Once the classic pick-me-up, now trendy: coffee has undergone an image change. The bean trade is booming. Iris Grieshofer, director of Regio in Marchtrenk (Upper Austria), reveals what this means for Austria’s largest coffee roaster.
Iris Grieshofer drinks between seven and eight espressos a day. “I know that’s a lot – my doctor thinks so too,” says the director of the regional coffee roastery in Marchtrenk with a smile.
For more than ten years, the woman from Linz has been responsible for the Spar Group’s own brand and thus for the largest coffee roastery in Austria. Her office is a small jewelry box with the theme of the bean: old coffee packets find as much space here as the curtains sewn by an employee and embroidered with sayings about the pleasure of coffee.
In the directly adjacent production hall, two roasters and three packaging systems ensure that there is always sufficient coffee available at the Spar locations in Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Northern Italy.
“Coffee has become hipper”
Since Grieshofer took over responsibility at Regio at the end of 2013, market and consumer behavior has changed significantly: “With all the small roasters and small coffee houses that have opened their doors, quality awareness has increased,” says the 47-year-old. And further: “Coffee has become hipper. On Sunday afternoons, he spent some time with grandma. Today, it is not only the classic pleasure product, but also a luxury food.”
Regio has given itself a new brand identity in recent months. The design of 22 packages has been tweaked, but screws have also been turned to the material to increase recyclability.
Huge price increases for green coffee
“Our bean packages are now completely aluminum-free, we use completely plastic,” says Grieshofer, who also struggles with the price increases for green coffee: “The prices have gone up enormously. What we are experiencing now is crazy. We are doing our best to ensure that the customer does not experience this so strongly.”
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.
