Install a Greene King craft keg beer and get two free kegs and a premium POS kit.
Deal 2
Deal 3
Deal 4
Belhaven Best Install Deal p6
Free keg & POS kit upon install.
Maltsmiths keg Install p10
Free keg & POS kit upon install.
Belhaven Black Install Deal p12
Free keg & POS kit upon install.
Deal 5 Packaged 3-for-1 p14
Buy 3 Cases from across the Greene King Packaged range and get 1 Case Free. 5 per customer
Deal 6 Launch of Old Session Hen in Cask p22
Buy 3 firkins, order a collector kit and get a 4th firkin Free.
Deal 7 Carling & Coors Install Deal p32
Install Carling or Coors and receive a 50L keg Free on install and 2 further kegs after 13 weeks (subject to minimum volumes). 1 per brand
Deal 8 Carlsberg Install Deal p34
Install Carlsberg and get a 50L keg and POS kit Free. 1 per customer
Deal 9 Corona & Kopparberg 4+1 POS Deal p36
Buy 2 cases of Corona/Corona Cero and 2 cases of Kopparberg and get 1 case of Corona Extra & a Kopparberg POS kit Free. 1 per customer
Deal 10 Moretti Install Deal p39
Install Moretti and get a 50L keg and POS kit Free. 1 per customer
Deal 11 NEW Westons Cider Install Deal p40
Install any brand from across the Henry Westons range, including brand new Henry Westons English Berry and get a 50L keg and POS kit Free. 1 per brand
Deal 12
Thatchers Fusion Install Deal p44
Install Thatchers Fusion on draught and get a 50L keg Free. 1 per customer
Deal 13 Westons Cider Competition Deal p46
Buy any 3 Kegs from across the Westons Cider range and get entered into a Free Prize Draw to win £10,000.
Deal 14 Aspall Install Deal p50
Install Aspall and get a 50L keg Free on install and 2 further kegs after 13 weeks (subject to minimum volumes). 1 per customer
SPIRITS
Deal 15
Deal 16
Deal 17
Deal 18
Save £1.50 on Cointreau p52
Save £1.50 on each 70cl bottle of Cointreau.
Save £3 on Glenmorangie p52
Save £3 per 70cl bottle of Glenmorangie Whisky.
Save £1 on Diageo Spirits p54
Save £1 per 1.5ltr across the Diageo Spirits range.
Monkey Shoulder POS Deal p56
Buy 2x70cl Monkey Shoulder and get 12 Rocks Glasses Free. 2 per customer
Deal 19
Save £3 on Served Drinks p56
Save £3 on each case of Served Drinks. 5 per customer
PRODUCT DISCOUNTS NOW AVAILABLE
Discounts are reimbursed as account credit at the end of the promotional period
MAY & JUNE PROMOTIONS
Deal 20 Jack Daniel’s POS Deal p58
Buy 3x70cl bottles from across the Jack Daniel’s range and get a Summer POS kit Free.
Deal 21 Save £2 on Courvoisier Deal p58
Buy 2x70cl Courvoisier and get £2 off. 3 per customer
Deal 22
Limoncello & Disaronno POS Deal p60
Buy 1x70cl Isobella Limoncello and 1x70cl Disaronno and get 6 Spritz Glasses Free.
Deal 23 Tia Maria POS Deal p60
Buy 2x70cl Tia Maria and get 8 Shot Glasses Free.
Deal 24 Save £2 on Lustre p62
Save £2 per bottle across the Lustre range.
Deal 25 Halewood 4+1 Deal p64
Buy any 4x70cl bottles from acrosss the Whitley Neil & Dead Man’s Fingers range and get 1x70cl Whitley Neil Distiller’s Cut Free.
Deal 26 Save 50 on Blend Liqueurs Deal p64
Save 50p on every bottle from the Blend Premium Liqueurs 70cl range.
SOFT DRINKS
Deal 27 Fever-Tree POS Deal p66
Buy 4 cases from across the Fever-Tree range and get 6 Crystal Copa Glasses Free. 2 per customer
Deal 28 Save £1 on Schweppes Mixers p68
Save £1 on each case of Schweppes 150ml Can Mixers. 9 per customer
Deal 29 NEW Save £2 on Innocent Juicy Water p68
Save £2 on each case of Innocent Juicy Water. 6 per customer
Deal 30 Simply Fruity 3+1 p70
Buy 3 cases from the Simply Fruity range and get 1 case Free. 8 per customer
Deal 31 Save £4 on Red Bull Energy p70
Save £4 on each case of Red Bull Energy. 1 per customer
Deal 32 Aqua Libra 3+1 Deal p72
Buy 3 cases of Aqua Libra and get 1 case Free.
Discounts
PRODUCT DISCOUNTS NOW AVAILABLE
at the
P11 Greene King News
Record-breaking £3.9m raised for Macmillan Cancer care in 2024.
P13 Industry News
‘Healthier’ options set to drive sales and profit in 2025.
P19 Online Ordering
Building your order is easier than ever with online portal.
P20 Value Hub
More suppliers added to money-saving exclusive website.
P24 Lead Feature
Max out summer sales with some great advice and suggestions.
P33 Consumer Insight
A closer look at the value of sports fans to your venue.
P38 Category Corner
Grow your ale sales with ‘Ale Ambassadors’.
P42 Customer Profile: Plough Inn Hull venue makes the most of Belhaven Black.
P48 Customer Profile: The Balintore Inn
Coastal Scottish venue welcomes Harrison Ford for lunch.
P55 New Listings
Great new fruity lines now available.
P57 Meet The Team: Neil Stebbings Essex SDM in the spotlight.
P63 Range Freedom: Rosé Wine
Bringing rosé to life as the mercury rises.
P69 Category Focus: Soft Drinks
Time to refresh your soft drinks offer?
SPRING INTO SUMMER
With spring well and truly upon us and packed full of opportunity, it’s the ideal time to start planning for a busy and profitable summer.
It’s always a great feeling when the clocks go forwards and the days instantly get that bit longer, with more daylight and more opportunities to tempt people out of the house and into a venue.
Key Dates:
5th May
Early May Bank Holiday
8th May VE Day 80
Men’s FA Cup Final
Eurovision Song content 18th May
Women’s FA Cup Final 21st May
Europa League Final
May European Rugby Champions Cup Final 26th May Spring Bank Holiday 31st May
UEFA Champions League Final 15th June
Father’s Day
15th Jun – 13th July
FIFA Club World Cup
30th Jun – 13th Jul
Wimbledon
The spring period is always packed with seasonal and sporting events which brings the chance to give more people more reasons to visit your venue – and with so many challenges facing the sector, particularly when it comes to rising costs, it would be fantastic if this summer was a long and wonderful scorcher.
And while we may not be able to do much about the weather, there’s plenty we can all do to make sure that we are ready to capitalise when the sun does shine – and make the most of things even when it doesn’t.
One clear opportunity is the humble beer garden. If you are lucky enough to have access to an outside space, it can help transform your sales. Not only can beer gardens significantly increase your capacity, they can also help you cash in on the feel-good factor a sunny day with a beer in hand inspires in your customers.
Our lead feature this issue offers some great advice on how you can max out the summer and is well worth a read.
Another thought-provoking piece is our consumer insight article in this issue on the value of sport to venues. Granted, this
summer isn’t blessed with a World Cup, a Euros or an Olympics, but there’s still plenty to keep sports fans coming to the pub and, as the article highlights, sports fans are a very valuable audience for venues able to show live sports.
Our latest Category Corner article in an ongoing series on growing cask ale sales turns its attention to any venue’s biggest asset: its people. Developing Ale Ambassadors in your business can really help make your establishment famous for ale in your area, offering another USP that can help grow sales and profits.
You’ll also find a fascinating feature in this issue challenging you to rethink how you approach the soft drinks category. With even the smaller convenience stores selling dozens of soft drink lines, why do hospitality venues only offer an average of seven SKUs? Could you grow your sales by adding to your range and targeting consumers in growing sectors like energy drinks?
There’s all this and more inside, so please try to find the time to have a look through and see if you can’t find some fresh inspiration.
I wish you all fantastic trading over the next couple of months,
Paul Downing On Trade Sales Director, Greene King
We've been crafting fine ales from our two historic breweries for over 200 years. Everything from traditional to seasonal cask ales.
SEASONAL RANGE
your line-up fresh with beers for all occasions
MALTSMITHS LAGER
A golden, Pilsner style lager. Crisp, clean with pine, citrus and earthy hop notes.
KEY SELLING POINTS
More than ¾ of beer drunk in the UK is lager. *
Supported in the on trade with POS, sta t-shirts and a ROS-driving consumer scratchcard promotion.
TASTING NOTES HUNGRY CUSTOMERS?
Golden Citrus and earthy hops Pilsner style lager
O ur beer goes beautifully with a chicken burger or some spicy fajitas.
RECORD-BREAKING £3.9M DONATED TO MACMILLAN CANCER SUPPORT
Greene King is celebrating another record-breaking fundraising year for charity partner Macmillan Cancer Support, having raised an impressive £3.9m during 2024, its highest total to date.
Greene King donated more than £3.9m in 2024 to its long-term charity partner, Macmillan Cancer Support, its highest yearly fundraising total so far. This remarkable achievement means that Greene King, with the active support of Free Trade customers, has raised more than £20m for the charity over the last 12 years.
To put the donations in context, £3.9m could pay for more than 100,000 hours of support from Macmillan Nurses – or for more than 50 Macmillan Nurses for a whole year. Every penny helps people living with cancer and their families receive essential support.
The first six months of fundraising in 2025 will be specifically directed towards supporting Macmillan’s Support Line, which is a lifeline for those living with cancer and their loved ones, offering confidential support by telephone, email, and webchat.
Nick Mackenzie, CEO of Greene King, expressed his pride in the company’s extraordinary fundraising achievements: “This wouldn’t have been possible without the dedication of our team members and generosity of our customers, whose continued passion for this incredible charity has resulted in yet another record-breaking year of fundraising.
“Our pubs are at the heart of their communities, so for the first half of this year we’re directing all of our fundraising to the Support Line, so that more people can access Macmillan’s help when they need it the most.”
Gemma Peters, Chief Executive at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “A massive thanks to all Greene King team members and customers who were involved, as this money will make a huge difference in helping us to ensure that everyone living with cancer in the UK gets the best care possible.”
27% ‘MORE LIKELY TO CHOOSE VENUES WITH HEALTHIER OPTIONS’
More than a quarter of adults say they are more likely to visit restaurants offering “healthier” options as part of a spring-inspired health kick.
More than a quarter of respondents to the most recent Barclays Consumer Spend report said they are more likely to visit a restaurant or bar that offers “healthier” options as part of an apparent health kick inspired by spring.
The Barclays Consumer Spend report combines hundreds of millions of customer transactions with consumer research to provide an in-depth view of UK spending.
According to the survey, over a quarter (27%) of UK adults plan to focus more on healthy eating as the warmer weather approaches. One in three (30%) say they are paying closer attention to ingredients with 27% saying they’re more likely to visit venues that offer “healthier” options.
This percentage increases to 45% for those aged 18-24. Sought-after alternatives include zero-sugar treats (33%), organic or whole foods (29%) and low- or no-alcohol drinks (24%).
These findings present fresh opportunities for customers to evolve their menus to target this sizeable demand.
The report also confirmed that card spending grew in February, albeit by 1%, while all four consumer confidence measures used in the report also improved in February. Confidence in household finances reached the highest level since Barclays started tracking this measure in 2015, at 75% (up from 70% in January).
DEREGULATION CALL FOR HOSPITALITY
Government efforts to cut red tape should be targeted at businesses most over-taxed and over-regulated, like hospitality, says UKHospitality.
The Chancellor has announced an action plan to cut the administrative cost of regulation on business, as well as meeting regulators to put the plan into action.
Kate Nicholls, Chief Executive of UKHospitality, said: “A plan to cut red tape and reduce the burden on businesses is long overdue. In sectors like hospitality, businesses have been struggling with too much cost and too many regulations for decades, and it has held back growth.
“If we want to kickstart the economy, deregulating those already overstretched sectors should be the focus. This should include a review of upcoming legislation, like the illthought-through Extended Producer Responsibility scheme.”
NEW ALLERGENS GUIDANCE ISSUED BY FSA
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has issued best practice guidance on providing allergen information to consumers.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has very recently issued new best practice guidance on how to provide allergen information to your consumers.
The new guidance says that written allergen information should always be available and should be supported by dialogue between your team and customers about their specific allergen requirements.
In extensive engagement and consultation with the FSA, UKHospitality highlighted the need for a flexible approach that accounts for the wide variety of operating models across the hospitality sector. These calls have been reflected in the FSA’s guidance.
Formally known as ‘Allergen Information for Non-Prepacked Foods Best Practice,’ the guidance is intended to support businesses to comply with regulations in the most effective ways, and meet consumer expectations by adopting good practices and enabling consumers to make informed choices about the food they eat more easily.
Critically, food businesses must inform consumers if they have used any of the 14 mandated allergens as an ingredient in their food. Businesses must ensure that all mandatory food allergen information is accurate, available to, and easily accessible by the consumer. This applies to all food supplied by food businesses, including when food is offered complimentarily or otherwise without charge.
14 MANDATED ALLERGENS
1. Celery
2. Cereals containing gluten (such as wheat, rye, barley, and oats)
3. Crustaceans (such as prawns, crabs and lobsters)
4. Eggs
5. Fish
6. Lupin
7. Milk
8. Molluscs (such as mussels and oysters)
9. Mustard
10. Peanuts
11. Sesame
12. Soybeans
13. Sulphur dioxide sulphites (if the sulphur dioxide and sulphites are at a concentration of more than ten parts per million)
14. Tree nuts (such as almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, Brazil nuts, cashews, pecans, pistachios and macadamia nuts)
GREENE KING CRAFT RANGE
It’s time to get
PITCHER PERFECT
As the sun comes out, so do customers!
Warmer weather and long Bank Holiday weekends bring increased foot tra c, creating a prime opportunity to boost sales of your Greene King craft range.
Pitchers o er a sociable and value-driven way to enhance the customer experience throughout the summer. Not only that, they help reduce queue time at the bar on busy days.
Online Platform Features
1. Products & Range
View our full range
4. Content
Find our latest news, guides and magazine
2. Promotions
Find all our live promotions
ADVERT
5. Invoices & Statements
Quickly download both online & phone order invoices & full statements
3. Services
Find out more about our nancial support & other services
7. Value Hub
Access discounts on entertainment, services, equipment and much more
8. Online Cellar Learning
Find learning, best practice and support
6. Full Ordering History
Find your full ordering history inclusive of phone orders
9. Online Ordering
Build a basket over the week and check out when you are ready
If you need help with setting up your online account or have any questions on how to use the platform please contact us on 0345 850 4545 (weekdays 8:00am-4:45pm) or email us onlinesupport@greeneking.co.uk
HUB KEEPS ADDING
Cutting the cost of doing business has never been more important for venues, which is exactly why Greene King’s Value Hub platform was launched. Value Hub gives Free Trade customers direct access to Greene King and Belhaven’s buying power and can help you save thousands of pounds a year through exclusive deals with partner businesses.
Value Hub continues to grow all the time with new partners joining, meaning more and more fantastic deals are available to Free Trade customers.
Among the latest partners to join are Howden Insurance and Atosa UK.
Howden operates globally across more than 115 territories and
delivers over £42bn of premium to market each year. Howden is also one of the largest producers of premium into Lloyd’s. A specialist in hospitality, Howden understands the sector intimately and is the perfect partner for your business, helping you to cut your insurance costs.
Atosa is a global commercial equipment partner that has been providing innovative solutions for professional kitchens in the UK since 2003 and has been working with Greene King for over five years. Based out of a 63,000sq ft facility in the Midlands, Atosa offers a bespoke pricing structure with discounts based on your individual requirements via a network of local dealers. Atosa has recently launched a new service which gives Greene King customers the option of an additional warranty for up to five years.
MORE WAYS TO SAVE MORE MONEY
Greene King’s Value Hub platform is dedicated to helping you cut the cost of doing business and driving profits.
“WE’VE SEEN SOME FANTASTIC RESULTS OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS SINCE LAUNCHING VALUE FOR VENUES, AND IT’S BEEN AMAZING TO SEE HOW VALUE HUB IS NOW HELPING OUR FREE TRADE CUSTOMERS CUT COSTS AND ACCESS SERVICES THAT REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO THEIR BUSINESS. WE KNOW HOW TOUGH IT IS TO RUN A VENUE RIGHT NOW AND WE’RE HERE TO OFFER MORE THAN JUST SUPPORT — WE WANT TO BE A TRUE PARTNER, HELPING OUR CUSTOMERS NOT JUST SURVIVE, BUT THRIVE. THE BEST PART IS THAT IT IS SUPER SIMPLE TO GET STARTED. IF YOU’RE REGISTERED FOR ONLINE ORDERING, YOU’RE ALREADY IN AND CAN ACCESS A WHOLE HOST OF EXCLUSIVE PARTNER DISCOUNTS AND OFFERS THROUGH THE ONLINE PLATFORM. IF YOU HAVE NOT YET SIGNED UP, SPEAK TO YOUR SDM OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.VALUEFORVENUES.CO.UK FOR A STEP BY STEP GUIDE.”
CLAIRE BATES, MARKETING MANAGER
WHY GOLDEN ALE IS A MUST HAVE THIS SUMMER
GOLDEN ALE DRINKERS:
• VISIT VENUES MORE OFTEN
54% VISIT WEEKLY VS. 46% OF GENERAL DRINKERS
• SPEND MORE AVERAGE OF £121 PER MONTH VERSUS £108 FOR THE AVERAGE DRINKER*
Summer is the perfect time to attract customers into your outlet, whether it’s for a pint in a sunny beer garden, or to enjoy the various sporting fixtures with friends over a couple of drinks.
While many products see a spike in sales during the warmer months, cask golden ale truly shines. One in four cask ales sold is a golden ale—and that number is rising. CGA OPMS data shows that golden ale’s share of the market grows significantly in the summer.
Even better, golden ale drinkers tend to visit venues more often and spend more, with 54% visiting at least weekly (compared to 46% of general drinkers) and spending £121 per month (vs. £108 for the average drinker).
Introducing Old Session Hen Cask Ale
With all this in mind, we’re excited to announce a new addition to our golden cask ale offering: Old Session Hen. We sit down with Kirsten Alexander, Brand Manager, to find out more about this exciting launch.
We are thrilled to be announcing the launch of Old Session Hen cask ale.
This 3.4% golden beer is packed full of flavour, despite the modest ABV, with hints of tropical fruit and a perfectly-
balanced bitterness. It is - as the name suggests - very sessionable and offers a refreshing option for those looking for a pint they can enjoy all afternoon.
We first launched the bottle version in April 2024 and were blown away with the response, so wanted to extend the range to cask to give consumers the chance to enjoy this fantastic beer on the bar, and help outlets tap into the growing golden cask ale market. Old Session Hen cask is available in both pins and firkins to suit your outlet’s needs.
We’ve created a range of high-quality POS to complement the liquid and ensure you have everything you need to showcase Old Session Hen. All new stockists will receive on install a POS kit, including a premium 3D pump clip, ‘Ask for a taste’ crowner, brand new glassware, bar runners and drip mats.
Plus, we’re running a consumer collector card kit to encourage trial, offering a free fourth pint after purchasing three. We’ll support you with a free fourth firkin after you’ve purchased three and activated the collector card promo.
For consumers trying cask ale for the first time, Old Session Hen is a great introduction, with its light, fruity flavour and lower ABV. For our customers, it’s all about the relationship between the pub, the brewer, and the consumer. Treat the cask with care and make sure your staff are familiar with the ale and its story. We’re here to support every step of the way, ensuring it’s served at its best.
MAX OUT SUMMER!
It’s been a tough few years for the trade so we are all looking forward with our fingers crossed to an early, good and long summer.
There is literally nothing else like a hot and sunny summer for sending sales and profits skyward. And let’s face it, it hasn’t been easy for many of your guests either in recent years so a balmy, sun-kissed summer is just what everyone needs –with a glass of something nice in hand and perhaps a bite to eat too.
So where to start when planning to make the very most of those precious summer months? Value for Venues is here to offer a few suggestions to help inspire you…
BEER GARDENS
Let’s start with a bit of a no-brainer. If you are lucky enough to have access to outdoor spaces, you’ll probably already know how important beer gardens are in wringing every penny of profit out of the summer.
They help increase the capacity of your venue and their child- and family-friendly nature means everyone can get in on the fun. Almost a third (30%) of adults say that having a garden for the summer is a top priority when choosing a pub [OnePoll survey, 2022].
With summer on the horizon and getting closer by the day, it’s time to start planning head to make sure that you squeeze every penny of profi t out of those vital warmer months.
BEER GARDENS, THE EASY WAY…
Here are five top tips for easily and quickly creating a beer garden fit for a glorious summer:
PLANTS
Plant a few brightly coloured flowers, mow the grass, trim the edges and tidy up any paved or pebbled areas.
FURNITURE
So how do you make yours stand out? Well, it’s obviously great if you have a fantastically appointed outdoor space but even if you don’t, it’s still worth maxxing out the beer garden opportunity. Repaint the benches, add some new parasols, plant a few colourful shrubs and cut the grass and you’re most of the way there.
Take it to the next level, if space (and licensing) permits, by adding a dedicated bar into the beer garden to speed up service and enhance the experience for customers. It expedites service and you can also offer a summer-themed menu of high-value drinks like cocktails and pitchers to grow sales.
You could even offer a limited food menu to boost sales per head even further, again theming it for summer. You can’t beat the smell of a BBQ for making people hungry!
GET THE BEERS IN
With a packed beer garden, it makes sense to tailor your drinks offering to the summer vibe and Greene King has everything you need to meet the needs of all of your customers.
Attractive, comfortable, hard-wearing furniture and fixtures can help make your beer garden a more inviting and enjoyable spot for your customers to while away a few hours. Bean bags, benches, parasols and more can help elevate the experience.
COLOUR
Add some bright, vibrant colours and make use of inexpensive coloured lighting solutions to lift your beer garden
OUTDOOR BAR
If you’ve got the space, and licensing rules permit, add a dedicated outdoor bar to speed up service. Offer a limited food menu too, to encourage your customers to spend more.
THEMED MENUS
Drive up food and drink sales with summer-themed options like BBQ dishes and beach-style cocktails.
ales that really shine in summer with
Cask ales are popular all year round but it’s golden ales that really shine in summer with around a quarter of all cask ales sold in the summer months being golden ales. The exciting launch of new Old Session Hen gives you the perfect ale to really make the most of the summer.
GREAT VALUE
Of The Net Pale Ale (23rd Jun – 31st Jul) and Amplified Pale Ale (Jun-Jul) offer you plenty of options to keep your cask menu fresh, particularly as all four options are available in firkins and pins.
For venues more focused on premium keg beers, Greene King is offering free POS kits to stockists of its Level Head, Flint Eye, Prior Life and Hazy Day beers. The kits include two great offers to drive trial, loyalty and volume through a Collector Card Kit and a Pitcher Kit. It’s a great way of offering a sociable and value-
BUY ONE FIRKIN OR PIN AND GET A FREE POS KIT
money but they want it to feel special, which often means great quality products from big, trusted brands, served well by friendly, courteous staff in a nice, welcoming atmosphere.
All of this sounds tailor-made for the summer beer garden experience, so it will pay dividends to build a drinks menu that meets all of those needs described above while also delivering bottom line profits for you.
That can simply mean stocking a good
SUMMER KEY DRIVERS
CGA and Zonal research found that the key drivers for consumers choosing hospitality venues are as follows:
1. Price (66%)
2. Location (61%)
3. Hygiene standards (41%)
4. Good customer service (39%) WE CAN HELP!
range of premium brand spirits, high quality wines and, of course, popular ciders. But it also means considering some added value offerings like cocktails which boost spend and profit while also enhancing the experience for your customers.
Consider stocking more premium mixers too, in order to take simple mixed drinks to a new level – and be sure to let your customers know that you use premium mixers, either by actually naming them on your menu or by making sure that your front of house team flag that up to guests.
NO SOFT OPTION
One major opportunity that exists in the on-trade is soft drinks. They account for a very significant percentage of total volumes sold, yet they rarely feature prominently in venues. Soft drinks is a huge category in the off-trade where sectors like energy drinks and adult soft drinks have gone stellar – yet many pubs only offer a single option.
It seems unlikely that consumers who regularly consume energy drinks at home or on-the-go, wouldn’t want to do likewise when they’re in the pub. Therefore, it make sense to add some options from fast-growing brands like Monster – even just on a trial basis.
So, is this summer the ideal time to expand your soft drinks range to meet the needs of your customers? It’s not a major financial commitment and it doesn’t require much fridge space, so it’s possibly worth a go this summer.
Woodberry specialise in commercial outdoor spaces for hospitality venues. As a Greene King and Belhaven free trade customer you can access exclusive discounts on garden furniture through Value Hub.
A fruity IPA, packed with hops, delivering tropical and citrus fruit flavours. It cannot be tamed, so drink it as fresh as possible!
Golden IPA
UNLEASH THE SALES AND PROFITS!
Greene King has a variety of new products and promotions to help you truly leverage the summer opportunity and
make 2025 a year to remember.
Nothing generates excitement among both the trade and consumers quite like ‘new news’ which is why Greene King and Belhaven have been working hard to give you the tools you need to bring the summer season to life and drive fresh footfall, sales and profit growth.
So let’s take a whistlestop tour around just some of the new products, promotions and inspiration that Greene King has unveiled in time for that key summer trading period.
OLD SESSION HEN
First up, there’s the hugely exciting launch of new Old Session Hen, a light and refreshing cask ale from one of the most popular brands in the UK. The gorgeous golden ale helps you take advantage of the huge spike in sales that golden ales enjoy during the summer months, with one in four cask ales sold in summer being a golden ale. That same CGA data also shows that golden ale’s popularity is continuing to rise.
What’s more, golden ale drinkers visit more often and spend more than general drinkers. Old Session Hen at 3.4% ABV is the perfect ale to cash in on that trend, packed full of tropical fruit flavours and a balanced bitterness.
If you stock the new ale, you’ll receive a free POS kit including glassware, bar runners and drip mats as well as an eye-catching 3D pump clip. Greene King is also running a consumer collector kit promotion to drive trial but offering a free fourth pint after consumers have bought three.
BIRD OF PREY
More new news sees the launch of Uiltje Brewing Co’s, Bird of Prey in cask. A 5.2% ABV fruity IPA, it’s packed with hops and tropical and citrus flavours. The limited edition ale is a result of a collaboration with the Dutch brewery and is available throughout May and June.
Buy a firkin or pin and you’ll receive a free POS kit to help make sure that Bird of Prey flies in your venue.
FRESH CASK RELEASES
Also available for a limited period as part of Greene King’s rolling Fresh Cask Releases programme are Amber Ale (May), Back Of The
SPORTING CHANCE: WATCHING SPORT IN VENUES
Showing major sporting events in-venue offers a fantastic opportunity to drive footfall to your venue and generate more sales and profi ts.
By Caroline Morley, Insights Manager – Consumer
If you show live sport in your venue, you will know exactly how successful it can be in bringing footfall to your door, particularly when it comes to major events like football and rugby World Cups, the Euros and the Olympics.
While this summer’s calendar isn’t quite so packed as last year’s, there’s still plenty of fantastic events over the coming months to cash in on – from Wimbledon and the Lion’s tour of Australia to the Women’s Euro 2025 Finals and the Women’s Rugby World Cup.
To help make sure that you are at the top of your game for the summer, we spoke to 1,500 pub-goers who either already watch sport or would consider doing so in a pub to find out what they were looking for when choosing the right venue.
KEY POINT 1
LOCATION, PRICE AND HAVING A SEAT ARE CRITICAL
Consumers told us that the three most important factors when choosing a venue to watch sport in are location, price and being able to find a seat:
52% – a convenient location
50% – reasonable price of drinks
50% – ensuring I have a seat
Food and drink are important – and make it easy to order!
Of our sample, 60% told us that when they go out to watch sport, they order both food and drinks – this could vary from a meal to bar snacks and is higher among customers aged 18-54. Pre-ordering drinks and offering something interesting and different helps as 44% of customers told us that they would like to be able to pre-order a package of drinks when watching sport, at a set price, and 43% told us they’d like to be able to book a private table or booth with a TV built in. That figure increased to 50% among those aged 18-34 years.
SO WHAT?
Ensuring that you have a good range of food and drinks available is important, and it’s key to include some value options as well as doing what you can to keep prices reasonable across the range.
Try to ensure that you have enough seating for as many people as possible. Consider adding temporary seating solutions or benchstyle options to help maximise the seating space available.
Allowing customers to book tables for events is also an option, ensuring that there are enough seats for the booking.
Having a pre-ordering system in place can help with managing queues, reducing serve times and growing sales.
Also consider deals like buckets of beer for a set price to help speed up service times and minimise complexity when serving large groups.
KEY POINT 2
IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT FOOTBALL
While football is the most popular sport in many venues, it’s a great idea to consider other sports too. This can help attract new audiences at different times of the week.
Our research told us that:
47% watch football regularly
19% watch Formula 1 regularly
13% watch cricket
13% watch women’s football
12% watch tennis
12% watch rugby union (and don’t forget rugby league, depending on where you are in the country!)
Don’t forget too that customers who watch football also watch other sports – so you may find that, as well as bringing new customers to your door, showing other sports also brings existing customers in more frequently.
SO WHAT?
Speak to your customers about what other sports they’d like to
watch and see if you can provide more reasons to visit your pub through showing sports other than football.
Check out what’s available to show in your venue other than football and use social media to highlight ‘F1 Weekend’ or ‘Wimbledon Week’ in your venue to see if you can generate a new audience of sports fans.
Try showing new sports on different days when there are no major football games to show. This could help generate additional sales on typically quieter days of the week.
KEY POINT 3
TARGET NEW AUDIENCES
85% of men claim to watch football regularly and 69% of women claim to watch football regularly, but… a further 21% of women would consider watching football in a pub.
The key to attracting women and family audiences too is atmosphere.
With the Women’s Euro Finals this summer, it’s a great opportunity to capitalise on the huge growth in consumer interest in women’s football.
SO WHAT?
Consumers tell us that the single most important factor in attracting women to a venue to watch sports is atmosphere. Creating a safe and welcoming atmosphere to watch sport in, with good TV screens visible around the pub, good audio and the right food and drink offering can help broaden appeal.
KEY POINT 4
CREATING THE RIGHT ATMOSPHERE
So, how do you create the right atmosphere in your venue that will help bring more people to your door?
Consumers tell us the main barriers to watching sport in a pub are:
Too busy/crowded – 55%
Too loud – 44%
I might not get a seat – 30%
Intimidating atmosphere – 28%
Doesn’t feel like a safe environment – 21%
SO WHAT?
The solutions here are plain: Make sure seats are available.
Lots of people standing can make the pub feel too busy and crowded.
Ensure the atmosphere is positive and friendly, so customers feel safe coming to your pub to watch sport.
Source: February 2024 – 1,500 people who either watch or would consider watching sport in pubs.
CATEGORY CORNER: STAFF AMBASSADORS
In the latest in our series of articles on Greene King’s category vision for ale, we discuss the key role that staff ambassadors can play on taking your ale sales to the next level.
By John Malone, Head of Brewery Engagement
If you have been following this series of articles on Greene King’s ‘How To Win With Ale’ category vision, you will hopefully have set out on your journey to grow sales of cask ale and bring new energy and excitement into this hugely important category.
So far, we’ve covered everything from perfect presentation and range science to quality and elevating the experience. In this issue we turn our attention to one of the most important elements of a great cask ale experience: your staff behind the bar.
WHY ALE?
Firstly, however, it’s worth taking a quick refresher course on why Greene King has created a new category vision for ale. Well, ale is a fundamental cornerstone of a credible beer offer for any venue.
One in every five pints sold is ale, and cask ale is the thirdbiggest category by rate of sale per venue, with more than 130
pints sold per week. And yes, that’s ahead of keg, which sits in fourth position.
In other words: cask ale is popular, it sells fast, and it helps bring customers to your door at quieter times of the week.
There is a huge opportunity to transform the way the industry looks at the ale category and Greene King is proud to take on the responsibility of playing a leading role in that transformation.
‘How to Win with Ale’ embraces the importance and role of ale on the bar and the challenges and opportunities for the category and it also provides a fresh perspective on innovation, quality, and presentation for the industry.
PEOPLE POWER
No-one in the trade needs to be told that any venue’s biggest asset is its people – and in no category is this more important than in ale. Having all the basics in place like a great range, great
BIRRA MORETTI AND BRING A TOUCH OF ITALY TO YOUR VENUE
BIRRA MORETTI IS THE MOST VALUABLE LAGER IN THE ON-TRADE*
AVAILABLE WITH 2 KEGS PURCHASED VIA GREENE KING, PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LOCAL SDM
Speak to your Sales Development Manager for more information or to arrange an install.
quality products, an efficient and effective cellar operation, great glassware, good POS and more can only really be leveraged properly if the team behind the bar serving those ales is friendly, enthusiastic and knowledgeable.
And let’s face it, cask ale is a category that should inspire enthusiasm and passion. It’s unique to the on-trade, it’s crammed full of history and tradition, it’s packed with flavour and it has a fantastic story to tell.
The key to unlocking growth in ale is having staff behind the bar who are fully engaged with the category. This is partly about training – and Greene King can help in lots of ways on this front – but it’s also about working with your team to develop that passion and that pride in serving top quality, iconic cask ales.
Nothing makes a cask ale drinker happier than staff who can give them a quick, educated tour of the cask ales on offer in that venue and perhaps share some tidbits of info and make some suggestions on which ales to try and why.
Having staff that are prepared to dedicate some time to learning about the category and the products in it can go a long way to driving engagement and sales with customers, be they diehard cask ale fans or people curious about the category.
Staff who are sufficiently knowledgeable to offer great advice and suggestions to customers, perhaps offering a little sample here and there and discussing tasting notes, can transform sales of ale.
We are all aware of the consumer interest in provenance and history in recent years and we know that customers are looking for products with interesting back stories as well as great flavour – and no category ticks those boxes quite like ale.
Why not consider appointing formal Ale Ambassadors in your venue, members of your team who already have an interest
in the category? Training them up on the products available, the interesting and unique nature of cask ale and all the tricks of the trade in serving top drawer ales every time can help enhance the customer experience and make the job even more interesting for the Ale Ambassadors themselves.
TRAINING SUPPORT
Greene King offers a wider array of training solutions and resources to help you bring your Ale Ambassadors up to speed as quickly as possible. From in-depth information and even videos on Greene King ales on our website to web resources we provide like beer-genius.co.uk and Cellar Doctor, you have everything you need to help your team become genuinely expert in the wonderful world of cask ale.
IT WORKS!
And if you’re wondering whether establishing Ale Ambassadors actually works and helps sell more ale, then consider that in Greene King’s managed estate our branded cask ales are growing 8.9% by volume, outperforming the cask market.
The learnings we have shared with you in this series of articles have been applied in real pubs – and they work!
So, if we work together – Greene King making great beers and you keeping them that way and your Ale Ambassadors advocating from behind the bar – we can deliver stronger sales for you, drive fresh footfall, generate customer loyalty and provide those elevated experiences your drinkers are looking for.
Cask ale is a unique product that’s only available in the ontrade and has hundreds of years of history and heritage behind it. Working together we can ensure that it has a long and profitable future ahead of it too.
It’s a Tuesday evening in early April in the little village of Hollym in the East Riding of Yorkshire (population 500), yet The Plough Inn is buzzing. There are probably 50 or 60 people filling the dining room, bar and games room. The local rugby club are here for a meeting and a few beers, the table tennis club are here too for a postmatch pint, there are five or six people playing darts and a dozen or so regulars are propping up the bar.
It’s hard to believe the scene, considering the fact that just a couple of years ago the pub was dilapidated, empty and on its knees. Equally incredible is the fact that The Plough is this busy most nights of the week, and rammed full at weekends.
And all of this has been achieved inside two years by a man with absolutely zero experience in the hospitality trade who never had any intentions of buying a pub in the first place.
“I spent most of my life contracting as an
Black in the game
Linking up with the local amateur rugby team has helped former electrical contractor Andrew Ward revitalise a unique community pub in the tiny village of Hollym in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
electrician and in the construction industry,” explains owner Andrew Ward. “Then at one point I bought some land near The Plough that had permission to build a caravan park. So when I set about developing it I decided I needed a bar on site to give the park a bit of a USP. So we applied and were given full permission for the caravan park – but we weren’t given permission for the bar! So I decided that the only option left was to just buy the local pub.”
Born just along the road, Andrew got the pub for “a decent price” but that was because it needed work. A lot of work.
“It really was a mess,” laughs Andrew. “It has five rooms upstairs, which is great, but it hadn’t had money spent on it in at least a decade. The previous tenants had a really tough time during Covid and never recovered. I knew nothing about running pubs but I’m a fast learner and I’m open to listening to all the advice and help I can get.”
Andrew took The Plough on in August 2023
and spent most of the first year bringing it back to life. “I spent a lot of money getting it where I wanted it,” he says, “much more than I’d planned, but I figured that if I wanted it to work, it had to be the sort of place that people would want to visit regularly. We sorted it out internally, created a big new car park outside, added a full professional kitchen and totally reworked the big beer garden out the back, adding a permanent bar out there too. The beer garden was like Jurassic Park when I took over, but it looks great now and it gives us so many options for events, festivals and parties as well as making the most of summer.”
For a man with no experience of pubs, Andrew has taken to it like a duck to water and has been quick to identify ways to bring people to his door regularly.
“I have to say that I’ve had some fantastic advice from my Greene King SDM Alistair Drew,” he says. “I was very conscious of the fact that I didn’t know the trade and in some ways that’s been helpful because I haven’t
THE PLOUGH INN
OWNER ANDREW WARD
LOCATION
HOLLYM, EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE
VENUE TYPE TRADITIONAL PUB WITH ROOMS STAFF 6
been embarrassed about asking for help and listening to advice.
“But I knew instantly that we couldn’t just rely on people coming to the pub because we’d tidied it up. I knew we needed to give as many people as many reasons as possible to get off the couch and come down to the pub.”
Which explains the series of mini festivals Andrew held in the beer garden last year. “We had everything from live music festivals with cover bands to real ale festivals and we saw literally hundreds of people turn up. It was fantastic!”
Andrew is also a quick learner. “The first
LOCAL HERO
festival we held was great but we had forgotten to put on any entertainment for the kids, so the adults were having a ball, but the kids were bored and crying to go home. So, for the next festival we organised games and toys and glow sticks and a guy dressed up as a bear. That time the kids had a cracking time and so did the adults, so everybody was having fun and they all stayed into the night.”
Over and above the festivals, Andrew also identified the opportunity of working with local sports teams and other organisations to give them a permanent base. “It’s one of those things that’s a win-win,” explains Andrew. “The clubs get a place to come where they’re totally welcome and we
According to the volunteers that run Withernsea Rugby Club, Andrew is already a local hero. The club has been in existence since 1935 and, until a couple of years ago, based itself at The Plough with the pitch sitting right behind the pub. The relationship with the previous landlord unravelled and left the club in dire straits. “We were not too far from folding as a club which would have been desperately sad,” says Bob Wardman, club Chairman. “But when Andrew took over, it was clear straight away that he wanted to help. He’s a local lad and a former rugby player, so that helped.”
get some regular business. We hand out sandwiches and sausage rolls free of charge to them and they spend money on drinks. It’s also a great way of bringing the community together.”
Perhaps the most impactful example of this is the relationship Andrew has built with the local Withernsea RFC rugby club. The rugby pitches and dressing rooms sit right behind the pub and for many years the club used The Plough as its base. But the relationship with the previous landlord soured and that left the rugby club with huge challenges that almost forced it to close.
A former rugby player himself, Andrew quickly stepped in and invited the club
The club quickly rehoused itself at The Plough and has seen its fortunes improve dramatically in the last 18 months or so. “We’ve got some lovely new Belhaven Black sponsored shirts, we’ve been able to improve the pitch, add some covered seating areas and use The Plough as our base again, which is wonderful,” says Mick Moor, President. “The club is on a high which makes it easier to attract new players. We’ve got a great
venue for a few pints with the opposition after matches and can see upwards of 100 people coming along to watch these days. And we’re just about to be accepted into the Yorkshire 4 league which is part of the proper RFU league structure. None of that would have been possible without Andrew’s support, and Greene King and Belhaven too, obviously.”
back. “It was a natural fit again,” he says. “We quickly built up the relationship with the club then I spoke to Alistair and he told me that, because the club plays in black strips, he would get sponsorship from Belhaven Black for some new strips. They look fantastic and, additionally, sales of Belhaven Black have gone through the roof. It sells far better than Guinness ever did here.”
As well as the rugby club, five darts teams and two pool teams now call The Plough home – which is why every night of the week is busy with matches, meetings, training and socialising. And that’s not including the local arts club and the Women’s Institute who also host meetings there.
With a hub to gather around now, The Plough is a fine example of the galvanising role that a great pub can play in bringing a local community together.
The last piece of the jigsaw is adding a highquality food offering and, after fully fitting out a new high-spec kitchen, Andrew has recently recruited Steven Lodge as his Head Chef, a man who had previously spent most of his career at the only Michelin-starred restaurant in the area.
“We want to offer food that’s just that bit better than people expect,” says Andrew. “If we can crack the food side, I think that will be us in great shape for the summer and beyond.”
It certainly hasn’t been easy for Andrew and life as a publican has taken a little bit of getting used to, but there’s no question that he’s making a difference. “I never anticipated it being quite so hard to run a pub,” laughs Andrew. “And I’m an early bird so I’m used to waking up about 5am every day and going to bed early too. But I’m getting used to it and I’m a real people person – that’s my favourite bit about the job – so it’s rewarding to see the positive impact the pub is now having on the community.”
“SALES OF BELHAVEN BLACK HAVE GONE THROUGH THE ROOF, AND IT SELLS FAR BETTER THAN GUINNESS EVER DID HERE.”
THE BALINTORE INN
Star appeal
After a career in finance Mike Dwyer turned to hospitality and has created a hugely popular venue in the north-east of Scotland that recently hosted actor Harrison Ford for lunch!
How many rural venues can say they count superstar actors like Harrison Ford among their guests? Not many, but Mike Dwyer is among the very few to have hosted the celebrity at his pub, restaurant and hotel in the beautiful village of Balintore on the rugged north-east coast of Scotland, not far from Tain, the iconic home of Glenmorangie.
“It was a bit of a surreal experience,” laughs Mike. “It was just a regular day when in walked Harrison Ford looking for a bite of lunch. He’d been staying at nearby Glenmorangie House and decided to jump on a bike and cycle over here for lunch. I managed to have a quick chat with him, and he was a very nice man. He had a Beef Jalfrezi and told me it was the best meal he’d had all week. And he washed it down with two or three pints of Belhaven Black which he told me he really enjoyed!”
Naturally, the visit became a social media sensation in the local area, and it certainly didn’t do Mike’s business any harm.
CAREER SHIFT
Serving lunch to famous actors is a far cry from where Mike’s career began, it turns out. He spent “most of his working life” in the high-stakes and high-pressure finance industry based in Charlotte Square in Edinburgh but decided at one point that he wanted a complete change of scene.
“I left the finance industry and spent a couple of years working for the Office of National Statistics then bought the Castle Hotel in Portmahomack, a little further north than Balintore. I ran that successfully then sold it in 2006 and bought the Altnacealgach Inn, much further to the west, in 2007. I then sold it in 2013 because I felt I needed to do something different.
Mike looked at all sorts of options, including a veterinary surgery, but eventually settled on The Balintore Inn, his current “and probably last” hospitality venue.
“I bought it in 2015, and it was closed and needed a full-scale major refit,” explains Mike. “I spent more than I’d planned to on the refit, but I wanted to turn it upside down and create a new, valuable asset for the community and the area.
“The venue sits right on the waterside, for example, but there were no windows to take advantage of that fact – so we added big windows into the dining room and the bar areas to give our guests fantastic views.”
This was obviously pre-Covid and Mike also set about renovating some stables at the back of the venue to add six new rooms to the four that sit within the main building. The pandemic interrupted that process but the rooms were completed, and to a very high standard, after Covid passed.
Perhaps tongue in cheek, Mike describes the Covid period as “restful”. He comments: “We were fully closed for eight months although we did takeaway. But it let me spend time with my kids and do some thinking and planning.”
When the doors did re-open, normal service was quickly resumed. With very little competition in the village and that spectacular coastal setting, the Balintore Inn is hugely popular with locals all year round and flooded with tourists in summer, about 50% of them from the UK and the other half from even further afield, says Mike.
“We were flat out with the rooms from day one and even though we’re very rural, there’s a lot around here to draw visitors,” says Mike. “Easter Airfield is nearby, and we see a lot of pilots, there’s golf courses, whisky distilleries, amazing walks and cycling routes, lovely beaches and more. Plus, there are a lot of workers who come here for extended periods to the nearby Freeport, the Nigg Energy Park and the Nigg oil terminal. We get lots of those guys staying with us for months at a time. We also host campervans free on site as that generates food and drink sales.”
Balintore is actually one of three conjoined villages – Hilton, Balintore, and Shandwick – known collectively as the Seaboard Villages with a combined population of about 3,000. Mike gets regular custom from all three villages and, for the last year, has been the only pub in Balintore.
“There are some plans for a high-end restaurant along the road, which I welcome as it adds more appeal to the village and more reasons to visit, because there aren’t many hospitality venues left here.”
Despite that, staffing is as challenging for Mike as it is for most venues these days, a situation Mike believes has been “amplified since Covid”. Nevertheless, Mike has a strong management team in place while he spends a lot of time in the kitchen. “I’m chef,” he explains. “I have had a lifelong passion for cooking, and I’ve transferred that passion into our professional kitchen. My right-hand woman, Gillian McKay, has been with me about a decade so she looks after front of house for me while I’m sweating in the kitchen!”
The menu at the Balintore Inn features a range of crowd-pleasing traditional pub dishes and Scottish classics, many with Mike’s signature fusion twist. “I like Oriental, Thai, Malaysian, Indian, so that influences my dishes and my menu,” explains Mike.
As for drinks, Mike has been buying from Belhaven since Covid. “We have a great relationship with the guys at Belhaven and it works really well. We get all of our beers from Belhaven and while we do have a regular customer base of drinkers, we find that the food side of the business also helps drive sales of drinks.”
Mike stocks Belhaven Black, rather than Guinness, and also has Ice Breaker, Maltsmiths and, interestingly, Estrella Galicia 0.0% on draught. “We haven’t had it long but it’s definitely proving popular and there is a market for alcohol-free beer.”
Mike also says Belhaven Black is doing extremely well, “better than Guinness ever did,” and the fact that Harrison Ford is clearly a fan has no doubt helped sales!
The venue has large outdoor areas with 13 tables in total, including a huge beer garden, which proves extremely beneficial when the summer rush kicks off.
“It’s mad in summer, it really is,” laughs Mike. “It’s just non-stop all day long. We’re open seven days all year and we open longer hours in summer because the place can get
absolutely rammed.”
It’s a hectic life and Mike does say that he is “contemplating retirement” to spend time travelling the world, but it’s clear that he gets a buzz out of his business and enjoys running a true gem of the north-east hospitality scene.
“I love what I do,” he concludes with a broad smile. “It’s hard work and it can be frustrating but it’s just such a great industry to be involved in.”
“HARRISON FORD POPPED IN FOR LUNCH AND HAD A BEEF JALFREZI AND TWO OR THREE PINTS OF BELHAVEN BLACK WHICH HE TOLD ME HE REALLY ENJOYED!”
TIME TO GET FRUITY?
With summer on the way it’s the perfect time to freshen up your drinks list with some fruity new listings from Greene King.
SCHWEPPES FLAVOURED SODAS 200ML
Bring a taste of summer to your range with two new flavoured soda water mixers from Schweppes, the number one-selling soda brand. Available in 200ml glass bottles, Schweppes Tropical Soda and Schweppes Pink Grapefruit Soda are ideal as mixers, as part of cocktails and signature serves, or even over ice on their own.
INNOCENT JUICY WATER RANGE 200ML
Helping you target a diverse range of audiences from children to those reducing their alcohol intake this summer is a new range of Innocent Juicy Water lines. Containing a blend of juices, added vitamin C and natural flavours, these lines make great options when the sun is shining. The range includes Apples & Strawberries and Apples and Mangoes variants.
WESTONS ENGLISH BERRY CIDER 50L
Tap into the summer demand for refreshing, fruity ciders with Henry Westons English Berry Cider, a 4.0% ABV draught fruit cider made using only English berries. Packed with delicious, crisp raspberries and blackberries, with a juicy deep berry flavour, it features hint of fresh grass to provide lasting summer refreshment.
Meet The Team: Neil Stebbings
ABOUT NEIL
In this issue, we catch up with Sales Development Manager Neil Stebbings to learn more about how he and his sales colleagues can help venues grow and develop.
Neil Stebbings is a Sales Development Manager (SDM) covering the mid-Essex area. He is responsible for about 80 independent Free Trade venues and works alongside three other SDMs in Essex.
He joined Greene King in 2020 during the Covid pandemic, having worked for Diageo since 2008, mainly in operational and analytical roles as well as within the London eld sales team.
He has worked across three di erent territories in his time with Greene King and has gained extensive experience over that time.
NEIL, TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF…
I’m Neil Stebbings and I’m a Sales Development Manager (SDM) covering the area that we refer to as mid-Essex, which is essentially the middle band that runs across the county. I manage around 75 to 80 Free Trade venues in that area as well as Essex based pub group Gray & Sons.
WHEN DID YOU JOIN GREENE KING?
I joined in 2020 just before the second Covid lockdown. Not the ideal time to move businesses, as it turned out, but nobody knew that at the time. Before joining Greene King, I spent around 12 years with Diageo mainly in operational and analytical roles, but I also worked in the London sales team. Since joining Greene King I’ve worked across three different territories, which has been really helpful in letting me gain knowledge and experience of both Greene King as a business
and of its many fantastic Free Trade customers.
WHAT DOES A TYPICAL DAY LOOK LIKE?
Every day is different as you can imagine, but I try to visit at least six customers a day. That can include existing customers or prospects and the reasons for those visits are varied, depending upon the specific needs of the individual customers.
CAN YOU GIVE US SOME EXAMPLES?
Well, I could be helping advise on ways of growing their business, I could be presenting some of the fantastic Greene King products that customers don’t currently stock, I might be sharing ideas that have worked with other customers, or I might be discussing the ways that Greene King can support customers via our Value Hub and/or with investment. It’s different every day but it all comes down to one simple goal: as an SDM my
role is to help my customers grow their business by increasing footfall, sales and profits.
SO YOU’RE A ONE-STOP-SHOP FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS?
Precisely. Through our experience of the market and with other other customers, we are able to offer expert support and advice to customers looking to develop their business, whatever that might look like to them. Visiting our accounts regularly is vital as it allows us to really understand their needs, ensuring we offer them bespoke solutions.
HOW HAS BUSINESS BEEN RECENTLY?
The feedback I am getting from many customers is that, whilst Christmas trade was decent, it has been a challenging start to 2025. Mid-week trade has been affected more than most but, encouragingly, customers tell me that their customers are still coming out. Whilst they may not be seeing them quite as often it’s clear that people still need to be out socialising with friends & family. What they are looking for now, more than ever, is a great experience. This means a lot of different things but
essentially, we’re talking about great quality products that need to be well presented and well served in a friendly, welcoming environment.
SO CUSTOMERS ARE STILL WILLING TO SPEND?
Absolutely! People are still spending but they’re maybe expecting a little more for their money. Because they aren’t venturing out quite so often, they want those visits to the pub or restaurant to be extra special. When spending they want value and quality, and they want to go home feeling that they’ve had a great experience.
HOW IS THE SUMMER LOOKING?
Let’s just say we’re all praying for an early and very long, hot summer! Great weather makes all the difference to our trade and, with not so many major sporting events this year, the weather will be a key factor in getting people out. Great food and drink, a clean and safe environment and a welcoming atmosphere… oh, and for me, a lovely pub garden to take my dog & family to.
SO, TRADITIONAL OLD-SCHOOL GREAT HOSPITALITY THEN?
Pretty much. Thankfully most of my customers are already amazing at this… but when good hospitality is combined with great weather it’s a game changer for many. My customers are putting in the hard graft in the spring, improving their facilities (in some cases using the investment that we have provided) ensuring they are match fit for when the people arrive. Personally, I love this time of year and it’s shaping up to be another good few months.
ARE COSTS STILL A MAJOR CHALLENGE?
Definitely. Minimum wage changes, National Insurance and other operational increases are a significant and growing challenge for my customers. As already mentioned, success will come down to getting the fundamentals right: great customer service, quality products, friendly and knowledgeable bar staff and a good atmosphere.
HAVE YOU SEEN ANY GOOD NEW BUSINESSBUILDING IDEAS?
Yes, lots. Value and quality are key now as customers are more discerning, but I’ve seen some of my customers come up with some great ideas. A lot of it is around servicing or creating new occasions. One venue used the function room it has to host Six Nations Rugby lunches. For £25 a head, people could come and watch two matches on TV and get a meal and a cheeseboard between the games. It’s a fantastic way to use an empty space and it obviously drove drinks sales too.
SO, GET CREATIVE?
Yes, especially around occasions. My role as their SDM is no longer just supplying the right products at the right price… I have a responsibility to help them find new ways of ensuring every space in their venue is used as often as possible. A little planning and blue sky thinking in advance can pay big dividends over the course of the summer.
IN THE PINK
Get your venue rosé ready as we head towards warmer weather.
With summer just a stone’s throw away, rosé wines will undoubtedly see a seasonal surge in popularity. With their summery hues and perceptions as a light and refreshing beverage, the pink drinks have been steadily winning over customers in recent years.
42% of rosé drinkers choose it for both food and drink-led occasions – that’s nine percentage points higher than the figure for all still wine drinkers.
A third (34%) of consumers now drink rosé wine in Britain’s On Premise, and a fifth (21%) claimed to be drinking it more frequently than they were the previous year, according to 2023 data from CGA by NIQ. As demand has increased, so have rosé’s value sales, which climbed up +7.4% over the 12-month period covered in the report – that’s double the rate of value growth for the still wine category.
Source: CGA
city dwellers tend to be drawn to it, according to CGA. These drinkers are big spenders, forking out £126 a month in bars and restaurants –that’s £10 more than average.
The firm points out that there is a major opportunity to increase spend, with 62% of rosé consumers likely to pay more for a better-quality drink. Premium rosé value sales soared +18.9% in the 12-month period of the report, notably higher than the figures for premium red (+7.7%) and premium white (+10.2%).
It won’t come as any surprise to know that women drink the lion’s share of rosé. To be more specific, younger people and
From the fruity strawberry and raspberry mixed with floral notes of Bellino Organic Rose, to the sweet cherry and cooling watermelon flavours of Journey’s End Pinot Grigio Rosé, here at Greene King we have a stunning selection of drinks to suit all tastes.
460224
463983
BETTER
Mirabeau Azure Provence Rosé
France 12.7%
An elegant pale peach Rosé. Soft and fresh with favours of mandarine and pear.
Bellino Organic Rose
Italy 11.5%
Strawberry and raspberry fruits with a some floral hints and a soft acidity leaves a clean medium bodied finish.
465463
Lamberti Ca’Preella Pinot Grigio Blush
Italy 11.0%
This light, easy-drinking rosé has subtle red fruit flavours and a soft finish.
Nearly three quarters (72%) of rosé drinkers consider it suitable for all occasions.
Source: CGA
ROSÉ WINE
466877
Journey’s End Pinot Grigio Rosé
South Africa 12.5%
This RosÉ offers aromas of fresh red berries along with concentrated cherry fruit flavours and a hint of melon. A beautifully balanced wine with a crisp acidity and refreshing finish.
456316
Mionetto Prosecco Rosé
Italy 11.0%
Intense aromas of fruit, especially apple and white peach, pleasant notes of red fruits, blackberries, wild strawberries and blackcurrants.
464793
Chapel Down English Rosé
England 12.5%
This Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier dominated blend features an abundance of strawberry, raspberry and citrus aromas coupled with crisp acidity and a long refreshing finish.
460437
Quatre Vin Organic Cotes De Provence Rosé
France 13.0%
Juicy stone fruit, freeze dried strawberries with a light floral touch brings Provence to your glass.
If you’re after a beverage with a powerful and complex palate, then The Mirabeau Azure Provence Rosé could be just the ticket. This pale pink rosé with light salmon reflections offers pear and apricot aromas with a touch of citrus. Described by its maker as a food-friendly rosé, it pairs perfectly with dishes such as aubergine Parmigiana, grilled fillet of cod and roasted butternut squash with pesto.
Or perhaps an English rosé, brimming with summer fruit fragrance might fit the bill. A superb example of a quality English rosé wine, Chapel Down carries notes of raspberries, strawberries and cream, and pairs well with grilled shellfish, grilled meats and salads.
It is also worth highlighting that a fifth (21%) of consumers now typically drink sparkling rosé – just ahead of consumption rates of champagne at 19%, according to CGA 2023 research. With 23% of sparkling rosé consumers drinking it more often, there’s even more reason to add a sparkling rosé to your menu.
One fizzy that promises to add sparkle to your sales is Mionetto Prosecco Rosé. Its light pink peach blossom colour is buoyed by a fruity bouquet of grapefruit and small red fruits. What’s more, this special drink undergoes aging on the lees for 60 days, which results in a delicious warm honey aroma.
Why not give your wine menu a rosé revamp, unlocking that extra spend by tempting your customers to think pink?
FOOD PAIRINGS
Mediterranean dishes:
With its fresh flavours and herbs, Mediterranean cuisine is a marvellous match with rosé.
Pizza and pasta:
Rosé’s versatility makes it a good choice for pizza, especially with tomato-based toppings, and it works well with tomatobased pasta sauces too.
Cheese:
Rosé pairs well with all manner of cheeses, especially feta and mozzarella.
Desserts:
Fruit- or chocolate-based desserts can make a pleasing pairing.
Grilled vegetables:
The wine’s lightness and fruitiness elevate the smoky, charred flavours of the vegetables.
THE FUTURE’S BRIGHT, THE FUTURE’S ORANGE
Unless you’ve been under a rock for the past few years, you can’t fail to have picked up on the buzz around orange wine.
In contrast to popular belief, no oranges are required to make orange wine. Instead, the vibrant drink is created by extending contact with grape skins during the winemaking process.
Influencers may have only discovered orange wine in recent times, but it actually dates back over 8,000 years. Historically, orange wines were fermented in large terracotta jars called Qvevri (“Kev-ree”), which were closed with flagstones and lined with beeswax.
The flavour of orange wine offers the best of both worlds with the fruitiness of white wine fusing with the depth and intensity of red. Keep the trend seekers on their toes with our fabulous Grenache Gris Jean Marc Lafage Taronja de Gris Orange Wine.
TIME FOR A FRESH LOOK AT SOFT DRINKS?
The soft drinks market is huge and fast-moving, yet the limited range found in many on-trade venues doesn’t refl ect this fact – so is it time for a fresh look at the category?
No matter which way you look at it, soft drinks is a huge category in the hospitality trade and is important for all venues. Yet while all venues stock soft drinks, it still looks like the category is packed full of opportunities for venues to grow footfall, sales and profits.
Typically, soft drinks account for around a quarter of the volume in the Free Trade yet the range available in many venues is very limited and hasn’t evolved and grown nearly as quickly as it has in the off-trade. Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP), the leading soft drinks business in the UK, says that it expects sales of soft drinks to grow by 3% in off-trade by 2026. That’s equivalent to an extra £1bn in value sales across the period. That might sound like a lot but it’s actually equivalent to just six additional drinks per year per person.
So with all this growth and dynamism in the off-trade, it suggests that the on-trade may be missing sales by not keeping up with
those shifting and growing consumer demands by updating the range available behind the bar.
OPPORTUNITIES GALORE
The soft drinks category is made up of 10 key sectors but it’s three of these that are most important to hospitality venues: cola, lemonade and mixers. Generally speaking, they account for about two thirds of category value. And when it comes to pack formats, there’s a near 60/40 split between draught and packaged in the on-trade.
So what does this all mean for venues? Well, a lot of it comes down to offering choice.
Consider that even a typical small convenience store will have dozens of soft drinks SKUs to choose from. In pubs, the range includes an average of just seven.
Most venues have a wide range of beers, ciders, wines and spirits to choose from – so why not soft drinks? They’re too important to consumers to be left as afterthoughts.
Whether it’s those choosing soft drinks for themselves or their kids or it’s the growing number looking to manage their weekly alcohol intake, soft drinks are vital in ensuring that people still come to the pub even when they’re not drinking alcohol.
MENU OPTIMISATION
HOW CONSUMERS ENJOY THEIR ENERGY DRINKS…
on its own as a straight drink
alongside a meal or snack as a mixer with their spirit of choice in a cocktail or mocktail
A related opportunity is menu optimisation, which essentially comes down to how you showcase your soft drinks option invenue and digitally, be that on your website or on social media.
Again, it’s a case of not leaving soft drinks as an afterthought. CCEP highlights three specific ways that venues can optimise soft drinks on menus:
Use brand logos to spotlight specific drinks;
Tempt customers with tantalising descriptions;
Use imagery to encourage consumers to grab a soft drink with their meal.
According to CCEP, these simple steps can help increase spend by over 9%. And if you have digital menus and ordering invenue, CCEP says people spend 19% more on soft drinks on mobile menus, compared with physical menus.
ENERGY
Perhaps the single biggest opportunity for Free Trade venues, however, is the energy drinks sector. Over the last decade, energy has moved from being a niche sector to a truly mainstream one and is now the second-biggest sector behind cola. It’s also the fastest-growing sector and is huge in the offtrade.
This glaring opportunity is not reflected in the on-trade where the energy range available in a typical pub or restaurant is tiny. Red Bull has earned a place in many venues but it’s rare to find
even fast-growing brands like Monster behind the bar.
If so many consumers routinely buy energy brands when at home or on the go, why wouldn’t they want to do that in venues too?
Surveys show that around 60% of people drink energy drinks while 20% do so daily. Energy drinks also command a higher price than the average soft drink.
This seems like an open door waiting to be pushed. Is now the time to really maximise your soft drink sales?
“EVEN A TYPICAL SMALL CONVENIENCE STORE WILL HAVE DOZENS OF SOFT DRINKS SKUS TO CHOOSE FROM. IN PUBS, THE RANGE INCLUDES AN AVERAGE OF JUST SEVEN.”
