SES Spar European Shopping Centers launched “yip.at”, a customer and retailer platform, at the end of 2020 as a digital initiative to strengthen brick-and-mortar businesses in Austria. More than 4,000 brick-and-mortar business locations are now registered on the digital discovery and inspiration platform and use yip.at as a stage to boost their visibility in their respective areas. Their products and services are presented on the platform, and the free regular webinars that are offered are used to expand their digital expertise. At the end of October, yip.at operator SES awarded the first annual business grant for innovative businesses that have a presence on the platform. A 4-member jury of experts – consisting of representatives from the fields of services, social media, retail property, and Junge Wirtschaft Österreich – as well as the yip.at community, which was able to vote online, awarded three outstanding business ideas – two from Salzburg and one from Upper Austria – with this year’s “yip.at Business Grant”, amounting to a total of 20,000 euros.

The winner, The Neighborhood Café in the city of Salzburg, received a grant of 10,000 euros, having impressed the expert jury with its international, laid-back flair and local offerings. The Salzburg-based start-up Damn Plastic, which is dedicated to the concept of “zero waste”, and Knödelwerkstatt (Dumpling Workshop), a down-to-earth producer located in the Pyhrn-Priel region in Upper Austria that specializes in making dumplings by hand from high-quality, 100-percent regional ingredients, were tied for second place among the trio of winners, with each receiving 5,000 euros in funding.

Inspiring, Sustainable Ideas with a Strong Emphasis on Regionality
The yip.at business grant, which was awarded for the first time this year, recognizes the best business ideas that have been put into practice in Austria, regardless of location, company size, or segment. What matters the most is the successful implementation of a given idea. Every brick-and-mortar retail company registered on yip.at was eligible to submit ideas for the business grant. The independent jury of experts selected ideas that were innovative, uniquely sustainable, and regional. The jury was comprised of experts from the Junge Wirtschaft Österreich as well as from the service, social media, and retail property sectors, including one representative from SES. The yip.at community was also able to vote via social media.

“All of the submitted projects show just how creative the brick-and-mortar sector is in Austria and that there are often businesses in your immediate vicinity that you would never have imagined. The winning concepts are reason enough for us to award the yip.at business grant again next year,” says a delighted Christoph Andexlinger, COO of SES.

Social and Sustainable – the Winning Companies of 2021

The Neighborhood Café, Salzburg-Lehen
A 10,000-euro prize was awarded to the first-place winner, The Neighborhood Café, which is located in Salzburg. The small café opened shortly before the second lockdown in the fall of 2020 and is situated in the heart of a residential area in the Lehen district. Tameez Vayej, who originally hails from Cape Town, South Africa, runs the café with his wife, Yasmin. The name “NEIGHBOURHOOD CAFÈ” says it all: Locals from the surrounding area are regular customers. With fresh products, including vegan options, good coffee, and, on selected days, pizza to go, it has adapted its offering specifically to local residents and their preferences. The fact that English, the owner's native tongue, is the language primarily spoken inside the café does not bother any of the patrons – in fact, it makes the experience all the more authentic. “The Neighborhood Café has allowed us to create a meeting place for the neighborhood, a second home, a place where people want to return to time and time again. Our offer specially caters to this,” says Vayej, whose concept revived a store that had been vacant for several years.

DAMN Plastic, Salzburg
Damn Plastic, a Salzburg-based start-up founded by Victoria Neuhofer and Stephanie Sinko, was awarded 5,000 euros in funding. The two young entrepreneurs have dedicated themselves entirely to the concept of “zero waste”. Their stores offer upcycled products and plastic alternatives – from straws made of pasta, reeds, or straw to care products free of packaging materials. After opening their first store on Münzgasse in Salzburg as well as other stores in Linz and at the GERNGROSS department store on Vienna’s Mariahilferstrasse, DAMN PLASTIC has recently opened its fourth store at EUROPARK Salzburg.

KNÖDELWERKSTATT, Rosenau am Hengstpass, Upper Austria
Knödelwerkstatt, an Upper Austrian company, produces hand-rolled dumplings from top-quality ingredients and was also awarded a 5,000-euro yip.at business grant. The manufacturer sources 100 percent of its raw materials from the region – even the packaging originates from Upper Austria and no plastic is used at all. The dumplings are deep-frozen following in-house production, thereby making them available to retailers and gastronomy operators. From classic to vegetarian, unconventional, or sweet – 20 different varieties ensure the diversity of the dumpling assortment. KNÖDELWERKSTATT founder and experienced chef Werner Dilly is constantly working on new creations with his team.

Additional information on the winning companies can be found at: www.yip.at/blog/yip-at-business-forderung-2021

Awardee Contact:

The Neighborhood Café
General-Keyes-Strasse 24a, 5020 Salzburg
Tel: +43 660 1252818
Email: Tameez.vayej@hotmail.com

Damn Plastic
Münzgasse 2, EG, 5020 Salzburg
Tel: +43 (0) 664 / 826 1379
Email: office@damnplastic.com

Knödelwerkstatt
Dilly Werner
Hauptstraße 12, 4581 Rosenau am Hengstpaß
Tel: +43 (0) 664 / 75 15 36 47
E-mail: office@knoedelwerkstatt.at