CELEBRATING EACH SMALL TRIUMPH:
SECRET OF OAK'S SUCCESS
"We've now got Heineken and Murphy's Irish Stout on
draught in the Yankee Stadium!", says Debra Boening to
an employee of Heineken USA. Debra is the head of
Oak Beverage, the second biggest distributor for Heineken
in the USA. Despite the sheer scale of her company's
operations, she still gets enthusiastic about relatively
small victories. And that explains the success of
Oak Beverage in a single sentence.
Murphy's Irish Stout and Buckler, Oak
Beverage also carries a great many
other beer brands in its portfolio. In
part, this is due to the colossal popu
larity of specialty beers ("You have to
give the consumers what they want.
It's as simple as that") but there are
also historical reasons. "My grand
father ran what was more or less a
one-brand company. When the manu
facturer withdrew the product, my
grandfather instantly lost more than
half of his turnover. From that time
on, we've always made sure we've got
a wide range of different products."
Oak Beverage is a sister company of
Boening Brothers; both are located
close to the metropolis of New York,
but each has its own operating area.
Debra Boening's great-grandfather set
up the business in 1901. Oak Beverage
itself started up in 1980, after the
Miller Brewing Company discon
tinued its activities in a warehouse in
Bauvelt. Debra Boening's father
acquired the business and his daugh
ter took over at the helm in 1989.
Ever since the end of the 1930s
Heineken has been in good hands
with Boening Brothers. Debra
Boening recalls that volumes were
modest for a long period: "As a child
in the nineteen-sixties, I can remem
ber hearing that a restaurant had
ordered three cases of Heineken. In
those days that was an enormous
order!"
MOST SOLD
Today, in 1997, it's a different picture.
Oak Beverage has two warehouses.
In one of them the predominant
color is Heineken green. A whole
tower of Heineken Beer along the
wall represents stocks for thirty days.
Each year Oak Beverage sells more
than four million cases of Heineken
Beer. That's almost ten per cent of
the total sales of Heineken USA.
Manhattan, the business heart of
New York, is one of Oak's main sales
areas. "In Manhattan Heineken is a
top seller and it outsells all other
local brands. One of the reasons is
Heineken's tremendous popularity
amongst the Afro-Americans in the
Harlem district of Manhattan",
explains Debra Boening.
Alongside Heineken, Amstel Light,
DELIS
As we said earlier: Heineken products
occupy a prominent position in that
broad portfolio of brands and types
of beer. Given that the sales area
mainly covers Harlem and the Bronx,
the quantity of Heineken products
supplied to on premise outlets is ex
ceptionally low, accounting for fifteen
per cent of sales. Debra Boening
explains why: "Afro-Americans and
Hispanics buy their Heineken in the
small neighborhood stores and drink
it at home. The on premise doesn't
play a significant role in these dis
tricts." Heineken's sales are achieved
via the delis and small stores, though
the importance of the supermarkets
for Heineken is increasing.
Oak Beverage is eagerly awaiting
the link-up with Heineken USA as
part of the HOPS project (Heineken
Operation Planning System). This
system will allow Oak Beverage to
transmit orders to Heineken USA in
next to no time via the Internet.
"I believe in the HOPS project. As
we're located close to the head office
of Heineken USA, communication is
already excellent. I can imagine that
for other parts of the country HOPS
will bring an improvement in the
communication with Heineken USA.
The uniformity we'll shortly have
when placing orders will also make
the whole operation much more effi
cient. A fantastic initiative."
Also thanks to Oak Beverage. Heineken is one of the top sellers in Manhattan, New York.
It outsells all other local brands.
