ADEG Binder — A socially active supermarket in Austria

The social innovation that immediately came to my mind is one I have been working on myself in the past semester. During a course at my home school in Vienna, we had a consulting assignment in cooperation with different social enterprises. I got to work with an Austrian family-led grocery store called “ADEG Binder” in a rural area of Lower Austria.

The issue the innovative supermarket tries to solve is the unemployment of certain population groups within the area– in this case, mothers and young people who are not well integrated into society. It aims to make it easier for mothers to combine employment and motherhood by enabling them to for example start work later than the usual opening times of supermarkets to help them take care of their children in the mornings. The supermarket also employs teenagers, while other employers might not agree to work with them.

The family’s main objective in running the grocery store is not to become rich and generate loads of revenue. Their goal is to be able to pay their employees’ salaries and provide for themselves. As long as this works out, they say they achieved their mission. I find it very inspiring that an entrepreneurial family prioritises the well-being of others over their success.

In their progress of trying to grow their business and hence also their impact, they have come up with further innovative ideas, such as integrating a small coffee shop in their stores. The cakes are baked by residents in the local retirement home, who can also sell them and earn pocket money. It shows that the family is constantly trying to further increase their impact by innovating their business activities.