As a pioneer in the industry, PENNY introduced the Naturgut organic heroes in 2016. The approximately 2,200 stores across Germany market organic fruit and vegetables that have visual flaws but are in no way inferior in quality to their flawless counterparts. Since its introduction, volumes and revenues have developed positively. The number of organic heroes has risen from the original 13 to up to 37, depending on the season and harvest, with a jump in sales of over 27 per cent in the past year alone, significantly outperforming fruit and vegetable sales at PENNY stores. The Naturgut organic heroes' share of PENNY's total fruit and vegetable sales thus rose to twelve per cent.

"We are seeing in our stores that more and more customers are buying our Naturgut organic heroes, showing that for them, appearance does not equal quality. We will therefore continue to expand our range of organic heroes. This will benefit the environment and producers alike. You can market more products as direct food and the sorting effort is reduced. In addition, we have already permanently switched to plastic-free packaging for Naturgut Bio-Helden in 2020, or unpacked it where possible. All under the condition that we do not promote the destruction of food. We use more environmentally friendly alternatives such as cardboard and paper packaging, cellulose nets or banderoles and stickers," says Patricia Hirsch, PENNY Head of Ultrafresh - Fruit, Vegetables, Flowers, Plants.