Five years ago, Heineken developed a training programme in The Netherlands
to help on-trade customers improve quality and increase turnover. It proved so
popular, that today it has been expanded to include 16 modules, which cover all
aspects of the on-trade consumer experience, and Heineken is currently rolling
out the programme globally.
Bar Code!
Heineken Programme Manager,
Ronald van den Assem came up
with the Draught Beer Excellence
Programme concept five years
ago when he noticed that all of
the investment Heineken puts into
providing and transporting a quality
product can be: "Lost in the last 10
centimetres of transportation,
between the tap and the glass, if
it's not done right."
Entrepreneur turned Master Trainer
for the programme, Frank Evers says:
"There are so many bars, for example,
which don't clean their lines often
enough. They don't realise how this
affects the quality of the product they're
serving and, ultimately, their repeat
custom. They might not notice the
impact of this on their sales overnight,
but gradually customers will drift away.
What you really want is your current
customers recommending your bar to
their friends. And this will happen if the
quality is absolutely, and always, right."
LARGEST QUALITY PROGRAMME
The Draught Beer Excellence
Programme has grown in capacity since
2006, and last year it trained 10,000
employees, from around 2,000 outlets,
at Heineken's facilities in Amsterdam.
"It's now the largest quality programme
in the Dutch on-trade," says Ronald.
The programme offers entrepreneurs
and their employees technical
support, training and quality checks
to structurally improve the quality and
turnover of business. The basic training
covers topics such as hospitality,
hygiene, customer service, product
knowledge, the perfect draught beer,
stock keeping, ambience and much
more. "The results are tangible," adds
Ronald. "Outlets see draught beer sales
increase, on average by 5% following
the training."
The programme focuses on improving
quality in three areas: the products,
how the products are handled and
the personnel. "Improvements in
these three areas don't just impact
beer sales, they affect the whole
drinking experience. Wine sales also
saw average sales increases of 17%,
soft drinks 9%, specialty beer 5%, and
spirits 6%," Ronald explains.
Entrepreneur TijI Verschuur, and
owner of Café Faber in Nijmegen, The
Netherlands, recently organised the
training for the second time. "I ran
the training for my team in a bar that
I managed previously and this was
enough to convince me to do it
again," says TijI.
VALUE FOR MONEY
"The training itself is great value for
money. In addition to the basic one day
training, it also includes line cleaning
every four weeks and four 'mystery'
visits per year, all for just a little bit
more than the normal price of line
cleaning. While it's difficult to pinpoint
the exact impact the training had on
sales, what I am confident about is
that quality sells - and this programme
looks at every factor where quality can
be impacted, and ideally, improved.
The Draught Beer Excellence
Programme is built around the five
pillars of Heineken's 'More Business'
model, which aims to increase
customer's turnover and yield. The
pillars include: Surroundings
character; Hospitality service;
Assortment quality; Active selling
presentation; and Footfall.
PROFITING IN AN ECONOMIC CRISIS
TijI bought Café Faber three years ago,
at the start of the economic crisis, but
despite this, he has seen sales and
profitability grow steadily. "I put this
down to the fact that I offer consistent
quality. As customers cut back, they're
becoming more careful about how they
spend their money. This means that their
expectations regarding quality are rising.
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