Full case study report: Bio vom Berg - Austria

Summary

‘Bio vom Berg’ is best described as a producer owned brand, operated by the cooperative ‘BioalpineGen.’, which covers a full range of organic products, produced, processed and sold mainly in the region of Tyrol/Austria (see red circle in Graphic 1). The supply chains involve about 600 farmers who produce mainly milk but also fruits and vegetables, eggs, meat or cereals. Additionally, a number of processors (one big regional dairy for fresh milk and yoghurt, 10 local small dairy cooperatives for cheese, a butcher for meat, a chocolatier, a bakery and most recently a mill and a dairy processor for yoghurt in South Tyrol) are involved. Marketing and distribution is done mainly (accounting for about 60% of the turnover) through a regional family based supermarket chain (MPreis). Furthermore, the grain is processed by a large regional bakery (Ruetz), which sells its organic bread under the brand name ‘Bio vom Berg‘. Other (minor) marketing channels include organic wholesalers in Germany, a specialist chocolatier in Styria and a number of partners supplying via wholesalers the gastronomy sector and some small specialized shops in the region. The case was considered for investigation under the HealthyGrowth project because Austria has a very strong retailer/discounter sector and a remarkable direct marketing sector as well. ‚Bio vom Berg‘ aims to link these two aspects by selling the best from the organic mountain farmers in the regional retailing supermarket.