4
AMSTEL BEER ON
ILE DE LA RÉUNION
Part of Heineken head
office demolished
Réunion
hit by
cyclone
Last month brought launch of
Since last month the
growing army of beer fans
on lie de la Reunion have
been able to enjoy the
taste of Amstel beer.
Brasseries de Bourbon,
one of the Ibecor busi
nesses, decided to import
and market Amstel along
side its own 'Bière
Bourbon' and '33' brands.
"Bière Bourbon is by far
our best-selling beer
brand, but we feel you
must offer the consumer
sufficient choice", is how
general manager G. Stolk
explains the decision to
import Amstel.
The demolition crews have done their work. A part of
the office buildings at the Heineken head office in
Amsterdam has meanwhile been knocked down. The
demolition work signalled the start of a major rebuilding
plan which is expected to be completed in the autumn
of1988.
Stalls
Soft drinks
Brasseries de Bourbon uses various
lorries to transport beer and soft
drinks.
The new office building will be
linked to the older block of
offices (built in 1969) and to
the former Heineken family home
A part of the head office as it was
which is now also used as offices for
members of the Executive Board.
The new building was needed
because of the inefficient layout of
the old office premises which in fact
consisted of a number of buildings
which had been added to the
Heineken concern over the years.
In addition, the old office premises
no longer met today's requirements.
Large parts of the building were
urgently in need of renovation. To
solve these drawbacks at one fell
swoop it was decided on a drastic
rebuilding of the office; demolishing
everything and building anew on the
same spot.
and as it looked last month after the demolition crews
had done their work.
- JL_ LK k
1 i J
A big advertising campaign has
accompanied the Amstel launch.
Consumers have been able to
sample Amstel beer in the shops,
public transport buses meanwhile
carry big poster displays, an advertis
ing campaign has been started in
magazines, and one newspaper will
contain articles over a 20-week
period telling everything about beer
in general and Bourbon and Amstel
in particular.
lie de la Réunion is an overseas
department of France, a country
which does not allow alcoholic drinks
to be advertised on radio and televi
sion. So the same rules also apply on
the island. "Despite that limitation
we have a lot of points which favour
the success of the launch campaign.
As the island is fairly small, we can
achieve one hundred per cent distri
bution. So everyone will be able to
get to know Amstel beer. Besides,
the brewery has a good reputation on
the island, and that helps of course",
says Mr. Stolk.
Brasseries de Bourbon produces
some 105,000 hectolitres of beer a
year and has its own two wholesale
businesses to distribute the beer.
Both these wholesalers visit 2,800
customers, all of which are grocery
stores. "There is hardly any hotels
and bar trade here. All our sales out
lets are retail stores, varying from
enormous supermarkets to small,
fairly simple shops which often set
up a refreshment stall for people who
want to drink something on the spot.
But we estimate that some two-
thirds of the population consume
their drinks at home".
One business that forms part of
Brasseries de Bourbon is the Soreg
soft drinks plant which produces
Coca Cola, Fanta, Sprite, Schweppes
and a number of its own brands.
According to Mr. Stolk, the produc
tion volume of soft drinks is growing
"tremendously fast". Annual produc
tion at the moment is 89,000 hecto
litres of soft drinks.
The high soft drinks consumption is
not surprising in that climate. In the
summer the mercury climbs to 35
degrees Celsius and the humidity is
more than 80%. And even in "winter"
the temperatures are still as high as
25 degrees Celsius on this tropical
island. But even on lie de la Réunion
the weather can sometimes turn
nasty, as you can read in the cyclone
article.
The offices of Brasseries de Bourbon.
For four days the forces of nature
swept across lie de la Réunion,
reaching a peak of violence on, of
all days, Friday the 13th. A cyclone
(a violent tropical storm) roared
across the 600-square-kilometre
island which lies in the Indian
Ocean to the east of the African
island of Madagascar. In the space
of one single day the rain that
poured down on He de la Réunion
was equal to an entire year's rain
fall in a country like Holland
which, some feel, has more than
its fair share of wet weather.
For general manager G. Stolk of
Brasseries de Bourbon it was his
first encounter with a cyclone.
And it certainly shook him. 'The
weather turns really nasty during a
cyclone. In Réunion's mountains the
tremendous rainfall creates raging
torrents in no time and the hurricane-
force winds rip trees out of the
ground. So a cyclone can be an
extremely frightening experience".
The brewery, in which Heineken
has had a majority stake for more
than a year now, was not too badly
affected by the cyclone. "We have
a first-rate early warning system on
the island. Phase 1 recommends
people to build up a stock of food at
home. In phase 2 they are advised
to stay indoors and when phase
3 starts you really do have to stay
inside, as the weather turns very
wild. Luckily, we usually get the
first warning 48 hours before a
cyclone reaches the island".
"So we were able to take precau
tions in good time, like fastening
down all sorts of things, lashing
lorries together, and so on. But it's
reassuring that the buildings here
have been designed with storms like
this in mind. The outer walls are
built to withstand this battering by
the elements", says Mr. Stolk, who
deeply hopes that it will be a long
time before the next cyclone hits the
island.