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ALDI SPENT €70 MILLION WITH CORK FOOD AND DRINK PRODUCERS IN 2022

ALDI outlines its continued positive impact on Cork’s economy

ALDI Ireland today announced details of its continued significant contribution to Cork’s economy and the impact of its charity partnerships across the county. In its annual ALDI Economic Impact Report published today, the company said it paid almost €30 million in wages and salaries and opened one new store in Cork in 2022.

In 2022, ALDI sourced €70 million of locally produced food and drink from Cork based suppliers. ALDI partners with 30 Cork producers, including long-term relationships with Irish Yoghurts and Boulta Agri. Last year, ALDI began working with five new Cork suppliers for the first time, including Sibly Foods Ltd and Hyde Ltd, opening opportunities for local companies to stock their local produce on the shelves of one of Ireland’s leading retailers.

Operating 25 stores in Cork and a regional distribution centre in Mitchelstown, ALDI employs over 850 full time staff in the county. ALDI opened a new store in Clonakilty last year, creating a total of 30 new jobs locally. All available job opportunities in County Cork can be found on the ALDI Recruitment website.

ALDI’s stores support multiple charities across Cork at a local level.Each store is part of ALDI’s food waste reduction programme, with ALDI’s Cork stores having donated over 300,000 meals through FoodCloud to local charities. Each store is also part of ALDI’s Community Grants network, with Cobh Community Hospital and St Johns Ambulance Glanmire and Marymount Hospital & Hospice some of the many local charities that availed of the €500 bursary grant in 2022.

In 2022, ALDI supported the ‘DIY SOS: The Bigger Build Ireland’ series on RTÉ, which saw the renovation of six houses at Kingston College in Mitchelstown to provide much needed accommodation for Ukrainian refugees. ALDI provided a range of food and drink to a dedicated group of volunteers working on transforming the houses and making them fit for purpose. ALDI also introduced its first reverse vending machine trial in Ireland, at its Mitchelstown store. Customers are encouraged to return PET plastic bottles up to three litres and aluminium drinks cans with €1,000 per month being donated to charity partner Barnardos.

In addition to donating to local charities, ALDI also supports local communities through its tree planting initiative, with a commitment to planting 1 million native Irish woodland trees across Ireland by 2025. As part of this commitment, ALDI has planted nearly 230,000 trees across Co. Cork to date.

About the report

The ALDI Economic Impact Report  includes detail of ALDI’s contribution to the national and local economy, including investment in its product offering, its team and the communities the retailer serves.

In 2022, ALDI sourced €1.1 billion of locally produced food and drink from Irish suppliers. In total, ALDI partnered with over 330 Irish producers throughout the year and began working with 15 new suppliers for the first time, including Builín Blasta, Elite Home Products and Athlone Confectionary.

ALDI opened six new stores in Caherciveen, Clonakilty, Ballina, Ardee, Tuam and Mountbellew, increasing its footprint to 155 across the country.

Last month, the retailer announced an additional 360 new positions, which will bring ALDI’s total employee numbers in Ireland past 5,000 people. ALDI also announced the adoption of the new ‘Living Wage’ recommendation of €13.85, from 1 February, becoming the first Irish supermarket to do so. ALDI’s Economic Impact Report confirms a spend by the retailer of almost €160 million on wages nationwide in 2022.

Commenting Niall O’Connor, Group Managing Director, ALDI Ireland said: “Our goal is to make a positive impact in every local community that our stores serve. Our operations and stores contribute to businesses, communities and families right across Cork.

We take great pride in working together with our local suppliers to bring quality, affordable products to our customers. People who shop in ALDI know that they will never have to choose between quality, healthy food, and price, and we are committed to offering the best value of any supermarket.

We know this is increasingly important during a trying cost-of-living crisis and continue to be very aware of its impact. We are committed to helping our customers weather this storm and will continue to shield and protect them with low prices, starting with even bigger discounts over the coming year.

This crisis also affects our suppliers, many of whom have seen their input costs rise as a result. Our continued investment with our valued supply partners allows them in turn to invest in their businesses and their people. We’re delighted to announce that we spent over €70 million sourcing locally produced food and drink from Cork suppliers in 2022, while investing more than €230 million in the county since opening our first Cork store in Ballincollig in 1999.”