SPAR Austria is ramping up its initiatives to support communities and suppliers during the COVID-19 outbreak by facilitating volunteer home delivery and selling eggs that would otherwise go unsold due to the temporary closure of restaurants and hotels.

An active role in the community

The Austrian Federal Government is currently advising older people and people with health issues to reduce their social contact to a minimum. But people in this risk group still have to take care of themselves and are often dependent on help with, for example, grocery shopping. In many places in Austria, volunteer associations are already taking care of the home delivery of groceries. SPAR Austria has now come up with a plan to help facilitate the food supply to at-risk groups during the current epidemic in Salzburg, Vorarlberg, Carinthia, Lower Austria and Tyrol.

As part of SPAR Austria’s plan to facilitate easier volunteer shopping for the elderly, municipalities take on the coordination of volunteers and inquiries from those affected, as well as billing. Volunteers then receive a shopping ID from the municipality, which they can use to shop for people from risk groups at SPAR stores and then deliver these groceries right to their doorstep.

Payment can either be made using voucher cards purchased by communities in advance, or volunteers can buy groceries on delivery note at SPAR. SPAR will settle the bill with the municipalities after the current measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 have been lifted.

 SPAR Austria supports egg farmers

With the current temporary closure of hotels and restaurants in Austria, there is a surplus of 35,000 eggs every day in the federal state of Salzburg alone. SPAR Austria has offered to support local egg farmers by selling these eggs.

This week, the first 10,000 eggs will be available on the shelves of SPAR stores in Salzburg and parts of Tyrol. Next week, another 10,000 eggs will be added. SPAR Austria is also supporting egg farmers in the southern Austrian region of Carinthia with a similar campaign.

“We also help dairy businesses. Just one example is that we have added dairy products from SalzburgMilch to our range, which are usually sold through other sales channels”, explains SPAR Austria spokeswomen Nicole Berkmann.

Source: SPAR Austria, Salzburger Nachrichten VerlagsgesmbH & Co KG 2020

About SPAR Austria

The origins of SPAR in Austria date back to 1954, but the current SPAR AG was created in 1970 when the original founding families joined with other regional wholesalers to form SPAR Austria AG – a 100% privately owned Austrian company.

With licences granted by SPAR International, ASPIAG (Austria SPAR International AG) has developed SPAR in Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia, and Northern Italy.