Supplier spotlight: Canned Wine Group

P&B: Thanks for chatting to us, Ben. Can you tell us a little bit about the Canned Wine Group business?
BF: We recently rebranded as the Canned Wine Group. We originally set out to do the single wine serve better than anyone, as there wasn't a really compelling way that a single serve was being done. So we launched Canned Wine Co to put premium wine into that space.

We're putting really interesting grapes into a can and the space that we realised that really wanted cans was attractions, venues, etc. Our first big customer was the National Trust, which we've been in now for over four years.

However, a third of all wine in hospitality is wasted through broken bottles, wine that has gone off, or simply because it was a vintage that was young and fresh, and now they've over produced and people want the next vintage. So, a huge amount of wine that is people's gross profit is just disappearing.

Our cans started fixing that problem in spaces like theatres, where you had gaps between shows and you want a fresh serve, but a quick serve as well. Cans fix the operational problem of fast service but low wastage. It's always profitable, which is great for the venues.

P&B: But, you realised the on-trade needed more than cans? Is that right?
BF: Yes, the one space we realised canned wine wasn’t really hitting was pubs, bars and restaurants, so that's where the kegs came in. We built our kegs for solving that problem. You can have a glass, you can have a carafe, you can get 26 bottles to a keg without having to go and restock your wine fridges. And it's the same quality of wine that we put into our cans.

Three in four customers want something more interesting by the glass when they go to a pub or restaurant, but they are actually being dissuaded by the same wine being everywhere. We want to show that you could have a more interesting wine list, but also upsell your ‘reliable’ while getting rid of your wastage.

P&B: How have the kegs been going so far?
BF: The first place we moved kegs into was a brewery tap in London. They sold more wine than they had ever done in the first month.

We want to be the leader in this category and one big thing that's developing is the choice element. What we're trying to do is take the foundation that we've got and start bringing new products to market that give even more choice in the category. We're looking at spaces where we don't currently have something and ways we could innovate, either through a brand acquisition or new product development to really build up that group element and have that signature of trust that if someone is going to try a can or, hopefully, a keg for the first time, if it's by Canned Wine Group they know they're going to get great shelf life, grape varieties, guarantee of quality and, more importantly, the service support. If you list the kegs and the cans, we’re going to help you sell them. The really big part for us is our team will be on site and deliver the activation, or the staff training, or whatever that the site needs to make it work.

P&B: And there really is no quality compromise compared to wine in a bottle?
BF: The biggest, real reason for operators buying our format is for the operation of the pub. So it's the fact that they store more easily, you get more per litre of wine in a can and a keg versus a bottle. They don't break, unless you try really hard. They also chill faster. The operation is what really drives the sales.

What keeps us in there is the quality. It's a really underestimated part of the trade, where, when you model your wine list on gross profits, which you have to do as part of your business planning, if you underestimate the quality, what you have to do is spend more money on getting the consumer back in for a drink or increasing the spend per head.

The quality does so much heavy lifting for upselling your whole wine list, upselling your food as well. You've got a good quality wine, so people linger and then they might want some food. It keeps people in the venue longer, and it keeps them coming back. We have stats across loads of different accounts, venues, theatres, hospitality, restaurants, where people are spending more money on buying wine than they were previously, despite the change in format, and it's because you deliver a freshness that was lacking in the bottle.

P&B: So how is it going working with pubs so far?
BF: The hardest part of our job is getting someone to that first taste, because once they’ve tasted it, then we know that the sales are going to go up. And the reason why we engage with the venue at the very beginning and put so much effort into activation, training and POS is you have to get consumers over the line for the first time. So that's where our work comes in.

The biggest way we can win an account is to ask them to give us their bottled house wine, pour a glass, then taste the can or the keg right next it. That is how we win most of our accounts, because they taste it and realise its quality.

P&B: Do you think the pub industry is ready for wine on keg?
BF: We've done really well in taprooms. We know they listed what we do because they believe in the quality of their beer. And I think the fact that you're giving them a quality wine makes it quite attractive, because they don't want to give you bad wine alongside great beer. They want quality across everything. So it's done very well in taprooms.

I'm confident that if pubs were to work with us, they'll see the positive results of doing it. But, obviously, everyone wants to be a follower rather than an innovator. When you're in the current climate that we're in, it's not easy to go and leap off the edge of the cliff.

Currently, we’re in the perfect storm of higher costs, margin pressure, the lot. I think we can really support venues if we get a few of those big name brands to lead with the keg format. It will legitimise alternative formats of wine. Everyone talks about wine being 10 years behind, but it's because there's this reluctance to innovate. I think it will only take one big name and the whole thing will snowball. Like I say, everyone wants to be a fast follower, so whoever innovates and does it first can open the gateway for everyone else.

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