Fifty-Five Thousand Nine Hundred PeopleThin moat
Dino Polska (DNP) — moat facet
Dino added six thousand jobs in a year, and payroll is now growing faster than the sales it serves.
Dino is one of Poland's larger private employers, and getting larger quickly.
Headcount was 55,9 thousand at the end of 2025, 12% above the prior year, after creating roughly 30 thousand jobs over five years and 6 thousand in 20251. The company frames this as one of the figures that conveys more meaning than the financial statements do, and in a country where Dino's stores are often the largest employer in a small town, that is not merely rhetoric.
It is also the cost line that has been growing fastest. The cost-by-nature note isolates it exactly: employee benefits were 4 333,6 million złoty in 2025 against 3 575,5 million in 2024 and 2 784,7 million in 2023 — up 21,2%, an increase of 758 million złoty in a single year2, and up 56% in two. Revenue over the same two years grew 31%. Selling and marketing expenses as a whole, overwhelmingly store payroll, rose 19,2% to 5 576,3 million złoty against revenue growth of 14,9%3, and Dino has said it will devote around 700 million złoty in 2026 to pay rises and new jobs.
That is the structural tension in the format. A 400-square-metre store with a served fresh counter is labour-intensive by design, and Polish wage growth has been running well ahead of food price inflation. The staffing model cannot be thinned without damaging the fresh offer that differentiates the shop.
The measure is selling costs as a share of revenue. At 16,6% in 2025 and rising, the labour intensity of the format is currently outpacing its sales density.
Headcount rose 12% and selling costs 19,2% against revenue growth of 14,9%, with roughly 700 million złoty committed to pay rises in 2026. The labour intensity is outpacing the sales density.
Overwhelmingly store payroll, in a format made labour-intensive by its own fresh counter. Stabilising means the new stores have matured; continuing to climb while like-for-like stays near zero takes the operating margin below 5%.
- ReportedHeadcount was 55,9 thousand at the end of 2025, 12% above the prior year, after creating roughly 30 thousand jobs over five years and 6 thousand in 2025.Dino Polska Management Board's Activity Report for 2025 - Section 7, sustainability reporting (55,9 thousand employees at the year end and roughly 30 thousand jobs created over five years, photovoltaic installations on 94% of stores totalling 117 MW, energy consumption and heat recovery) — FY2025 · publ. March 2026 · source ↗
- ReportedThe cost-by-nature note isolates it exactly: employee benefits were 4 333,6 million złoty in 2025 against 3 575,5 million in 2024 and 2 784,7 million in 2023 — up 21,2%, an increase of 758 million złoty in a single year, and up 56% in two.Dino Polska Management Board's Activity Report for 2025 - Section 4,1-4,3, results of operations (sales revenue of 33 634,2m złoty up 14,9%, gross profit and the 23,5% gross margin, the cost lines including employee benefits up 21,2% and depreciation up 23,4%, EBITDA, and like-for-like growth of 4,4%) — FY2025 · publ. March 2026 · source ↗
- ReportedSelling and marketing expenses as a whole, overwhelmingly store payroll, rose 19,2% to 5 576,3 million złoty against revenue growth of 14,9%, and Dino has said it will devote around 700 million złoty in 2026 to pay rises and new jobs.Dino Polska Management Board's Activity Report for 2025 - Section 4,1-4,3, results of operations (sales revenue of 33 634,2m złoty up 14,9%, gross profit and the 23,5% gross margin, the cost lines including employee benefits up 21,2% and depreciation up 23,4%, EBITDA, and like-for-like growth of 4,4%) — FY2025 · publ. March 2026 · source ↗