How to... sell cask beer
OK, so following the first two Beer Matters 'How to…' guides, you are looking after your beer correctly and tasting it before serving to ensure quality. Now how do you actually sell the stuff?
This feature, with advice from Fiona Hope, marketing director of Beer Matters partner Greene King, is about promotion. We spoke to her to find out the basics of blackboards, attractive founts, well-trained staff and generally advertising to pub-goers that they will find quality beer at your bar.
The first point is what she calls "staff inspiration". Get your staff to understand the fundamentals of beer, such as the difference between cask and keg products. Get them to taste lagers and ales, so they are empowered to make recommendations. "Too often when you ask for a recommendation, you are met with blank looks from barstaff," says Hope.
If they can get across the nature of cask beer, this can be a powerful selling tool for pubs. After all, it is one of the few types of drink that isn't available at home.
Be realistic though - not all staff can be beer nuts so get round that with devices like industry-wide tasting notes scheme Cyclops, which involves short, to-the-point descriptions of brands' taste, smell and appearance for barstaff to reference on the back of pump clips. Train them to offer try-before-you-buy tasters to customers.
You could even run staff incentive schemes to encourage them to be good salespeople of beer - just look at the example set by Starbucks and its coffee shop kin in doing this.
Print beer and food matching recommendations on your menu, something which can be effective in promoting both of these sides of your business. And arm staff with a list of what beer goes with each dish on your menu to prepare them to make verbal recommendations.
You could even consider listing beers on a separate beer menu.
Seeing other customers carry around perfectly-served pints - made possible by using clean, branded glassware - acts as promotion in itself. So make sure you're practising perfect serve - see previous 'How to…' guides for instruction in this.
Offer goblet-style glasses as these can encourage women into beer, and are more suitable for consumption with food.
Get your range right as a clear lay-out of founts on the bar clearly displays what products you are selling.
Hope advises against over-crowding the bar for this reason. But it's also because too many founts are likely to indicate that you are being over-ambitious with the number of beers served and that you may not be getting the necessary throughput, allowing liquids to stick around too long in the cellar and go off. It is probably best to choose at least one big, recognised brand with a "sessionable" strength.
Weigh up the peak times at your pub and choose beers with appropriate ABVs. If you're mainly a lunchtime pub, choose lower ABV brands. If it's predominantly evening trade, you could maybe afford to stock a greater range of speciality brands.
The physical founts themselves can also be a selling point. Brewers including Greene King have been putting a lot of work into founts which modernise the image of beer.
Its latest fount for IPA is a tall, high-tech one that allows consumers to choose whether their pint is poured with a tight, creamy head characteristic of beers in the north of England, or with the looser, fizzier consistency favoured in the south (pictured with Fiona Hope, opposite). This new wave of innovation is designed to help attract more diverse consumers into ale. "They get rid of the baggage," says Hope.
Meanwhile, the typical cask drinker has a higher income than drinkers of other brands, so recruiting more of them could "bullet proof" you against the recession, she adds.
Another important factor which could help recruit new customers is brand-led promotions, especially around big events such as sports tournaments that are likely to draw in trade.
Put up point-of-sale material and be proactive in running any prize giveaways or other deals that brewers suggest. They could even help you run a beer festival to show that Beer Matters to you.
Case study: The Dove Street Inn
Ipswich's Dove Street Inn is a masterclass in how to promote beer.
Its main innovation is a website linked to the pub's tills which automatically updates to let people know what beers are on and how much is left - so they can check to see if their favourite is on before they come to the pub.
Licensee Ady Smith says: "There are many ways to sell cask beer but for us it's about quality, reputation and staff training. We've built up a good reputation locally, so we now pitch our advertising at new customers. We run three beer festivals a year, we do our own in-house training and we expect our barstaff to have knowledge about cask. But it's all about quality not quantity - get the quality right first and the volumes will follow."
Go to www.dovestreetinn.co.uk for more.
Greene King says
"Great marketing starts with knowing what your unique selling points are and for many pubs, that's fresh cask beer.
"To really make the most of the cask beer potential, you need to inspire your barstaff.
"Educate them - great sales people always have great product knowledge. Get your staff enthusiastic about cask by teaching them the differences between the beers you sell. Allow them to taste the beers so that they can describe the flavours. Show them how to delight customers by serving the perfect pint.
"There are many tactical ways you can improve your selling opportunity. Make the most of key events, such as the Six Nations rugby tournament; give customers a taste with 'try before you buy'; advertise with chalkboards outside your pub; consider beer and food matching; and get accredited by Cask Marque so your customers know they will receive a quality pint of cask.
"Selling beer matters, especially in the harder times we are experiencing now - so make the most of the uniqueness of cask beer and give your barstaff a real passion for cask."
