In a move that marks another impressive addition to its growing repertoire of tech offerings, The Beer Café – India’s largest alco-beverage chain, will soon be introducing the ‘Bid Your Beer’ feature.
Speaking on the sidelines of India Food Forum 2018, Rahul Singh, Founder & CEO, The Beer Café, told Indiaretailing Bureau, “To enhance customer experience, we will soon be introducing a new feature called ‘Bid Your Beer’, which will allow customers to bid for beer at a price they like. The bidding machine will then inform consumers whether it is possible to buy the beer at that price or not. If yes, then they can buy the beer at that price. This is not a gimmick since it works on hyperlocal dynamic real-time pricing.”
Explaining the idea behind introducing the new feature, Singh said, “Let’s say we are on a Tuesday right now and it is 04:00 pm and my store in empty but at that time a consumer comes in who wants to have a beer. Now the question is: ‘why should I give him a beer at Rs 200 when he/ she can ask for a beer for just Rs 50’. So the customer will bid for it. We are trying to get that traction out because we are already paying rents, we already have all the staff in place, so why can’t we bring in more people.”
URBar
Apart from this, The Beer Café has recently introduced ‘URBAR’, a virtual bar which allows patrons to reserve and consume their favourite brands.
One can explore from a wide selection of alco-beverage, pre-pay and stock them in ‘URBar’. The latest ‘wallet for customer’s drinks’ initiative highlights the brand’s vision to redefine the alco-beverage space through technology differentiation and further strengthen its position as a pioneer.
How Does URBar Work?
The patrons can log in to The Beer Café’s mobile app, and click on the URBar icon, reserve in the form of bottle (for spirits), keg (for draught beer), or case (for bottled beer) and start consuming.
This not only gives patrons the privilege to buy their favourite brands at a special price but also benefits in the form of one price across the nation. A consumer can choose any portion he/she wishes to consume at any Beer Café outlet spread across 12 cities and save the rest for their next outing. The bottle/ keg purchased stands as a prepaid instrument and stock diminishes as the consumer opts to consume.
There are multiple convenient ways of recharging the account. Customers can use an ‘online’ mobile wallet to add balance to their brew bucks – which is The Beer Café’s own currency. Or ‘pay at store’ by just walking into the closest The Beer Café outlet and the brew crew will be happy to assist the customers.
What’s more, it also gives patrons the option to spread the cheer around by gifting customisable amounts of their reserved stock to friends, family and colleagues.
Bottles of popular brands such as Old Monk, Bacardi White, Chivas Regal 12 Year, Johnnie Walker, Black Label, Smirnoff, and Absolut can be reserved, as can cases and kegs of premium beers such as Kingfisher, Bira 91, Foster’s, Heineken, Corona Extra, and Hoegaarden.
Singh said, “At The Beer Café, we believe that social drinking should first and foremost be about the experience. Our focus is to improve customer’s real world experience, their choices of brand and location. With the URBar feature, we are giving the users a chance to experience our differentiated proposition in the virtual realm. It is a delightful addition to the existing feature on The Beer Café mobile app. With this initiative we have raised the bar – quite literally!”
Other Unique Initiatives
The brand has launched several unique and innovative digital offerings in past, enabling the most integrated and superlative beering experience for its customers across online and offline channels. Among the most prominent digital initiatives launched by The Beer Café is its mobile app, which enables devout beerholics to connect with friends, access the latest menu, locations and event listing updates from The Beer Café, and benefit from lucrative promotional offers.
The brand also allows its patrons to earn redeemable points through the app with ‘Brew Miles’, its distinctive customer loyalty program which is designed to reward loyal customers with points for each rupee spent and redeem it against a range of offers.
The brand recently launched Beermore Cards, a form of prepaid debit card that can be bought and used across all its outlets. What makes Beermore Cards really special is the fact that The Beer Café will provide additional top-up value of up to Rs 15,000 – over and above the card value added by the user – making it just perfect for party-lovers who like to regularly host large, lavish, beerilicious parties! The card ease the hassle of ordering drinks in peak hours.
Another key offering by The Beer Café is the Beery Important Person (BIP) program. Customers enrolling in the program gain access to physical BIP cards, which can then be used to get spectacular discounts depending on the card’s ‘level’. The discounts range from 10 to 50 per cent on the total bill.
Living up to the legacy of innovation, the chain also launched India’s first PYOB (Pour Your Own Beer) at Saket and Biggie, CP in Delhi last year. The PYOB wall provides the beer lover a unique interactive experience which will soon trickle to the length and breadth of the country. Quirky step by step instructions guide through this one of a kind pour ritual.
The patrons can scan the unique code residing in the app, top up balance and feel free to sample as little or as much as they wish. They can become a brew master with customized blends; mix wheat, pilsners, lagers or stouts and make their own magic potion. For those who like it slow, fill just half a mug and come back for more, later. Being their own ‘pourtender’ comes with the benefit of no service charge on the invoice too.
Expansion Plans
The Beer Café, which generates 65 percent of its revenue from beer, 25 percent from food and the rest 10 percent from spirits, currently has 40 outlets in 13 cities.
The brand has recently expanded to two new cities – Noida and Kolkata.
“We eye to expand to two more cities – Lucknow and Guwahati – this fiscal and increase the number of outlet from 40 to 50,” revealed Singh.
