More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
Breweries and pubs have signed up to an app allowing drinkers to get fresh local beer and cider delivered to their door.
A number of Kent producers have already gone live on the new Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) digital platform, called Brew2You, which launched for iPhone users this week.
With pubs and restaurants closed due to the pandemic, many of the county's small independent brewers and cider-makers have seen demand for their products from the hospitality industry drop off entirely.
But drinks are still being made and bottled, so the ability to deal directly with consumers and reach them through platforms like this new app is making all the difference.
Turners Cider, based in Marden, did not offer any delivery sales before the lockdown - but now that side of the operation has surged and they were among the first Kent companies to sign up to the new Camra app.
"We signed up straight away," owner Phil Turner said. "Half our our business is the pub trade, and that had just disappeared overnight. What's replaced it is dealing direct with our customers.
"We are out delivering to people's homes, bringing the pub to them. We went from zero to 50 orders a week for home delivery, we didn't do it at all before.
"We have all got lots of stock, we just need to get it to people. Signing up to the app has been dead easy, and we have just listed a few products for now. Selling direct is what's keeping our business going, we have become a completely different business overnight."
In all more than 300 pubs and breweries across the country have already been listed on the app, which has launched as part of Camra’s Pulling Together campaign to support the drinks industry during the Covid-19 crisis.
Paula Wise, part of the husband-and-wife team who run Wise Owl Cider in High Halden, near Ashford, said: "This app has made a huge difference, we had seven orders in one day. We have had orders from all over the country.
"It's really a godsend for us at this time as we usually supply pubs and restaurants, and those orders have cut right down.
"Now we have a great way of getting our product in front of an audience of beer and cider drinkers, so it's a great way of marketing our business which we otherwise couldn't afford to to at this time."
Goody Ales, which operates the Beer on the Pier bar in Herne Bay, has had to furlough staff because the venue is closed, but the brewery continues to offer delivery and takeaway options from its site in Herne.
"I don't know what we would have done without delivery and takeaway," owner Karen Goody said. "It's really making a difference.
"We are meeting lots of new people, you go to their house and they are delighted to see you and to see that you are delivering. People need cheering up at what is a miserable time."
The Brew2You app, which should soon be available in the Android app store, has been set up so suppliers receive the full price charged for their products, without any commission charged to them.
Nik Antona, Camra’s national chairman said: "The longer the lockdown lasts the harder hit our pubs and breweries will be and the more we risk many closing their doors for good. We urge beer and cider lovers to shop local and support the great beer and pubs trade using Brew2You so that we still have pubs and breweries at the other end of the crisis."
