OOMEN
Even on days when the
weather is duller the interior
of Gran Canaria has surpris
ing scenery to offer.
26
Completely separate from the
import operation for bottles and cans is
the import of Heineken in kegs. The
energetic Dutchman Willem Oomen is
the owner of Alecan and imports keg
beer. He is assisted by his wife Diny
and sales manager Jiirgen Schu
macher.
Willem Oomen is a man who
knows the licensed trade through and
through. His sense of adventure took
him to sea at an early age. After start
ing as a washer-up on the Holland-
America Line, he was promoted to ste
ward within a few years. Later on, he
shifted his field of work to Germany,
where he entered the supermarket
business. In the meantime he kept on
with his studies and completed a
university study in economics. Via his
work with a German brewery as
export manager for Spain he came into
contact with the Canary Islands. Dur
ing that period he also had some brief
contacts with Heineken. 'Once I had
taken the decision to start up for myself
on the Canary Islands, I sought contact
with Heineken to become its importer
for keg beer', explains Oomen.
Careful
As we talk, Willem Oomen counts up
the number of dispenser taps which
serve Heineken beer. 'There are now
78, but that number changes daily.'
Oomen employs two representatives,
but visits most of the outlets himself
together with Jiirgen Schumacher.
'Until some time ago we were
dependent on tourism for 95% of our
turnover. Partly thanks to the work
that De la Torre has done to get
Heineken beer generally accepted by
the local population, the share of
Heineken keg beer for the local market
has also climbed.' Oomen is trying to
strengthen that effect further by
installing a Heineken dispenser in the
best outlet in every village in the inte
rior. The number of draught outlets is
only growing slowly, but the volume is
growing strongly.
That slow growth is proof of how
careful Oomen is in making his selec
tion. 'The people have to have a certain
philosophy to be able to sell Heineken.
If a bar owner rings us up and says 'I
want to sell keg Heineken because it
sells well', then we first go and take a
look round to see whether the quality
of the bar fits in with that of Heineken.
If not, then we have to disappoint the
customer.'
The Heineken Tavern in Las
Palmas: the brainchild of Wili
tem Oomen.
Service
To safeguard Heineken's premium
image, a high price alone is not suffi
cient, feels Willem Oomen. 'A good
image thanks to a glass with the
Heineken brand on it is also very
important. Serving beer in a water
tumbler radiates no image at all. If you
want to sell Heineken, you have to do
that with a Heineken glass and beer
mat.'
The third important aspect in
maintaining a high premium image is
service. Underneath his offices in the
south of Gran Canaria Willem Oomen
has had workshops built where all
repairs are made to dispenser installa-
THE W O R L D OF HEINEKEN
