The thought of delicious draft beer being needlessly poured down the drain brings a tear to my eye. I’m sure I’m not alone on this – most beer enthusiasts probably consider the act of wasting beer to be a cardinal sin.
Sadly, it happens at bars and restaurants around the world each time a beer keg is changed.
After running back to the walk-in cooler to change the keg, bartenders often fill numerous pitchers with foam in order to re-fill the beer line. This foam continues until the faucet begins to dispense clear beer. The result is a lot of wasted product, because that foam is about 25 to 30% beer!
In a shorter draft beer system – where beer only travels 25’ or 30’ from the keg to the faucet, for example – this process may only result in one or two pints of wasted beer on each keg change. But in a longer system, where beer has to travel 150’ or more, a typical keg change could result in a gallon (or more!) of wasted beer.
Assuming each 16oz pint of domestic beer costs the restaurant or bar about $.60, that’s over $5.00 worth of beer being poured down the drain every time a ½ barrel keg is changed. In a busy establishment, where kegs are changed daily, that’s at least $150 worth of wasted beer every month.
Wasting $150 of beer each month is bad, but it gets even worse when you think about the margin that could’ve occurred. What if, instead of pouring that beer down the drain, the bartender sold it to a customer for $5.00? Using the example above, where the keg is changed daily and a gallon of beer is lost at each keg change, an astonishing $1,000 in potential profit is being wasted each month! OUCH – a thousand dollars a month could be enough for a kitchen renovation…new staff…an advertising campaign…
Not all people are willing to accept this kind of loss. Savvy bar and restaurant owners refuse to waste a drop of their precious keg beer. To lower pour cost and prevent the wasting of beer at each keg change, they install an In-Line Profit Maximizer (Pro-Max™) in their draft beer system.
Also commonly referred to as a “FOB,” the In-Line Profit Maximizer (Pro-Max™) is installed along the beer line between the keg and the faucet.When the keg empties, the FOB immediately stops the flow of beer. The beer line remains full of beer, instead of filling with foam. There’s no need, therefore, to fill a pitcher full of foamy beer and pour it down the drain after changing a keg!
Depending on the length of the lines in the beer system, an In-Line Profit Maximizer (Pro-Max™) typically pays for itself after only a handful of keg changes, making it a very wise investment for almost every commercial establishment offering keg beer.
So, to the bar and restaurant owners who already use a FOB, I’d like to say a big “thank you” on behalf of beer enthusiasts everywhere… We applaud you for not senselessly pouring gallons of precious, delicious draft beer down the drain!
And to those who aren’t already using an In-Line Profit Maximizer (Pro-Max™), I beg you to consider installing one in your establishment. Not only will you be reducing your pour costs, increasing your profits, and making your bartender’s life a lot easier…you’ll be doing beer drinkers everywhere a big favor!
(Installing an In-Line Profit Maximizer (Pro-Max™) is easy and affordable. Simply contact your local Micro Matic sales representative or place your online order today.)