With the opening of a new branch in Weppersdorf, Burgenland, Penny has now celebrated a very special first, which should point the way to the future of the discounter: For the first time in Austria, the Rewe subsidiary has a service counter for meat, where trained butchers cut the meat for prepared customers. In the branch you can also look through a window into the cold store, where fresh meat is stored “nose to tail” in order to process as many parts as possible.
Just in time for the discounter’s 20th anniversary, the new Penny supermarket is a regional flagship project, as our local inspection at the opening ceremony revealed last Wednesday. The store concept with more than 990 square meters of sales space – making the store currently the largest of Penny in Austria – invites you to taste with its pleasantly warm wood look and the remarkably wide aisles.
The focus is mainly on regional products, which can be found relatively quickly and easily, for example in the case of fruit and vegetables, thanks to the own brand “I am Austria” marked in red, white and red. All promotional items from the flyer are also clearly presented in their own area and are therefore easy to discover for customers.
Meat processing is made visible again here
The heart of the modern store concept is without a doubt the service counter with its own trained butchers and in-house cold store – a rather bold move that does not really fit into the concept of a classic discount store, as Penny director Mario Märzinger pointed out during our tour of the flagship branch. According to the first impression, the risk should have paid off and the concept of the meat service counter will soon be introduced in other branches, or so Penny hopes.
The meat department of the discounter in Weppersdorf is significantly upgraded, especially due to the prominent viewing window in the cold store, when something is made visible for the first time in the 20-year history of the company, which has actually been there for a long time, in more than 200 branches , but had remained hidden behind the customer’s walls until now.
Shop concept prevents food waste
Because what many consumers in Austria still don’t know: in order to prevent food waste, all cuts of meat are processed directly in the “nose to tail” facility by the Penny butchers. Larger quantities or personal wishes can also be ordered directly in advance via an order form in the branch or online. The fresh pork, chicken or beef of the own brand “I am Austria” comes 100% from Austria and is also slaughtered in this country.
The regional slaughterhouses then supply the surrounding Penny markets directly with pork sides and other meats in the quantities ordered by the butchers of the individual branches. This also makes the whole thing individually adaptable: If a lot of chicken is bought in one branch in the summer and more specific cuts of pork are bought in another branch, the discount store’s meat professionals can adjust their order quantities accordingly.
Burgenlanders love to grill pork belly
At the exclusive barbecue event for the new Penny branch at the opening last Wednesday, journalists and invited guests were able to taste the fresh meat assortment of the own brand “Ich bin Österreich” and learn from the professionals of the same time. Together with grill master Wolfgang Arndt from Grill Heaven, steaks, spare ribs, chicken fillet and chops were placed on the hot grill. The favorite grilled food was previously chosen by the Penny community. The result: the inhabitants of Burgenland prefer to grill pork belly.
The event was officially opened by Penny Director Mario Märzinger, Mayor Manfred Degendorfer and the community’s two pastors, Stefan Grauwald and Shinto Varghese Michael.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
