Joules holds beer prices
Joules serves its own collection of 40 brewery taps alongside a number of local free trade partners. It produces 7,000 barrels per year, equivalent to more than 2m pints.
Just last month (March), the business stated it hadn’t then decided if it would absorb costs of pass them on.
However, due to concerns about consumers having their own cost pressures, it has now announced prices will be held.
Too nervous
Managing director Steve Nuttall said: “We have cost inflation along with everyone else however, we cannot ignore the differential between pub prices and supermarket prices, people have come back to the pub as we had hoped and we are just too nervous as our customers have pressures on their disposable income that we should materially increase our prices at a time when they are under pressure.
“In addition, our franchisees have increased costs pressure, so this allows them to implement modest increases to recover some of those costs.
“We have introduced a £25 per barrel retro payment to help with these costs, all focused on our own brands, which we can control.”
Tricky time
The business is also working within its brewing arm to manage costs, according to Nuttall.
He added: “Costs will have an impact on us, we need to and will, take a share of that, the net effect of our holding price and brining in a retrospective payment means we are in effect, reducing prices to our franchisees.
“The more we can all absorb then it can only help as we come through what will be a tricky time. Our feeling was we needed to absorb as much as we possibly could for the longer term.”
