Heineken pilots automated dispensers in retail stores across 4 markets
Heineken has announced that it is piloting fully automated dispensers in major retail outlets for customers to purchase high quality & fresh draught beers to enjoy at-home using 100 per cent reusable bottles.
Fresh Draught dispensers give customers a ready to drink chilled beer that is produced locally, using an innovative technology to dispense cold beer into reusable glass bottles (950ml). The fresh beer offering will include a wide range of local beers and will be piloted in four countries.
Edwin Griffioen, Global Innovation Manager For Draught Systems & Packaging, Heineken: “At Heineken, we always put primary focus on the filling process and packaging to offer our consumers best quality beers in the safest and highest standards of hygiene. These stations use our unique technologies to guarantee that the beer inside is well protected, remains fresh, & ensures that the beer maintains great taste.”
The easy-to-use system also boasts green credentials, delivering a reduction in single-use packaging, by offering consumers incentives for return or reusing the glass bottles. In addition, all the beer is produced locally to support neighbouring businesses and as a result reduces the product carbon footprint.
The trial starts in France, where the beer maker has partnered with local brewery Gallia Paris to present the smart dispenser technology at the newly opened Monoprix Montparnasse in Paris.
During the trial, the draught beer system will dispense three local craft beers and as a result Heineken says it will be able to gather valuable insights around the user-friendliness and further assess how best to deliver the innovation at-scale across markets.
Chadi Abdo, Global Innovation Manager, Home Draughts, Heineken: “Heineken has been building the quality & image of draught beers for decades, while simultaneously ensuring we become more green and rethinking how we can innovate to make a positive step towards waste reduction. By developing this innovation, we aim to offer our customers a new way to enjoy a perfectly fresh draught beer, at home, delivered in a sustainable way in-store.”
