Urbanisation and deaths of farms? Not with us! SONNENTOR successfully puts its trusts into regional, value-added products.
Urbanisation, closures of companies and farms - unfortunately a well-known scenario in the Waldviertel. Anyone who founds a new company here surely hasn’t done well at business studies, right? No! Rather top grades at biology!
With the distribution of herbs and spices, SONNENTOR has created numerous jobs in recent years. It all began 30 years ago, when Johannes Gutmann convinced three farming families to grow organic herbs and spices for SONNENTOR. A perspective that was in line with the farmer’s ethics and at the same time ensured their livelihood. Today, over 200 organic farmers grow producer for SONNENTOR in Austria. The secret of our success? A large part of the processing happens directly on the farm, such as drying and packaging of the raw materials. This allows farmers to ask higher prices for their products and, consequently, live well. And the communities benefit from the small-scale farm shops that many farmers run on their farms.
Our employees have a (work) place in the sun.
Many hard-working people also find work at our headquarters in Sprögnitz. Through the unswerving use of manual work in the packaging of our products, numerous regional jobs are created every year. People who are not able to do regular work can become freelance service providers and supplement their income depending on their availability. Some of our employees have even turned their backs on the city and moved back to their homeland. To attract the best minds to join us in our workplace in the Waldviertel, we come up with special ideas. An appreciative way of interaction with each other is important to us, but our commitment goes much further. Since man does not live from bread alone, our employees enjoy daily cooked lunches. They are prepared on site in the SONNENTOR kitchen and are organic, fresh and free of charge and organic fruit and teas are on offer throughout the day. In addition to our physical well-being, we also look after employee’s offspring. In the company's child care center, little sunshine, children can grow and thrive with nature. Today, more than 300 employees belong to the SONNENTOR family in Austria.
We support our Region.
Therefore, we also focus on regional and sustainable suppliers for our building materials and stationery. Approximately 90% of our office furniture and shop fit outs are supplied by regional craftsmen. The same applies to the construction of new buildings - and there are always projects in progress at SONNENTOR. In 2014/15, we invested a total of € 7.5 million in the "Über-Drüber" storage and production hall - money that went to companies in our region. The SONNENTOR experience also adds value to the area. We attract up to 40,000 guests a year to the Kräuterdorf Sprögnitz (Herb Village Sprögnitz). Many of them like to stay for a while here in the Waldviertel and visit other companies. As a result, jobs are secured beyond our company boundaries and regions with weak infrastructures, such as the Waldviertel, are strengthened.
Regionality and creating value and jobs go hand in hand and we enjoy setting a good example. Why not give it a go, too?
