A pub chain says it met customers’ Guinness demands “by the skin of our teeth” over the weekend despite a temporary supply limit ahead of Christmas – and only sees things getting worse this month.
Guinness maker Diageo has placed limits on pub and bar purchases of the Irish-made stout in the UK following a rush of sales, and said it is managing allocations of kegs on a week-by-week basis.
This was to ensure that the firm had plenty of stock across its supply chain to avoid panic buying and avert shortages.
But it has led to concern among pubs and bars this winter, with some saying the cap could leave them with far less Guinness than their customers demand.
For Irish pub chain Katie O’Brien’s, which has seven pubs across England, Guinness is “built into the business model,” operations director Shaun Jenkinson tells Sky News.
“People come in an Irish pub expecting to be able to drink Guinness,” he says.
“We made it through this weekend by the skin of our teeth on our Guinness levels, but going into this week, the outlook is looking very bleak, put it that way.
“We’re basically being given time windows [daily] where we place an order and we have to scramble around for as much stock as we can.”
A busy night at one of Katie O’Brien’s pubs
While none of their pubs have had to turn a customer down for a pint of Guinness yet, Mr Jenkinson said that would change during a charitable event on Wednesday, when each chain invites people over the age of 70 from their local communities to have free drinks and socialise.
“But we’ve had to put [a] block on Guinness being given as free drinks purely because the supplies are so short,” he says.
“Every year we try and give a bit back to the community, so it’s not nice to have to say, ‘Right, well there are restrictions on certain products’.”
He says he thinks the shortage ultimately comes down to a lack of forward planning on Diageo’s part.
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“It’s one of the most popular draft products in the UK, so its popularity hasn’t come as a surprise to anybody over Christmas,” Mr Jenkinson adds.
“If we can forecast it, then you’d imagine Diageo would be able to forecast it and increase Guinness sales to represent that.”
‘Exceptional demand’
Speaking to Sky News about the limits, a Diageo spokesperson said: “Over the past month we have seen exceptional consumer demand for Guinness in GB.
“We have maximised supply and we are working proactively with our customers to manage the distribution to trade as efficiently as possible.”
The company is working on allocations on a week-by-week basis, which it says will ensure efficiency throughout December.
Sky News has contacted Diageo for a response to Mr Jenkinson’s comments.
The Times, which was first to report on the stout rush, said the recent spike in demand was understood to be linked to so-called Guinnfluencers’ bolstering the drink’s popularity among women.
A run of rugby union internationals during November was also blamed for stoking unprecedented sales growth ahead of the festive season.
UK supplies of Guinness, and its alcohol-free version, are exported from Ireland.
A brewery in London that produced Guinness was closed in 2005.
Production is currently still centred on the historic St James’s Gate brewery in Dublin on the banks of the River Liffey.
A second brewery is under construction in County Kildare.
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