This is a guest post from our friends at PourMyBeer, a next-generation self-pour beverage system with over 8,000 taps in 24 countries. Having installed the most taps out of any self-pour tech providers in 2019 and 2020, PourMyBeer helps us understand the direct benefits of this technology.

As beverage companies continue to return to business as usual, innovative self-pour beverage technology could be a unique solution to decrease labor and increase profits. For customers self-pour beverage walls allow guests the freedom to pour their own beer, wine, cocktails, cold brew, and kombucha whenever they want and pay by the ounce. For operators self-serve technology increases beverage sales, simplifies operations, boosts serving efficiency, and reduces waste.

Here at PourMyBeer, we have seen the rise in self-service technology across all industries. In fact, a market analysis report done on the self-serve technology market size found, “The global self-service technology market size was valued at USD 28.3 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.7% from 2020 to 2027.” Specifically, the restaurant industry has benefitted greatly from self-pour service. The reason why? This technology creates more efficient and simplified operations, saves operators money, and increases profits.

So, why should you consider self-pour beer? It just makes sense!

Let’s dive into four reasons why you should have a self-pour beer wall in your bar or brewery:

With 26 locations across New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the PJW Restaurant Group operates a series of unique concepts geared to beer fans—everything from sports bars and pour houses to a fine dining steakhouse, taco concept, and pizza bar. But, the majority of their locations fall under the P.J. Whelihan’s Pub + Restaurant concept, a sports bar known for the perfect blend of good food (such as PJ’s Famous wings), great beer and drinks, and fun in a relaxed atmosphere.

Operating a high number of establishments poses its own unique set of challenges. From a beer perspective, each location has its own drinks menu that needs to be constantly maintained and updated.

For about the last year and a half, to help organize and implement each location’s beer and drinks menu, P.J. Whelihan’s has been leveraging Untappd for Business. From creating intuitive digital and print menus to curating bespoke training materials for its staff, P.J. Whelihan’s has partnered with Untappd for a comprehensive, easy-to-use solution.

So far with over 300k menu views, almost 15k check-ins, and just under 10k unique users, P.J. Whelihan’s experience with Untappd for Business has been overwhelmingly beneficial for a majority of its businesses.

We sat down with Kristen Foord, Marketing Director at PJW Restaurant Group, to chat about how Untappd has helped a large number of their high-volume restaurants and sports bars operate its variety of menus more creatively and efficiently.

As France begins to experience its own craft beer revolution, the Brewers Association and Untappd are working together to showcase American craft beer to French beer enthusiasts through a multi-media campaign highlighting American craft producers, beer styles and food pairings.

The campaign features a website that includes educational content related to US Craft Beer styles and where to find American craft beer in France, along with beer rankings powered by Untappd.

Santé!

Whether your brewery is up and running or you’re just in the process of getting your name out there, it’s understood that you probably want to get your beer into as many hands as possible. Sometimes, this takes the form of local festivals and events. Other times, you may look to do a tap takeover in a different city or want to do an out-of-town festival. Aside from personally delivering your beer, how do you get your beer from place to place? Many times, common questions around beer shipping and transport that may keep some breweries from taking the plunge.

At one point in a not-so-distant past, when certain rare and well-loved beers were next to impossible to get (like Cigar City’s Hunahpu Imperial Stout and Bell’s Hopslam), due either to a limited production or a lack of nationwide availability, consumers paved their own way when procuring their desired beverage. They traded products amongst themselves, shipping (largely illegally) from all over the country to ensure they got their hands on hard-to-come by brews.

Shipping in unconventional and unideal modalities, often with a lack of proper insulation and a fingers-crossed method of packaging, has made it hard to determine how to ship beer legally and safely, while also ensuring the quality and integrity of the beverage.

For businesses to ship beer or alcohol, there’s a bit to understand, from techniques to pricing. Learn the ropes and you can make decisions on how to ship your beer safely and securely from your brewery to consumers across the nation — and the world!

Last year, the global COVID-19 pandemic forced many bars, restaurants, taprooms, and breweries to shut down, changing the industry and drinking culture completely. As consumers were forced to drink at home, businesses turned to various strategies to keep the revenue flowing. One of these was serving batch cocktails to go.

According to a Bacardi Limited 2021 annual Cocktail Trends Report with external research commissioned by Nielsen CGA, ready-to-drink beverages such as canned cocktails grew 131 percent in the U.S. market.

Now, as people start safely returning to their barstools, they’re looking for more creative and experimental ways to consume their mixed drinks. Cocktails on tap are an innovative way to serve hard beverages — and they have a huge amount of benefits. From being more efficient than regular cocktails, to requiring fewer employees to serve, lowering operational costs, and increasing profits, cocktails on tap are a smart, viable strategy for any bar, restaurant, brewery, or taproom, especially as businesses across the country continue reopening.

Updated: 2/3/22

I’m sure I’m not alone in that when I’m out for a beer at a bar or brewery, I want something on draft. It’s a special experience to watch a beer poured with a perfect head then slid across the bar to my grasp. This feeling is why many people open bars and breweries in the first place — along with the love for the beer industry and craft beer.

In order to make the right decision for how to best serve up a frosty one at your venue, you have to know the pros and cons of different tap systems.

Whether you’re looking to install a totally new system, or upgrade your existing taps, there are a few options that range in monetary and spacial cost. The three systems we’ll be diving into are: the kegerator, direct draw, and long draw tap systems.

Untappd for Business provides an easy-to-use QR code tool that generates contactless menus for your customers.

In a post-COVID world, customers are increasingly demanding contactless, digital experiences. During the last few months, our business partners asked for more functionality in creating expanded contactless menus within the Untappd for Business platform.

You asked, we listened.

Now, within Untappd for Business, all it takes is a few clicks to create QR code menus for all of your menu items: beer, food, wine, cocktails. QR codes can be downloaded for digital use or embedded on easily customized printable menus or posters, all within one simple interface. QR codes can be downloaded for use in your custom marketing materials as well.

This new feature is included with your Untappd for Business subscription.

In the modern craft beer landscape, packaged product is king. Small, newly opened breweries have prioritized not only offering consumers a space to drink their beer on-site, but the opportunity to bring that beer home. Growlers and crowlers offer ad hoc solutions to the packaged product dilemma, but they can be time and labor intensive. Plus, aluminum has overtaken glass as brewers continue to switch to crowlers and/or 16 oz. aluminum cans over growlers and 12 oz. bottles.

In fact, the National Beer Wholesalers Association reported that canned beer “accounted for 60% of all beer sold” with glass bottles accounting for 30% and kegs 10%. So, eventually, a brewer will have to consider the optimal way to package their beer.

Over the last few years, several mobile canning companies have hit the market offering brewery owners flexibility and ease in packaging their beer. These mobile canning solutions can offer significant upsides but there are certainly drawbacks to outsourcing your packaging needs.

We’ve pulled together resources and expert advice to put together a list of the pros and cons of the mobile canning processes. Over the next section, we will be discussing all of the pros of mobile canning.

Small businesses are more than an important driver of our economy, they are part of the fabric of a neighborhood, of community. 2020 was a tough year for small businesses, and the neighborhood brewery was no exception. But we have seen stories of perseverance and resilience, of community and support, that helped keep many of these small businesses going during difficult times.

At Untappd, we are committed to being a partner to the breweries, bars, restaurants, and retail locations where craft beer drinkers come to learn, share, and purchase the world’s most enjoyed fermented beverage. Today, we share stories from some of our craft beer partners across the U.S. who found innovative ways to stay the course during the COVID pandemic.

In some cases, tap rooms and bars were able to serve a limited number of customers on-premise, in others, they shifted to ecommerce and to-go service. To support our brewery partners and our more than 9 million registered Untappd users around the world using the app to check-in beers, Untappd introduced its Untappd at Home venue, allowing users to continue to enjoy the social aspect of sharing a beer with friends – virtually.

For these community brewers, finding a way to continue to serve their employees and the community required some creative approaches.

With 2020 fading in the rear view mirror, and businesses making plans to reopen and welcome guests back in-person, many brewery and bar owners are hoping to make 2021 the best year yet. Getting together over a beer just isn’t the same over Zoom, the beer community is ready to raise a glass in person.

We would love to join you.

At Untappd, we serve data and analytics on beer trends to over 20,000 Untappd for Business partners; gathered from our over 9mn app users globally. But more than that, we engage with app users, brewers, bar, bottleshop and retail owners, and beer influencers who each bring a unique perspective – and a whole lotta great stories.

Our goal here at The Lounge is to share both data and experiences to help inform, inspire, educate and sometimes, just share some humor.

So whether you’re looking to make a comeback or start a new venture and are just getting off the ground, we’re here to provide super valuable content for all business types and sizes. Drop into The Lounge regularly for guides, tips and tricks, and interviews from some of the craft beer industry’s most experienced and influential veterans. Plus cool video from the best beer has to offer.

We’ll also share content that will help make the most of your investment and partnership with Untappd for Business – case studies, new feature tutorials, and more.

Lastly, we are working with a number of organizations to help bring craft beer drinkers back into brick-and-mortar locations. We are excited to be working with the Brewers Association to help raise awareness and engagement amongst craft beer drinkers by supporting various campaigns throughout the year. Stay tuned for more information – our first campaign will be in the coming weeks in support of American Craft Beer Week!

We hope you’ll join us. While you’re here, sign-up for the Untappd for Business newsletter – The Lounge Delivered – to get our content delivered straight to your inbox every week – no spam, we promise!