Spar Austria has announced a new start-up programme, 'Young & Urban by Spar' aimed at supporting young entrepreneurs and the development of their products.
The initiative will expand the retailer's 'existing range of trendy products' in the food, household, and leisure segments. Previous successful start-up products include Inspiriti and its low-sugar 'lifestyle' drinks which feature flavours such as elderberry, pomegranate, and green tea; and the NEOH Crossbar, a nutritional protein bar with only one gramme of sugar.
Young entrepreneurs can submit a description of their product on the 'Young & Urban at Spar' website, and company representatives will contact the successful innovators for an interview.
'When the product adds value to customers, Spar, along with the inventors, further develops the product so that it can eventually enter the markets and be bought by customers,' the company said.
Extensive Knowledge
Selected start-ups will then have the opportunity to stock their products in 1,500 Spar, Interspar, and Eurospar stores in the country. Spar Austria said it is regarded as 'a reliable and fair partner' in the industry due to its many years of experience with suppliers and its extensive knowledge of the sector.
"We are proud to present our customers the latest food trends and lifestyle products in a brand-new way and at the same time to promote Austrian inventiveness, as well as to offer young entrepreneurs the stage for a successful start," said Spar Austria CEO Gerhard Drexel at the launch of the initiative.
In March, the company introduced a new dedicated health, nutrition and wellbeing section at its Interspar hypermarkets across the country, including as many as 165 different products such as supplements, natural medicine, vitamin tablets and fish oil, among others.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Karen Henderson. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
