ALDI spent over €43m. with Mayo food and drink producers last year

ALDI Ireland has announced details of its continued significant contribution to Mayo’s economy and the impact of its charity partnerships across the county.

In its annual economic impact report published today, the company said it paid more than €3 million in wages and salaries and opened a new store in Ballina last year.

In 2022, ALDI sourced over €43 million of locally produced food and drink from Mayo based suppliers. ALDI partners with four local Mayo producers, including key relationships with O’Hara's of Foxford and Carr & Sons Seafood.

Last year, the company 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 five stores in Mayo, ALDI employs 104 full-time staff in the county. All available job opportunities in Mayo can be found on the ALDI Recruitment website.

Stores support multiple charities across Mayo at a local level. Each store is part of ALDI’s food waste reduction programme, with Mayo stores having donated over 39,000 meals through FoodCloud to local charities.

Each store is also part of ALDI’s Community Grants network with North Mayo Horse Sanctuary and Mayo Addiction and Suicide Awareness just some of the local charities that availed of the €500 bursary grant in 2022.

A total of 20 local jobs were created at the new Ballina store in 2022. This new store opening was the first step in ALDI’s dedicated west of Ireland expansion programme which will see the company invest over €63 million and create 140 new full-time jobs and 350 construction jobs across Connaught over the next two years.

In addition to donating to local charities, ALDI also supports local communities through its tree planting initiative, with a commitment to planting one million native Irish woodland trees across Ireland by 2025. To date, ALDI has planted almost 57,000 trees across Mayo.

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.

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 Mayo.

“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 €43 million sourcing locally produced food and drink from Mayo suppliers in 2022, while also investing over €43 million in the county since opening our first Mayo store in Claremorris in 2007.”