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HEINEKEN INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE NR. 27
Greece seems like a nation of a thousand islands. With one
island even more idyllic than the next. If you add to this the
pleasant climate, it's not surprising that each year some eight to
nine million tourists choose Greece as their holiday destina
tion.
Two thousand
Cargo
A matter of
organisation
Athenian Brewery has to make
concessions as regards the order
size for the wholesalers in Athens,
since these wholesale businesses
are cramped for space. 'Land is in
very short supply in Athens and so
it's very expensive. That means
that the wholesalers do not have so
much storage capacity at their dis
posal. For them the minimum
order size is eight to ten pallets',
says Theodore Hadzimichalis. In
recent years there has been a tend
George Papadopoulos, market
ing manager of Athenian Brewery,
starts off our talk by telling us that
tourism's influence on beer sales is
not all that big. 'We've found from
market research that tourists ac
count for only 5% of the total sales.
When they're here in Greece, most
tourists from Northern Europe pre
fer to drink wine rather than beer.'
Though tourist demand for beer
may not be so big, beer still has to
be delivered promptly to most of
the islands, as the local population
has grown to appreciate its taste
over the past decade.
Distribution to retailers in Athens
How does Athenian Brewery
supply beer to wholesalers out on
all those islands? From the view
point of Athenian Brewery this is a
bit easier than it seems at first sight.
The wholesale businesses in fact
come and fetch the beer them
selves. All the wholesalers are sup
plied from depots in Patras, Athens
and Thessaloniki (the three brew
eries of Athenian Brewery) and on
Crete.
'They phone the order through
to us and we can have it ready for
them to collect the next day', ex
plains Theodore Hadzimichalis,
Wholesale business in Athens
Athenian Brewery's distribution
manager. 'The wholesalers on the
islands know exactly which ferries
the trucks can use to pick up their
supplies.'
Athenian Brewery's list of
customers contains as many as two
thousand wholesalers and agents!
Most of them are small family
firms. The wholesalers in Athens
have to order at least eight to ten
pallets from Athenian Brewery
each time. In the provinces that
minimum is much higher: about
twenty pallets.
ency for the wholesale businesses to
escape the hustle and bustle of the
capital and look for adequate stor
age space outside the city.
To enable a more flexible and
efficient transport flow, computer
programs are an essential tool. Be
fore the 1991 peak summer season
Athenian Brewery hopes to be op
erating the 'Cargo' software pack
age. This computer program, de
veloped by Heineken and a soft
ware firm, gives help with such
tasks as route planning and decid
ing on the size and type of truck
needed to transport the beer.
An agent in the Corinth area
Agents Gray MacKenzie
visit Holland
The Gulf States are an impor
tant export market for Heineken.
The agents for Heineken (and
Amstel) in this region are Gray
MacKenzie, a firm of importers
that Heineken has been doing busi
ness with for decades. Some time
ago a delegation from Gray Mac
Kenzie and its subsidiaries in the
various Gulf States paid a visit to
Holland. The purpose of the visit
was to give the Gray MacKenzie
staff a chance to familiarise them
selves in more detail with the work
ing methods of a number of
Heineken departments.
The Gray MacKenzie group gather
in the bar at Heineken head office in
Amsterdam. The guests were wel
comed by Mr G. van Schaik.
