Supermarket chains in Germany are looking for thousands of new employees for the counters where meat, delicatessen or cheese are sold. Currently, there are about 4.600 vacancies on the employment site for "Edeka", while "Rev" has more than 3.400, reports the DPA agency.

"Above all, there is a desperate need for butchers and vendors specializing in meat products," said CEO of the German Food Trade Association (BVLH), Philipp Hennerkes.

The need for this staff has been growing for years. Supermarkets differ from discounters precisely because of their butchers and delicatessens, Hennerx noted. "Edeka" rejected the information that they will abolish the counters for fresh meat.

"No one at Edeka wants to close the service desks," said Carsten Pabst, CEO of Edeka Hiber, the chain's southwestern German branch. On the contrary, we are trying to expand those counters, Pabst added. But Edeka Hiber also lacks workers, so it recruits apprentices, especially for butchers, not only from Germany, but also from India, for example. In some places, Edeka has a mixed service, where the meat is also offered for self-service, Lebensmittel Zeitung reported.

So-called hybrid desks sometimes operate without staff. BVLH confirms that the number of such mixed forms is increasing. Stadler und Hocher, part of Edeka from Bavaria, is also turning to self-service. It's getting harder and harder for us to fill the counters," said director Daniel Honer (Honer). In a store in Munich, the meat, deli and cheese counter has been reduced from 24 to 7,5 meters, writes DPA.