Kegs and casks are expensive to replace
Kegs are inextricably tied to bottom line. The cost of a new aluminium or stainless steel keg/cask with extractor tubes and snapcaps can easily sail past £100 a time. To avoid the unnecessary and expensive cost of replacing lost kegs, it’s vital to look after them - tracing them from brewery to bar and back again. Yet the British Beer & Pub Association states that the loss and misuse of kegs and casks costs the beer industry in excess of £50m each year. The bill affects all stakeholders: brewers, pubs, licensees and customers.
Kegs and casks increase sales potential
Kegs not only keep costs down, they also increase sales potential. The pub’s preference for purchasing kegs is a matter of simple economics. Landlords get a better unit price due to buying in higher volume, which also helps to keep costs down for customers. Kegs are also easier to store as opposed to using multiple behind-the-bar fridges filled with bottles and cans. In short, no kegs means pricier pints.
They’re better for Mother Nature too
There’s an awful lot of waste associated with the use of cans and bottles. Whether they are sent for recycling or end up in landfill, bottles and cans are ultimately used once and disposed of. Kegs and casks, on the other hand, can be reused indefinitely, providing far greater ROI for breweries and dramatically reducing the use of disposable materials. According to the British Beer & Pub Association, kegs and casks prevents the use of around 7.5 billion bottles or cans in the UK every year.
Where does Domino come in?
Britain’s scale of draught beer supply is unique. But it’s a tradition that is threatened by the fact that hundreds of thousands of kegs go missing each year. Brewers simply must be able to trace their containers, pinpointing where they are in the supply chain at any given time to ensure containers move efficiently through the system. For that it’s necessary to have a robust, reliable and speedy system for applying traceability coding.
The Domino keg labeller prints and applies a label to each keg once it has been filled. The compact design allows for the labeller to be mounted over the keg conveyor - and our QuickDesign software makes it easy to apply brewery logos, barcodes, text and other regulatory information to the label. This automation of the labelling process ensures that brewers can increase productivity, reduce costs and operate with greater efficiency.
We’ll drink to that.