Guinness readies up – final day
Cathal O’Gorman from the Guinness Quality Team at St James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin on the day of final beerline-cleaning around Ireland.
Over the last few weeks the Guinness Quality Team has undertaken one of the most significant quality checks in its history, claims the brewer.
“Our dedicated Guinness Quality Teams are on the road, calling to our licensed partners, undertaking a series of rigorous checks with the utmost care and individual attention, guaranteeing that people all over Ireland can enjoy a fresh, beautiful pint of Guinness when restaurants and pubs re-open,” said Guinness Global Head of Quality at Diageo Stephen Kilcullen.
The 195-strong team of Guinness experts took to the roads in their quality vans – famously featured in the Guinness ‘San Jose’ tv ad – and they’ve now visited over 10,000 pubs across the island.
Early on in the Covid-19 crisis Diageo brought in a series of measures to assist the licensed trade and its staff during this period of uncertainty.
These included extending additional credit to support publicans’ businesses and in particular a fund for the retention of bar staff through this period.
Payment terms were also extended for direct customers as Diageo sought access to all outlets in order to complete line cleaning so as to ensure that publicans would be able to pour Guinness from Day One of re-opening.
As part of this significant undertaking Guinness has carried out rigorous line-cleaning involving over 70,000 lines facilitated by an innovative technology called ‘Surge 20X’ – a line-cleaning system specifically developed by Guinness in 2016 and designed to produce the cleanest lines possible, achieved by re-circulating rapid flows of water and detergent mix during the cleaning process.
“Guinness is committed to the success of restaurants and pubs across Ireland as they begin to safely re-open while adhering to government guidelines,” said Diageo Ireland’s Managing Director Oliver Loomes, “Alongside the comprehensive quality plan to guarantee beautiful pints we have been providing the trade with significant levels of support on all aspects relating to their evolving needs, including the establishment of a €1.5 million Guinness Fund for bar staff and communities impacted by Covid-19.”
In the coming weeks, freshly-brewed Guinness will be delivered to over 10,000 publicans across Ireland.
And Guinness has also unveiled the detailed measures it’s taking in thousands of pubs around Ireland to support the hospitality industry in preparation for the phased re-opening of restaurants and pubs this Summer. Guinness has announced a partnership with Irish technology innovation company ‘anyExcuse’ to provide the licensed trade with a quick and easy way to manage table bookings through contactless table service and the provision of a safe and secure option for people to order and pay for food and drinks from their mobile device while seated at their table.
The platform is available free of charge for six months and publicans can sign-up here: http://business.anyexcuse.com/registerforfree/.
