Heineken swings in Puerto Rico I He was once described as 'the man with beer, not blood, in his veins.' Not because of an alcoholic over indulgence, but because of his great love for the purely natural product and its best possible presentation. Gian- paolo di Prete is a beer man through and through. And, in a country where beer still has to build up its own culture, this can sometimes be a little frustrating. Love Instructions Preference In San Juan, the capital of the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico, the Heineken Jazz Festival was organised for the third time a number of months ago. The festival lasted four eve nings and was held in the open air on a big square in the old part of San Juan city. The crowds of enthusiasts who flocked along to the event were able to watch and listen to a selection of latin jazz musicians, the main attractions being Tania Maria, Hilton Ruiz and Paquito D'Rivera. Draught Heineken specially imported from Holland for the occasion was served from marquees on the square. In addition, Heineken advertising materials such as cool bags and beer mugs were on sale, plus T-shirts and posters of the festival HEINEKEN INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE NR. 23 PAGE 8 4 The man with beer in his veins' Di Prete taps a beer lovingly and with feeling. Di Prete started working for Birra Dreher in 1979. He was one of the twelve employees in the technical service department for tap dispensing installations. The twelve of them were responsible for servicing 1,600 dispensers. In as little as ten years the number of draught outlets has grown to 22,000 and Di Prete has built up a network offering the fastest possi ble installation, repair and mainte nance service for beer taps. And it's a service for which there's no charge. Seven regional coordinators report to him on day-to-day events. Forty service mechanics are on the Birra Dreher payroll. Eighty others are employed by small firms run by people who were formerly with Birra Dreher and have now set up in business for themselves. Six depots, spread throughout the length and breadth of Italy, keep the essential stocks of spare parts. "It's of the utmost importance that we teach employees to love the business and the product. For they, too, are representatives of Heine- ken. And if we, both production and technical service department, work together to make sure that the consumer gets an excellent quality product, then I'm convinced that our business will remain in good health." During their work Di Prete's staff tend to come across quite a lack of know-how amongst bar owners. No wonder, since Italy has not (yet) developed a real beer culture. So, Italian bar owners are not all that hot when it comes to the mechanics of dispensing installa tions? "Well, sometimes we get a phone call from someone complain ing that the dispenser's broken, there's no beer flowing from the tap. When we check it out, we find that the carbon dioxide cylinder is empty. That lack of know-how can be irritating sometimes, but you've got to remember: they are your cus tomers", insists Di Prete. To increase the standard of that know-how instructions to bar own ers are very important. When a new dispenser tap is installed, every proprietor is presented with a pile of fact sheets. These show him the basic rules, such as the need to keep a close watch on prod uct freshness. In his work Di Prete has always kept track of new developments by Heineken's 'Horeca Tap Service' in Amsterdam. "We have made a few adaptations to the dispensing sys tems here, one reason being that the Dutch climate differs from that here in Italy. A cooling coil that works excellently in Holland may not work so well here. The tube is too wide and it doesn't cool down the beer enough in our warm cli mate." A second aspect which needs to be taken into account in Italy is that the dispenser is less fre quently in use. "In Italy drinking frequency is lower, and so the beer stays longer in the section between the cooling installation and the tap. As a result the beer gets tepid and starts to foam more. That's why we've decided to put some extra cooling in that section." Gianpaolo di Prete is a self-con fessed beer connoisseur, his prefer ence being Heineken beer. In fact, he prefers Heineken so much that he even asks for it in a bar which he knows doesn't sell Heineken. This is also one of the ways he pro motes the brand name. We were interested in hearing what Di Prete thought about the brands sold by Birra Dreher. "Heineken is an excellent beer with a good taste. McFarland is more a beer for young people in a trendy bar. Dreher, in my opinion, has a more full-bodied taste than Heine ken. The quality of Henninger is very good; it comes close to that of Heineken. Golden Fire is, I feel, a perfect beer, though it is very heavy. It's a real speciality beer and that means it will never really sell in great volume. To be honest, I prefer Heineken beer. When I'm in a bar where I know that they don't sell Heineken, I always ask for Heineken by name." That's his lit tle way of helping to make sure more people get to know the qual ity of Heineken beer. Giovanni Hidalgo, one of the attractions at the festival.

Jaarverslagen en Personeelsbladen Heineken

Heineken International Magazine | 1990 | | pagina 7