Photo by Tobias Skiba
This article originally appeared on VICE Germany"Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction," German philosopher Erich Fromm famously said. A German supermarket manager has now taken it upon himself to try to satisfy one particular need his customers have – their hunger for hazelnut cocoa spread.As of last Saturday, Tobias Skiba, who runs an Edeka supermarket branch in the town of Neukirchen-Vluyn, near Dusseldorf, doesn't just carry the usual jars of Nutella in his shop, but also gigantic buckets of three kilos each. They go for €29.99 [£26.50] a piece.Since I'm assuming that anyone running a Nutella stand won't need a supermarket for their supply, I rang up Tobias Skiba to try to find out what ungodly use his customers have for it.VICE: That is a lot of Nutella to buy all at once. Why did you decide to add them to your inventory?
Tobias Skiba: Some of our regular customers asked if there were any bigger jars of the stuff available. So I put the question to our suppliers, and they could offer this particular size.How has the response from your customers been so far?
It's been very well received – the first 50 buckets sold out quickly and I have about half of the second supply of 150 buckets left. There's another delivery on the way.Who needs three kilos of Nutella for private use?
Well, one customer actually bought four buckets – he was throwing a party and planned to put those 12 kilos on crêpes for his guests. But it's everyone and anyone, really, as long as they’re able to get to us. Yesterday we had someone from Belgium in who bought two – and an additional 24 normal jars for his family. A couple from Essen took a taxi and then a bus to get here, because they don't have a car. We’ve also had online inquiries from Finland and Australia. We’re working on figuring out how we can ship them.
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Isn't this just a PR stunt, though?
In a way, yes, and we've had coverage from an Austrian radio station and from German broadcasting station Sat.1. But I never anticipated the demand for these buckets, from people all over Europe. The response has been overwhelming, which is why we've added them to our permanent inventory.What would you do if you had 50 of these all to yourself?
Although I like Nutella, I wouldn’t be able to handle even one. I think I'd invite the Germany national football team over to have a go at the supply. [The team have appeared in a bunch of ads for the brand.]Is there anything you'd rather buy in a much bigger size?
Well, if I did end up eating three kilos of Nutella, I'd probably need a pair of oversized trousers.
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Tobias Skiba: Some of our regular customers asked if there were any bigger jars of the stuff available. So I put the question to our suppliers, and they could offer this particular size.How has the response from your customers been so far?
It's been very well received – the first 50 buckets sold out quickly and I have about half of the second supply of 150 buckets left. There's another delivery on the way.Who needs three kilos of Nutella for private use?
Well, one customer actually bought four buckets – he was throwing a party and planned to put those 12 kilos on crêpes for his guests. But it's everyone and anyone, really, as long as they’re able to get to us. Yesterday we had someone from Belgium in who bought two – and an additional 24 normal jars for his family. A couple from Essen took a taxi and then a bus to get here, because they don't have a car. We’ve also had online inquiries from Finland and Australia. We’re working on figuring out how we can ship them.
Watch: Making Cannabis Infused Chocolate Footballs
Isn't this just a PR stunt, though?
In a way, yes, and we've had coverage from an Austrian radio station and from German broadcasting station Sat.1. But I never anticipated the demand for these buckets, from people all over Europe. The response has been overwhelming, which is why we've added them to our permanent inventory.What would you do if you had 50 of these all to yourself?
Although I like Nutella, I wouldn’t be able to handle even one. I think I'd invite the Germany national football team over to have a go at the supply. [The team have appeared in a bunch of ads for the brand.]Is there anything you'd rather buy in a much bigger size?
Well, if I did end up eating three kilos of Nutella, I'd probably need a pair of oversized trousers.