IKEA launches FREE tasty treats for shoppers: 'How does nobody know about this, it's huge!'
To celebrate 50 years in Australia, IKEA is serving the pies free to customers in all 10 stores nationwide this Saturday, 31 May.
The special creation is available to all IKEA Family members, and those who aren't can sign up for free online or through the IKEA app.
The Meatball Party Pie is a nostalgic mash-up of cultures, featuring the traditional IKEA Swedish meatball and gravy inside golden flaky pastry, topped with a dollop of Swedish lingonberry jam.
For plant-based foodies, IKEA has also created a version using its popular plant balls.
Alongside the party pies, the store is also slashing hot dog prices to just 50 cents on Saturday 31 May and Sunday 1 June.
It's all part of a four-day birthday celebration running from Friday 30 May to Monday 2 June, which also includes giveaways, limited-edition launches, and 50% off the iconic POÄNG armchair for IKEA Family members.
Since arriving in 1975, IKEA has become a staple of Australian life, not just for flat-packed furniture, but for its unique in-store food experience.
Whether it's a cinnamon bun mid-shop, a quick bite at the Swedish Restaurant, or a hot dog on the way out, food has become part of the ritual.
In fact, over half of Aussies have eaten at IKEA, with the meatballs selling more than 3million plates in Australia last year alone.
'Australians have embraced our food as much as our high quality, affordable home furnishings in the last 50 years,' said Tim Prevade, IKEA Australia's Country Food Manager.
'The Meatball Party Pie is a fun, flavour-packed way to celebrate that. We've taken the comfort of a classic Aussie party pie and combined it with the unmistakeable flavour of our iconic Swedish meatballs - creating something unexpected and nostalgic, with a unique twinkle-in-the-eye that can only be IKEA.'
The pies were developed in partnership with Loftus Pies, a long-time local IKEA supplier based in Sydney's Sutherland Shire.
'We were so excited when IKEA Australia first approached us with this idea,' said John Tsoutsas, Chief Pie Officer at Loftus Pies.
'Australians are very particular about their pies, but we can't wait for people to taste them. We're convinced customers are going to want them on the menu, even after the party is over.'
For millions of Australians, IKEA is more than just a place to buy shelves - it's a place to eat, explore, and share a moment with family or friends.
And now, it's serving up a pie that's as cheeky, comforting and unmistakably Aussie as the shoppers it thanks.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
IIt's time Australia ditched the ‘winners and losers' mentality and built an economy that's best for us all
As pens and notepads were being laid out for start of the much-touted economic roundtable on Monday, the chair of the Productivity Commission, Danielle Wood, made a number of dark observations in an address to the National Press Club. People in their 30s today, Wood told us, are the first generation to be worse off than those born in the previous decade in terms of earnings, housing affordability, budget burden and climate impacts. Her comments laid bare how important reform of so many aspects of the economy and regulation are if this situation is to change. The flipside of the situation facing millennials is the largesse that has been laid out for the boomers, such as tax breaks on housing and superannuation that benefit those with already substantial resources, but add to the tax burden of lower-income households who can't get their foot in even one door. Quite obviously, not every boomer in Australia is sitting back with multiple investment properties and a multimillion dollar super balance. But boomers were three times more likely to own their own home in their 30s than their counterparts today are. And so, while millennials cry out for change, boomers resist even reasonable adaptation such as the removal of tax exemptions on super balances over $3m or phasing out negative gearing. And it's not just millennials v boomers. Before seats had been taken at the roundtable, business and unions were firing off at each other over issues such as working from home, work week length and AI adoption. Then add to all that the intense bipartisanship we now see in politics and it's a wonder anyone sat down together at all. And this is the rub. When it comes to policy decisions, too many are too quick to focus on what's in it for them instead of what is best for society as a whole. So, if we make housing more affordable for younger generations, those who are already on the housing merry-go-round cry 'unfair'. Increased density proposals are met with cries of 'Not in my back yard!' If we set much-needed strong climate targets to contribute to reducing the horror show of unnatural disasters that have already become much more frequent, and encouraging investment in green industries, then a narrow segment of vested interests (mainly fossil fuel polluters) focus only on the jobs that will be lost. They conveniently ignore the many more green jobs that will be created, not to mention the vast costs from failure to act imposed on individuals, the economy and the budget bottom line each time these exacerbated disasters unfold. We cannot deny that some policies, even as they contribute to national wellbeing overall, come with a cost to specific sectors or regions or even individuals. The go-to book in Canberra at the moment is Abundance, written by two American journalists, and described by the treasurer as 'a ripper'. Much of the book is devoted to the costs associated with trying to keep everybody happy, but ultimately only delivering increased regulation that leaves us all worse off. And the Abundance authors are perhaps right in saying we have moved too far in the direction of trying to prevent every possible loss at the expense of collective societal gain. (The authors are also silent on the deliberate spread of disinformation around supposed harms which also create barriers to progress. Think of the nonsense around whales and windfarms). Much like the Abundance authors, Danielle Wood says: 'Ministers should always weigh up the impacts of new policies on economic growth and productivity.' This is true, particularly when it comes to 'regulatory burden'. (As an aside, it's worth noting that for all the hype about 'red tape' – and there certainly are complex and duplicative processes facing business – Australia rates very highly by international standards in terms of regulatory quality. On one measure at least, we are second only to Singapore). But I'm not entirely convinced that a 'growth mindset', to use another current Canberra buzz phrase, doesn't risk throwing the baby out with the bathwater. If we only look at policy from the overarching perspective of growth and productivity, as important as these are, then we overlook other important considerations and by doing so add fuel to the 'us and them' fire. And that makes building a widespread consensus of support extremely difficult. The most critical of these considerations is distributional impacts. Inevitably, big policy reforms will rarely deliver a 'win' for everyone. But instead of pretending this is not the case, governments should be upfront both around the challenges and how they intend to address the impacts on those who may be disproportionately disadvantaged and unable to adjust without support. For example, when we introduced a carbon price scheme in Australia in 2012, widespread compensation was designed for trade-exposed industries and low-income households. When the costly support for the domestic car industry was finally removed, state and federal governments brought in a raft of programs to support workers and businesses in the supply chain. Such solutions may not be perfect but without them we are doomed to be stuck in an economy and society that delivers worse results for successive generations. Surely, we have had enough of that. The two defining crises of Australia today, I believe, are housing affordability and climate change. Required policies on both fronts involve trade-offs for some individuals, while delivering overall benefits to society. Let's stop the 'us and them', 'winners and losers' mentality and focus on planning for solutions such as density done well, credible biodiversity management schemes and regional economic development. Instead of placing barriers to reforms with a narrow, vested-interest mindset, I hope those at the roundtable discussions this week will focus on what is best for all of us. And, if it helps, keep the situation facing today's 30 year-olds in sharp focus and let that not be your legacy. Nicki Hutley is an independent economist and councillor with the Climate Council
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
How do we decide if a tax is good or bad? And which ones are ‘damaging' Australia's economy?
How do we judge whether one tax is better than another? That question will lie at the heart of the tax reform agenda at the economic reform roundtable on Thursday. Four principles have guided tax reform over the decades: efficiency, equity, simplicity and sustainability (or revenue adequacy). All are important. But with productivity growth the name of the game, let's focus on the first: efficiency. Stephen Bartos, a professor of economics at the University of Canberra and a former deputy secretary at the Department of Finance, says taxes inevitably affect behaviour – but 'some taxes are a lot better for the economy than others'. When it comes to efficiency, a core concept is to design a tax system as simple as possible to not discourage productive activities such as work and investing. Chris Murphy, an honorary senior lecturer at the Australian National University, has for decades been a central figure in modelling the impact of tax reform, including the introduction of the GST and the landmark Henry tax review. Murphy has updated his estimates of various taxes' 'marginal excess burden' – the additional economic cost of a tax beyond the revenue raised. His modelling suggests raising the rate of the GST imposes an additional 30c cost to the economy for every dollar raised. Broadening it, he says, comes with a marginal excess burden of 13c. That makes the GST more efficient than personal income taxes (a 48c loss of economic welfare for every $1 of revenue raised) and company taxes (65c). Sign up: AU Breaking News email Speaking at the National Press Club this week, Danielle Wood, the chair of the Productivity Commission, explained that 'generally, anything that switches out higher cost, higher economic-drag taxes for lower cost, more efficient taxes will give you a productivity dividend'. 'Equally, anything that broadens the base of a tax, which winds back concessions but then reduces the rate, will give you an economic kicker.' Four of the five least efficient taxes are at state and territory level. This makes it difficult to coordinate shifts away from more damaging but highly lucrative taxes. The 'worst' taxes on Murphy's measure are the land tax on investment properties (92c of economic damage for every $1 in revenue raised), followed by stamp duties on the purchase of homes (74c) and taxes on insurance (69c). Wood said it was 'very clear' from modelling that 'stamp duties stand out as kind of exceptionally economically damaging taxes'. When experts talk about switching from inefficient stamp duties to a land tax, they are talking about a broad land tax that applies to all homeowners. Murphy says a broad land tax is equivalent to municipal rates – which, as the analysis shows, is a very efficient tax (a 4c offset in extra economic welfare per dollar of revenue raised). Efforts to transition to a more stable and less distortionary land tax have proved a step too far for even the most willing of state leaders. That's why any commonwealth-led discussion on tax reform has to include the states and territories, Bartos says. 'The only way to get the states on side is if you compensate them,' he says. 'Probably the only way to do that is to increase the GST rate or broaden its base' to include excluded items such as fresh food, education and health services. 'Broadening the GST would have the added benefit of simplifying the system.' Luke Yeaman, the Commonwealth Bank's chief economist and a former Treasury deputy secretary, says there is theoretically a strong case for using increased GST revenue to pay for income tax relief – a switch that has wide support among many experts. But cash-strapped states were unlikely to want to make this deal with the commonwealth. 'If you want lower income taxes, you'd have to do some other broader deal with the states, for example, around health funding or education funding, where you agree to provide less on the health and education side, and they claim the extra GST revenue,' he says. 'I think that proves very difficult at the moment in a world where the states are cash-constrained.' Yeaman agrees there could, however, be scope to use any increase in GST revenue to pay for states to get rid of inefficient taxes such as stamp duties. While state-level mining royalties schemes are lucrative for governments such as Queensland, Murphy's analysis shows they are much more inefficient than federal mining 'rent' taxes, which target excess profits. The petroleum resource rent tax, for example, has an offsetting 8c for the economy for every dollar raised. That's in part because foreign owners of the gas companies pay the tax, Murphy says. Bartos explains that 'the problem with royalties is basically you are taxing production, and so that acts as a direct disincentive'. 'A rent tax taxes super profits over and above normal profits, and in that sense they don't distort production at all. That makes them a much better form of tax.' Bartos' high level verdict on Australia's broad tax settings echoes the expert consensus: 'Australia's tax system is weighted too heavily to taxing income and not wealth. 'That encourages people to salt away wealth in unproductive things.' Labor is already chipping away at overly generous tax concessions for Australians with more than $3m in superannuation. But it has balked, at least so far, at suggestions for trimming tax breaks for residential property investors, which also overwhelmingly favour the rich. 'Sadly, the least likely to be on the agenda is inheritance taxes,' Bartos says. 'That doesn't distort behaviour – people are not going to put off dying because they have to pay tax. 'And it actually is a very efficient tax to levy and Australia is really unusual to be one of the few countries to not have some form of inheritance tax. It is very much a political no-no in Australia.' Patrick Commins is Guardian Australia's economics editor
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
From Bondi to Barangaroo: Inside Sydney's hottest celebrity haunts where the A-list eat, party and pose
When it comes to celebrity sightings in Australia, nowhere compares to Sydney. From beachfront bistros to subterranean steakhouses, the Harbour City has become a magnet for A-listers, influencers and reality stars. Whether it's Margot Robbie sipping cocktails in Rose Bay, or Rita Ora indulging in a long lunch in Coogee, these venues have become the city's ultimate celebrity magnets. Daily Mail can reveal the most star-studded hotspots in Sydney right now - and exactly who's been spotted at them. Totti's (Bondi, Rozelle, CBD) There are few restaurants with as many celebrity sightings as Mike Eggert's cult-favourite Totti's. Chris Hemsworth, Matt Damon and Taron Egerton have all been snapped indulging in flatbread and burrata at the Bondi location, while Martha Stewart recently declared her love for the venue. Married At First Sight alumni Lauren Dunn and Evelyn Ellis are regulars. Daniel Ricciardo and Justin Hemmes were also recently spotted. Meanwhile, Nathan Cleary and girlfriend Mary Fowler were spotted at the Balmain location. Bar 26, Lilyfield Sydney's newest hidden gem has quietly entered the scene - and insiders are already calling it the city's next big thing. Located within the Otter Craft Distilling site in Lilyfield, Bar 26 is a New York-style speakeasy bar and cellar door founded by brother-sister duo Eduard and Julie Otter. It's become a cult hit with craft spirit lovers and discerning cocktail fans. With handcrafted OCD whiskies, vodkas and the cult-favourite Mary St Gin, the venue is also home to a tightly curated cocktail list overseen by award-winning mixologist Flynn McLennan. Bar 26 is already drawing a stylish inner-west crowd and influencers have been flocking to its moody interiors for content. The house-smoked brisket, wood-fired pizzas and $12 Bloody Mary Saturdays are fast becoming legend. Lyf Hotel, Bondi Junction Bondi's newest hotel has fast become a go-to hangout for reality TV stars and young influencers. Located just minutes from both the beach and the CBD, Lyf Bondi Junction is a stylish, social-living hotel aimed at digital nomads, creatives and trend-savvy travellers. Recently, Married At First Sight's Eliot Donovan, Tayla Winter, Ellie Dix and Jono, as well as Love Triangle's Alan Wallace, were all spotted checking in. The hotel features a sleek design, communal kitchen, co-working areas and in-house events that attract a fashionable crowd - making it the perfect home base for Sydney's most social stars. Mimi's at Coogee Pavilion This Merivale venue screams luxury - and so does its guest list. Margot Robbie launched her Papa Salt gin here, while Kourtney Kardashian and her entourage were spotted dining during her 2024 visit. Zac Efron, Rita Ora, Delta Goodrem and Nadia Bartel have all dined here, and during the Logies, the upstairs room is a go-to for power lunches and post-awards debriefs. Pelicano, Double Bay A long-standing favourite among Sydney's Eastern Suburbs party set, Pelicano continues to pull in a who's who of socialites, fashion types and reality TV royalty. From Love Island stars to MAFS grooms, the upstairs booths and cobblestone courtyard remain some of the most photographed spaces in Sydney nightlife. It's where deals are whispered, flirtations start, and late-night stories are made. Saint Peter, Paddington Josh Niland's innovative seafood restaurant has earned a global following, with Margot Robbie, Nigella Lawson and Liam Hemsworth among the elite who've dined at the now-expanded venue inside the Grand National Hotel. It's small, discreet and attracts a polished foodie crowd. The Gidley, Sydney CBD Tucked beneath Elizabeth Street, this moody steakhouse has hosted some of the biggest names in the music industry. Drake dined here during a whirlwind Sydney trip, while The Kid LAROI was seen enjoying a late-night burger. The venue is favoured for its privacy, velvet booths and no-phones policy, making it a haven for stars who want to go unnoticed. Bistecca, Bridge Street Another underground favourite, this Italian steakhouse is a celeb go-to thanks to its moody interiors and cult following. Patrick Schwarzenegger popped in during White Lotus promo duties, and Irish muso James Vincent McMorrow was spotted at the bar. It's also become a hotspot for stylists and publicists entertaining international talent. Taylor Swift fans will never forget the moment she dined here with Sabrina Carpenter during her sold-out Eras Tour in 2024 Pellegrino 2000, Surry Hills Taylor Swift fans will never forget the moment she dined here with Sabrina Carpenter during her sold-out Eras Tour in 2024. Even before that, the chic trattoria had become a go-to for Melissa Leong, Sam Armytage, Abbie Chatfield and Sylvia Jeffreys. You'll need to join the waitlist - or know someone - to get in. Bellevue, Woolloomooloo Fast becoming the unofficial lunch spot for media insiders and rising reality stars, Bellevue in Woolloomooloo serves up classic bistro fare with harbour views. It's been quietly gaining traction with the likes of radio execs, TV producers and social media personalities ducking in for midweek catch-ups or Sunday brunches. The sleek-yet-casual setting makes it ideal for those who want to see and be seen – without the chaos of the beachside buzz. Park Hyatt Sydney, The Rocks When it comes to A-list stays, the Park Hyatt still reigns supreme. Renée Zellweger, Lady Gaga, Elton John, Nicole Kidman, Jerry Seinfeld, Jennifer Coolidge and Bette Midler have all checked in. During the Eras Tour, Taylor Swift's team took over an entire floor, and the Governor Suite has reportedly hosted private interviews with Hugh Jackman and Chris Hemsworth. When it comes to A-list stays, the Park Hyatt still reigns supreme. Renée Zellweger, Lady Gaga, Elton John, Nicole Kidman, Jerry Seinfeld and Jennifer Coolidge have all checked in Crown Sydney, Barangaroo With its $38,000-per-night suites and private rooftop pool, it's no surprise Crown Sydney is the new go-to for VIP guests. Taylor Swift, Matt Damon, Ariana Grande, JoJo Siwa and Chris Hemsworth have all stayed here. Tim Robards and Anna Heinrich were also seen relaxing poolside following a major fashion event. W Sydney, Darling Harbour Since opening its doors in late 2024, W Sydney has quickly risen to elite status. Its star-studded launch drew Candice and David Warner, Bella Varelis, Sarah Ellen, Larry Emdur and Scott Tweedie.
