"Difficult to manage"

Social market fears further increase in customers

The queues at the supermarket checkouts are getting longer.(Bild: ......, Krone KREATIV)

The number of customers in social supermarkets is exploding, and there is no sign of this leveling off in view of the new income threshold for people at risk of poverty. The head of the Samariterbund, Oliver Löhlein, is therefore calling for the abolition of VAT on basic foodstuffs.  

Since 2019, the number of customers at Samariterbund's social supermarkets has risen by 30 percent. "It started before that, but the numbers really exploded with the high inflation rate and massive price increases," says Samariterbund CEO Oliver Löhlein.

Even more Viennese eligible to buy
And so far there is no flattening in sight, on the contrary. Statistics Austria is today presenting the new income threshold above which people are considered to be at risk of poverty. It currently stands at 1392 euros (1-person household). The Samariterbund expects that this limit will be raised - and thus even more Viennese will be entitled to shop in the social supermarkets.

We assume that the number of customers will continue to rise. Unfortunately, at some point it will no longer be enough.

Oliver Löhlein, Samariterbund Geschäfstführer

Bild: Gerhard Bartel

Abolition of value added tax
"We have managed to collect more food, otherwise it would no longer have been possible. But demand will continue to rise," says Löhlein. This is because some of the middle class are now also shopping at the social market. "Energy and housing are incredible cost drivers," says the Managing Director.

And food prices are also continuing to rise. Löhlein is calling for the abolition of VAT on basic foodstuffs: "That would help a lot of people."

Saving products straight from the field
There also needs to be more initiatives to collect food directly from producers. "So much is left lying around in the fields because it doesn't meet certain standards. That's a shame." This is because there is too much or too little fruit and vegetables in the social market, depending on the season.

Stable number of volunteers
And even products with a long shelf life (flour, etc.) are rarely donated by the supermarkets. There are no problems at the Samariterbund, at least with the volunteers. Löhlein: "They haven't increased, but the number has remained stable for years."