Telling the whole story on beer

With more than six months experience of using the i-draught system, the Sell More Save More licensees working with Brulines are seeing real operational and financial benefits.

Increasing revenue and reducing cost has been the focus for all the pubs taking part in the Sell More Save More project: rural pubs the Rose & Crown in Perry Wood, Kent and the Cross Keys in Henley, Suffolk, and community pubs the Priory Arms in Stockwell, South London and the Guide Dog in Southampton.

The pubs which have seen the i-draught system installed by Brulines have now been receiving detailed insight into their beer sales and the factors that impact on them for almost a year.

More recently three of the pubs working with Brulines have had EPoS systems installed by Mission Integrated Systems and J2, which used alongside the dispense data provided by the i-draught system helps them see every pint dispensed compared to every pint sold.

Three-way analysis​

This information is an incredibly powerful business tool, according to sales director Clive Consterdine.

"Every pub needs to know exactly how much draught beer they are selling compared to what they are buying, but there are a wide range of factors which can affect overall yield," he said.

The i-draught data, Clive explains, can be analysed in three ways:

1. by identifying the operational waste which occurs through bad practices such as:

• poor pouring techniques by use of the wrong sized glasses,

• poor temperature control from the cellar to the till

• and poor line cleaning practices.

"All these areas contribute to beer being wasted and the licensee losing valuable income," he says.

"By setting the criteria required we are able to identify areas that are a problem and send a report to the licensee showing where action is needed."

In addition the licensee can identify staff training issues and take corrective actions to improve the overall quality of their beer dispense.

2. by identifying that all the drinks that are dispensed are going through the till.

"The data links the dispense data to the till transaction which identifies the number of pints dispensed against the number of pints rung through the till," says Clive. "This allows the licensee to understand where his problems are and what action is required to correct them."

3. by managing costs through identifying slow-selling brands or where brands have too many fonts on the bar, which in turn affects throughput and adds to the wastage.

The i-draught data clearly illustrates when this occurs and on which brands, as the information is broken down by font and it's obvious if a particular beer is not selling enough to justify the space or there are too many founts of the same brand.

"By removing slow sellers or reducing the number of founts the licensee can reduce costs and wastage on that line helping improve profitability," continues Clive.

"By effectively managing these three areas and tackling the problems the licensee is able to reduce their level of waste improving their yield, reduce unnecessary cost and increase the money through the till in turn helping increase revenue."

The key objective of Sell More, Save More has been to work closely with licensees to turn the weekly reports into actions which improve performance resulting in better dispense quality and increased profitability.

Read about what happened at Mark White's pub in Suffolk (below) to find out about one of the success stories.

Understanding beer sold vs beer dispensed​

Mark White, the licensee of the Cross Keys in Henley, Suffolk, believes he is now maximising his sales from draught beer with the help of the Brulines reports.

In the last three months, he has used the data to develop a sound understanding of beer sold versus beer dispensed - and how individual factors can affect the balance.

"It's been a real help to see exactly where, when and why beer is being lost and to be able to proactively do something about it," says Mark.

"And results in terms of reduced losses and increased yield have improved consistently, with only six pints being identified as lost over the last week.

"From an operational point of view, it's also helped to improve our processes, although regular beer cleaning rotas were in place."

Mark has already taken full advantage of the information provided to upgrade the cellar cooling at the Cross Keys - and with the information live on the web he is able to monitor dispense temperatures to ensure they are fully within the specification of brand owners.

"In addition I have used i-draught data to assess the throughput of the beers we serve," he continues.

"For example from the data it was clear it would help throughput to remove one of our John Smiths Extra Smooth fonts, so I decided to go ahead with that."

With Brulines Intelligent Flow Meters (IFMs) able to distinguish between water, line cleaning fluid Mark identified that he was using four pints of beer every time the Fosters line was cleaned. "As this was a slow selling product in my pub I was able to make an informed decision and de-list it from my range enabling me to reduce costs and potential losses," he adds.

."The result of all the changes is that the pub had a positive yield for the first week of January, which is a great result.

"The Brulines data has brought into focus exactly what beer is sold and how much a small loss or gain every day can affect the bottom line of the business."