Digital Media Centre

ALDI SPENT OVER €10.5 MILLION WITH KILDARE FOOD AND DRINK PRODUCERS IN 2022

ALDI outlines its continued positive impact on Kildare’s economy

ALDI Ireland today announced details of its continued significant contribution to Kildare’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 €30 million in wages and salaries, while welcoming over 3 million customer visits to its Kildare stores last year.

In 2022, ALDI sourced over €10.5 million of locally produced food and drink from Kildare based suppliers. ALDI partners with 11 local Kildare producers, including key relationships with Kildare Brewing and Coghlan’s Bakery. Last year, ALDI began working with 15 new Irish suppliers for the first time, opening opportunities for local companies to stock their local produce on the shelves of one of Ireland’s leading retailers.

Operating seven stores in Kildare, as well as a regional distribution centre and corporate office, ALDI employs over 600 full time staff in the county. All available job opportunities in County Kildare can be found on the ALDI Recruitment website.

In January 2022, ALDI officially opened its new corporate office facility in Naas, Co. Kildare, with former Tánaiste and current Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD in attendance to mark the occasion. The facility, which houses ALDI’s National Buying and Marketing teams, features a state-of-the-art development kitchen where ALDI’s Buying team creates and tests new Irish products.

ALDI’s Kildare stores support multiple charities at a local level.Each store is part of ALDI’s food waste reduction programme, with ALDI’s Kildare stores having donated over 56,000 meals through FoodCloud to local charities. Since July 2022, ALDI’s corporate office has been affiliated with Main Street Food Bank in Naas, who have received monthly food donations from ALDI colleagues. To date, over two tonnes of surplus food has been donated, which equates to more than 2,600 meals and a saving of almost 3,500 kg of CO2.

Each store is also part of ALDI’s Community Grants network with Lilywhite Wheelers Multi-Sport and Samaritans Newbridge just some of the local charities that availed of the €500 bursary grant in 2022. 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. To date, ALDI has planted over 23,000 trees across county Kildare.

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 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 Kildare.

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, and we’re delighted to announce that we spent over €10.5 million sourcing locally produced food and drink from Kildare suppliers in 2022, while investing over €126 million in the county since opening our first Kildare store in Clane in 2004.”