Comment: Little to lose and lots to gain through supplier initiatives

The journalist stereotype of the cynical old hack doesn't apply to me.

I'm generally upbeat about drinks companies' efforts to drive footfall through your doors or promote sales at your bar. Yes, there are deep-rooted problems with the licensed trade at the moment, and the motivation of brewers and distillers is ultimately self-centred in wanting to sell more of their produce through you.

But I don't believe news of Molson Coors distributing vouchers for free pints redeemable in pubs, or Diageo urging the use of drinks menus to promote their existence, warrants the snorting world-weary derision that many posts on the forums of ThePublican.com display.

Engaging with such initiatives is surely worth a punt, unless you can truly say business is booming and you don't need to change your winning formula one iota. With most such schemes being free, there's nothing to lose apart from possibly a tiny bit of effort.

What harm is there in putting up some point-of-sale material, produced for you for nothing, that lists the range of spirits you

offer and is illustrated with attractive pictures of the finished drink? Or in handing over a free pint, subsidised by its brewer? It could mean selling a gin and tonic you wouldn't otherwise have sold, or getting some repeat business from a customer who wouldn't otherwise have come in.

I could be wrong; I may need to start conforming to stereotype some more, but I believe there's little to lose and lots to gain in taking a receptive approach to suppliers' offers of help.