail sales, it runs a corporate business in catering, takeaway and lunch schemes. acend has handled SEO and Google Ads for three years.
1.000 → 5.600
monthly visitors — an increase of 500%
10 → 90
relevant keywords on page 1 of Google
+200%
referring domains
- From 1,000 to 5,600 monthly visitors — an increase of 500%.
- From 10 to 90 relevant keywords on page 1 of Google.
- +200% in referring domains, with mentions on sites covering food, hospitality, tourism and sustainability.
- Catering leads at DKK 300 each through Google Ads.
Growth does not come from a single source. SEO has increased organic visibility, while Google Ads has opened a new B2B channel with targeted catering leads.
The problem
Strong product — weak visibility
Hallernes had a strong product and a website that did not do it justice. They ranked almost exclusively for searches for their own name — in other words, among people who already knew them. Everyone else looking for Danish open-faced sandwiches in Copenhagen found someone else.
A crowded market
There is no shortage of Danish open-faced sandwiches in Denmark, and competition for visibility on Google is fierce. If Hallernes were to gain ground, it would not be by targeting everything — it had to be by choosing the searches where they genuinely had something to offer.
The shops are in locations people search for
Torvehallerne, Magasin, Tivoli and the airport are not just addresses — they are searches with real volume behind them. That potential was untapped.
Torvehallerne
One of Copenhagen's most visited food destinations.
Magasin
High-traffic location in the heart of the city.
Tivoli
A steady flow of tourists and local guests all year round.
The airport
Access to both Danish and international customers.
An overlooked B2B opportunity
Much of the revenue potential lies not in individual customers at the counter, but in catering and corporate lunch services. That is a very different kind of search with a very different value behind it.
The solution
SEO: geography, products and services
The analysis highlighted one crucial factor: Hallernes is located in some of Copenhagen’s most searched-for areas. That became the foundation. From there, we developed content along three tracks: locations, the product and the services — catering, takeaway and corporate lunch services.
Each track got its own content targeting the long-tail searches people actually use, rather than generic text about Danish open-faced sandwiches. On top of that, we have worked on link building to strengthen the domain’s authority in a competitive field, and carried out regular technical reviews of the site to prevent errors from eating away at rankings again.
1.000 → 5.600
monthly visitors
10 → 90
keywords on page 1
On the paid side, the focus is where the value per enquiry is highest: catering and corporate lunch services. These are searches with clear intent and an order value that makes a lead costing 300 kroner a good investment.
Data from Ads shows which searches actually turn into enquiries, and that insight feeds back into SEO priorities — where the same enquiries can be generated without a cost per click attached to each lead.
In turn, SEO provides a lower-cost, long-term channel for the searches that prove their value in Ads. The result is two channels that learn from each other.
The partnership
All channels in one place — and one person to call
One point of contact for everything
Hallernes has the same dedicated point of contact to discuss ideas with, supported by specialists in each channel.
acend handles the day-to-day work
SEO and Google Ads are managed and optimised together in one place, so the channels build on each other rather than overlap.
Regular status meetings and ongoing ad hoc support
A regular follow-up schedule, combined with room for tasks that come up along the way.
Flexible start, no long-term commitments
The partnership has to make sense month after month — and has done so for three years.
Team acend
The team behind this case study
Valdemar Greve
Consultant
valdemar@acend.dk
Frederik Krøl Larsen
CCO & Partner
frederik@acend.dk
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