Asahi Premium Beverages has announced an Open Arms Program to support the on-premise as COVID-19 restrictions ease around the country.
The program will fund $1 million in initiatives designed to help customers reopen, recover and regrow their hospitality businesses.
"A critical component of reopening is getting the message out to consumers that venues are in fact open," said John Kelly, National On Premise Group Business Manager, Asahi Premium Beverages.
"With each state lifting restrictions at different stages, and with varying levels of constraints, we know social media will play a critical role in getting the message out to confused consumers. Through APB’s Third Space program, our social media partner Tiger Pistol has the expertise to help customers drive consumers back into their venues through promoting the lifting of restrictions, venue opening details, ‘welcome back’ offers, group size limitations and to encourage online and phone bookings to mention a few."
Asahi has already undertaken a number of significant measures to date, initially focused on assisting venues with their cash flow.
"We know that with the sudden loss of revenue the last thing a business operator needs is a supplier banging on their door looking for payments while the survival of their business is under threat," Kelly said. "Building on this, across the months of April and May, APB collected thousands of beer/cider kegs and post mix cases from venues that had to shut their doors with little warning. We provided full credits to all impacted customers."
Asahi's technical teams have also also assisting with the cleaning and recommissioning of equipment and its sales teams have been prioritising deliveries for initial openings. Additionally, the Open Arms Program includes a range of other initiatives including activation and stock support to assist with driving revenue.
"Our focus in recent weeks has been on supporting customers in preparing to open for business again as we emerge from hibernation," Kelly said. "By understanding their plans for reopening, and in consultation with business owners and managers, APB has provided a suite of payment plan options that allow venues to start trading and generate positive cash flow without the fear of going on credit hold as they scale-up again.
"We appreciate how difficult it was for many to close their venues; we also recognise how challenging it is to reopen as stocks across all categories need replenishing, staff need training to comply with COVID guidelines, deep cleaning of venues is required – the costs soon accumulate."
Kelly suggested venues reach out to their local Asahi Premium Beverages contact to discuss how the company can help.
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