Brewery to serve up drive-thru pints on a regular basis
Nottingham-based brewery Castle Rock says that it served 160 drive-thru customers stocking up for the Easter weekend, and is looking at making the arrangement a full-time part of its business after the lockdown is lifted.
The news comes as part of a wider announcement on the company’s trading performance.
Before mid-March, the brewery reports that revenues were tracking down 0.7% on pubs and down 3.5% on brewing on a like-for-like basis. Revenues have “evaporated” since, says the brewery.
“I am pleased that for financial year to 14th March, we were trading above expectations after adjusting for there being no Trent Bridge Test Match revenues and cancelled football fixtures in the closing part of the reported period,” said Colin Wilde, managing director.
“Since then we’ve acted quickly to mitigate stock losses and strip the cost base to essential expenditure only. Our cash position is consolidated to protect the interests of the stakeholders and in particular those of our employees, supply chain and investors.
“It remains to be seen how long this situation will last and what the new terms of engagement will be when we can trade again. We’re confident we’ve done everything possible to see us through to that point”, he said
“The promise of furlough payments and HMRC TTP helps greatly although we have retained a small volunteer staff to set up a drive-thru sales operation.
“I’m delighted how quickly we’ve got this up and running and at the initial success we’ve had monetising beer stocks. Demand from consumers and trade alike has been high. Over 160 drive through customers are scheduled for Friday 10 April. Not surprising, perhaps, we’re seeking to build this new revenue stream into our future business model.”
