Q&A: Bringing in Bavaria

Bavaria is typical of a European brewer that is successful in its home market but relatively unheard of in the UK. How do you go about breaking in here?

The first thing is resources, which we have started to address by enlarging the team we have, bringing in someone to look specifically at the on-trade. The second thing is distribution - at first in the take-home market. If people in the on-trade see that, then we have much more appeal to pubs.

We're targeting pubs with the bottled product initially. We've been taken on by Mitchells & Butlers and Pitcher & Piano. The other way we will do it is to look at regional brewers. As a family business, Bavaria has a link with other family businesses, and they may understand us better.

We will look at draught later. It is expensive to bring the beer over in kegs because it's coming all the way from Holland. We may look at a partnership with the regional brewers for them to keg it in the UK after we bring it over in tanks.

By doing this we will grow dramatically, because it's from a low base. We can only grow.

How does Bavaria's advertising approach translate from Holland to the UK?​

The 'Real Men' campaign, in which modern day man tasks such as having your hair done are dumped in favour of having a Bavaria in the pub with mates, launched in October last year. The slogan was changed from the Dutch "beer with guts for men with guts" to "beer with guts for men with bottle". We'll stick with that for two or three years.

We are sponsoring the Manx TT racing, during which Bavaria will be available on draught and bottles from selected outlets, and the World Darts Champions Tour of the UK.

Alcohol-free lager has typically struggled in the UK, yet Bavaria has high hopes for exports of its alcohol-free lager, Malt. Why?​

I'm excited about Malt. This will be launched in the UK in September in time for Christmas. Non-alcoholic beer is not represented well in the on-trade, so we think there is a big opportunity to be exploited.

Most brewers producing it remove the alcohol at the end of the brewing process. Bavaria's doesn't use alcohol at all. We feel that people have always wanted a quality non-alcoholic beer but it hasn't been there. Now it will be.

Premium lager - brands higher in alcohol - seem to be encountering more trouble than standard lager lately. Why is this?​

The category as a whole is levelling out. Beers with around a four per cent ABV are now in growth because they're seen as more refreshing. That's what makes us think our 4.3 per cent beer Crown is the one to go with. It has already found massive success in the on-trade in Ireland. We distributed 40,000 barrels last year, from nothing two years ago.

There is a definite move away from stronger lagers. A lot of people question whether this is because of Stella being in decline, but I don't think it is. It's a general trend.

What effect will the forthcoming smoking ban have on lager?​

The smoking ban will damage businesses for that first 18 months but then people who had previously been driven away will come back.

Pubs will have to do something different to bring people back though - and that could well be niche lagers. A lot of those people who had been driven away are those who are more choosey and more affluent. If they like something, they are happy to pay for it.

CV:

2002-2006 - Oversees volume growth of 208 per cent on Bavaria Premium​

2000 - Promoted to sales and marketing director​

1998 - Joined Bavaria as national sales manager​

1985-1997 - National sales manager, Whitbread; national account manager, Whitbread​