RHYS WORTHINGTON —SUPPORTING OUR OWN BRANDS...

Hear from Rhys Worthington, Business Development Manager for Urban Pubs in Edinburgh, on why he is so passionate about driving our own beers and how he encourages his GM’s to do the same…

How has the support on cask ranging helped to drive sales with some of our urban pubs?

In Scotland we have a slightly different range available to us Deuchars IPA, Belhaven 80 as well as all GK beers. It’s great to have the opportunity to be flexible with our ranging. I think it’s also crucial to train the team passionately about product and ensure product, glassware and knowledge are consistently brilliant.

What other activity have you seen that has really supported OBV sales in our pubs?

I work with John Malone to track OBV by site and regularly review the range to see if we have any opportunity. The range of beers now is fantastic from modern beers, cask and Belhaven the guest is spoilt for choice.

I am taking all my GM’s down to Belhaven for a recognition event soon and a brewery tour. I also work closely with Fiona (Belhaven) and we have developed an ale trail around the city buying our products to win a T Shirt. We also partner with café barriers, POS and are working on a plan for the euros right now so we show up in pub with Belhaven. Its not every day Scotland get to a major championship!!

Why do you think it’s so important to advocate for our own Greene King/Belhaven beers?

We are all one company. The work that has been done on range over the last few years is incredible and no one can say we don’t have something for them. In urban we really drove the new premium beers with lots of incentives, training and tasting. There is a different mindset now around our beers from a few years ago.

I always tell new GM’s the importance of the brand as well as your pub. In Scotland the name on the door is 305 years old, we are the custodians of it while we work for the company, let’s look after it.