In Austria there is no legal obligation to provide the origin of the products used in the catering trade. Few companies voluntarily set this measure. Now with the Welser Furniture Chain XXXLUTZ, a large company is currently pressing: the group, which operates 47 restaurants across Austria and is therefore one of the largest providers, will mark the origin of the products used from May 15. The menus in the restaurants are provided with a QR code, interested customers can scan them with the smartphone and are forwarded to a website where information is provided with the origin of the products.
“The step does not mean that our products come 100 percent from Austria at the moment. It is about transparency. The customer should know what he eats and have freedom of choice,” says Andreas Haderer, managing director of XXXLutz gastronomy. For many guests, the origin is already an issue that they would consciously ask. 60,000 guests are hosted at XXXLutz every day, 9000 breakfasts are daily. Gastro has been offered at Lutz since 1996, since then the range has been continuously expanded or changed: all pork has been from Austria since 2015, and this has also been valid for Hendlfleisch since 2023. Butter, milk and eggs have been purely from Austrian origin since 2019, and animal welfare products have been around since 2021. For this purpose, for example, the Schwanenstadt slaughterhouse Hütthaler is used, which, in addition to XXXLutz, also supplies the food discover Hofer with its animal welfare products (twice as much space as legally intended, exercise, employment material for animals, etc.). According to Hütthaler Managing Director Florian Hütthaler, 36 production companies are currently being cooperated, the interest of farmers is great: more than 100 are on the waiting list. “But it also needs sufficient sales and the demand from customers.”
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Image: APA/Harald Schneider
Source: Nachrichten
