Heineken relaunches Buying Club in bid to save operators £5k per year

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Buying power: Heineken’s Buying Club claims to be able to save the average site £5k per year

Brewer Heineken UK has relaunched its Buying Club that it says offers pub operators exclusive deals that could help the on-trade save £1m this year.

Buying Club claims it can help the average pub save £5,000 per year through discounts with on-trade essential businesses, such as Brakes, Biffa and Nisbets.

Heineken UK direct-supplied and SmartDispense customers can receive reduced rates on services such as refuse collection, as well as added-value technology and software suppliers.

Continued cost pressures

Category and commercial strategy Director John Gemmell said: “The pub and bar trade is setting out on its first full year of uninterrupted trading since 2019. Although coronavirus restrictions appear to be a thing of the past, we know pubs face other continued cost pressures.

“By utilising the combined buying power of Heineken UK and our 2,500 Star Pubs & Bars estate, we are able to negotiate deals with leading suppliers that independent pubs would otherwise be unable to access, saving operators both time and money.”

Heineken UK said pubs using the Buying Club could save £1,500 through Biffa’s waste disposal services, 30% with Nisbets, a minimum of 22% with Brakes and receive a free coffee machine from Coffee Logistics worth up to £7,000.

Changing needs of pubs

Gemmell added: “We regularly review our suppliers and add new ones frequently, based on customer feedback, to respond to the changing needs of pub businesses. We will be announcing more Buying Club partners in the coming months and it is our ambition to help the UK on-trade save over £1m this year.”

A spokesperson for the Royal Sun pub in Oxfordshire said: “The prices Biffa offer to Heineken customers are unbeatable, we had three quotes from waste management companies and these were all significantly higher than Biffa. This has allowed us to save cost. Setting up the account was a very straightforward process and we are very happy with the level of customer service, easy and friendly.”

The average outlet saving of £5,000 is based on the standard RRP versus discounted running costs from Heineken’s Star Pubs & Bars estate.