Staud's
10/2025: From the ‘little market stall’ to the world: high-quality, sustainably produced specialities from Staud’s Vienna have long been renowned far beyond Austria’s borders – even reaching hotels in New York and Japanese delicatessen shops. For decades, these products have been supplied to customers in Vetropack’s distinctive octagonal glass jars – and the packaging has also undergone continuous development over the years.
The success of the Staud’s Vienna brand is inseparably linked to the name of its founder, Hans Staud. As a young business graduate, he founded his company in 1971 and – from day one – pursued his own quite unconventional path. Even in those early days, he accorded special priority to quality, sustainability, and social inclusion. Hans Staud learned Serbo-Croatian to make it easier for guest workers from the former Yugoslavia to become integrated. For his entrepreneurial achievements, he was awarded numerous honours including the Integration Prize, the Golden Medal of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria, and the Goldener Rathausmann, a special prize bestowed by the City of Vienna. As soon as Hans Staud graduated from the University for World Trade, he began to focus on exports and was present at trade fairs such as the Fancy Food Show in Los Angeles. Staud famously appeared at the Anuga food fair in Cologne, when he played a Bösendorfer piano in a duet with the well-known Viennese violinist Barbara Helfgott. He was also a pioneer in technology: he replaced the open kettle used in jam production with a vacuum kettle, which he had custom-made by a Viennese medical device manufacturer. This made it possible to reduce the temperature for the preparation from 100°C to a more moderate 80°C. Today, Staud’s Vienna is a classic SME with 50 employees and an export quota of around 30 percent.
Continuously combining tradition, innovation and sustainability
‘People in Vienna mainly know us from the Pavillon,’ says Stefan Schauer, who has been with Staud’s since 1991 and has led the company as Managing Director since 2015. The shop on Brunnenmarkt in Vienna’s Ottakring district traces its origins to a market stall that began selling fruit and vegetables back in 1883, when Emperor Franz Joseph still reigned over the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The entire Staud’s Vienna product range is available here – an array of over 230 sweet and exquisitely tart products, plus specialities from selected partner companies. ‘Long-term partnerships based on respect are the order of the day for us – especially with our agricultural producers. What matters is maintaining and encouraging consumers’ appreciation of good food. These days, people spend an average of less than 10 percent of their income on food – but a few years ago, the figure was still around 14 to 15 percent,’ Schauer continues.
Another example of true continuity at Staud’s is the company’s partnership with Vetropack. The glass packaging manufacturer, which has two sites in Austria, is the sole supplier of around 6 million containers to Staud’s each year. These mainly comprise the familiar octagonal glass jars, which come in eight different sizes. The inspiration for this design came from a cocktail bar where Hans Staud was served drinks in an elegant octagonal glass. Vetropack successfully put this idea into practice and has been producing exclusively for Staud’s ever since. The packaging has experienced constant development since the iconic jar with the black closure was introduced at the end of the 1980s.
«From the outset, we believed in using glass as a packaging material so as to underscore our commitment to sustainability. It is 100 percent recyclable, protects the valuable contents perfectly, and makes them visible in an attractive way.»
Elisabeth Eckmayr, Product Manager at Vetropack, has been looking after Staud’s as a customer for over 20 years. This is another of the Viennese company’s long-standing relationships, anchored in mutual appreciation and continuity. She comments: ‘The jars for Staud’s – a total of 16 different products – are constantly being modernised in terms of design and weight optimisation. Just recently, for instance, the weight of one of the octagonal jars was reduced by eight percent when the mould was reordered. We achieved this adaptation by taking various steps, such as optimising the positioning of the label surface.’ Every gram of glass saved reduces CO2 emissions across the entire supply chain, which helps to enhance sustainability – an issue that has been very important to Staud’s from the earliest days, as Schauer points out: ‘We try to source as much as possible from our own region – that applies to the ingredients, of course, but just as much to our packaging. Vetropack is the ideal partner for us, and we have great confidence in them when it comes to sustainability as well as innovation. And we’re delighted to have such a professional and flexible partner as Vetropack: a partner who also supports our initiatives and goes along with our spontaneous ideas. Timing and coordination are excellent, and there’s been truly enormous growth in our personal collaboration over the years.’
Fresh ideas – from content and marketing through to packaging
To mark the 50th anniversary of Staud’s Vienna in 2021, the company launched its ‘Oma Staud’ (‘Granny Staud’) product range, featuring traditional jam recipes – with 14 different varieties at the latest count. The motto for these products sums up their essence: ‘Varieties like in the old days. For people of today!’ One key feature of the range: a classic round jar from Vetropack that perfectly showcases these ‘new-old’ recipes. Staud’s is constantly coming up with fresh ideas. One example is organic honey, produced with meticulous care since 2019.
Another is a product line titled ‘Die Avantgarde der Marmelade’ (‘The Avant-Garde of Jam’), sweetened exclusively with the sweetness of apples – and featuring short poems on the labels (since 2025). For when it comes to marketing, too, Staud’s Vienna likes to take a novel approach: quotes and characters from the works of Austrian comic playwright Johann Nestroy have already appeared on labels and, in collaboration with the Vienna Tourist Board, the city’s sights have been featured on closures. In these ways, the packaging always conveys a little taste of Viennese lifestyle, making it an international ambassador of enjoyment and culture.
The Staud’s Advent Calendar
The Staud’s Advent Calendar is also nothing short of an institution: 24 jars each containing selected products in portions of 37 grams are sure to bring extra good cheer in the run-up to Christmas. Planning for the calendar, in collaboration with Vetropack, starts each year in spring. This collector’s item is also available online but sells out quickly, and some of the proceeds from its sales go to charitable organisations. Last year’s creative upcycling idea? Turn the Advent Calendar into a unique floor lamp! We can’t wait to see what amazing ideas Staud’s Vienna has in store for us in the future!
