As part of the “Young & Urban by SPAR” umbrella brand, customers can now find around 400 cutting-edge products from 35 creative Austrian start-ups in the food and non-food sector offered exclusively at SPAR, EUROSPAR, and INTERSPAR stores. The most recent additions are sugar-free Mabura drinks from Carinthia and PepupLife sprout bags from Vienna.

The promotion of innovative and unique ideas has become an integral part of SPAR Austria’s philosophy. Inventiveness, combined with high-quality products, not only convince the experts at SPAR, but also SPAR customers in the 1,500 stores found across the country. Behind the brands are great entrepreneurs who put a lot of passion into the development and marketing of their products.

Entrepreneurs share their stories

Many of the product concepts arise from individual needs and are then develop into finished products. As Horst Burgstaller, co-founder of Mabura, explains: “When eating out with the family, there were very few alternatives to sugary sodas which led to the idea of developing Mabura Naturmanufaktur. By working with SPAR, we have been able to introduce our products to customers much faster”.

The Viennese start-up PepUpLife also sees the benefits of the partnership. The two entrepreneurs behind the product, Josef Prückl and Harald Mach, share a passion for nutrition and have developed organic sprouts for kitchen gardens, available exclusively at INTERSPAR Hypermarkets throughout Austria.

“We believe that everyone should eat sprouts. We have developed our sprout bags so that everyone can easily grow them at home. With the support of SPAR, we are taking a big step towards our goal of making natural food available to as many consumers as possible”, says Harald Mach.

With SPAR from concept to realisation

Cutting-edge products from imaginative young entrepreneurs in the food, household, and leisure sectors have enriched the range at SPAR since “Young & Urban by SPAR” was launched in April 2018. The ambitious young entrepreneurs benefit from SPAR’s longstanding experience in product and design development, quality management, as well as production and marketing.

“Through the young entrepreneur program, we promote the wealth of Austrian ideas, and at the same time, can offer our customers exclusive innovative products”, said SPAR CEO Dr Gerhard Drexel.

Source: SPAR Austria

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.