Firstly, the headline grabbing 6% actually operates on the WSP so the purchaser is likely to see somewhere between 8 and 14% at the cellar door. The idea of applying a percentage increase to a list price that nobody pays is more suited to the aerospace market than a consumer driven one such as pubs.
Input cost
The 6% headline serves to soften the publicity for the brewer at the expense of villainising the publican, who has to apply the true percentage plus margin plus VAT. Once again, our brewery ‘partners’ are making us look like the bad guy.
Secondly, and more importantly, which input cost has risen so dramatically that there is a need to increase prices solely on draught? The market for glass (single use) is demanding and many suppliers are struggling to source containers. It was only recently that soft drinks were scarce due to shortages of canning materials. Yet packaged products do not see a price escalation.
Depressed market
Did I miss something? Is there some ingredient used in the kegging process that has seen exponential cost growth? The only headline figures that I have seen are significant growth in the brewer’s turnover, profit and even profit per hectolitre.
It may be that the recent years have turned me into a cynic but I fail to see this as anything other than an attack on the independent on trade. As breweries purchase more pubs and move from a tenanted to a managed model could it be that we are now surplus to requirements? What better time to snap up freeholds than in a depressed market after all……
