Improve the Quality of Your Beer

On-Trade Progress’ Chief Editor, Mike Underwood, speaks with Gary Smith, Managing Director of the innovative Dryphoon:

 

Tell me about your product…

The product is an extremely quick glass dryer that will prepare a nucleated glass for the optimum presentation in a split second. In testing, it has been displacing the water in under 1 second, allowing the drink to be poured perfectly. When pubs are busy, glasses are not being allowed to drip dry naturally, meaning customers are being served drinks in wet glasses. This kills the drink, and with no nucleation from the base, the head just evaporates and it’s flat in seconds.

 

What’s your background?

From the age of 5, right through to my early 20’s I lived and worked in pubs. In my early years after school, I was an IT apprentice for a brewer and hotel chain and have worked in many global companies which means I have seen a lot of how business works. I am now in a good position, experience wise, to bring a new product to market based on what I have learned over the years, both inside the licenced trade and from business in general.

 

What made you realise that hospitality venues need your product?

I have reached out to lots of people in the industry from glassware manufacturers to brewers, pub chains to independents, staff to customers. They all acknowledge the wet glass/flat pint issue is common. It is prominent when a pub starts to get busier and I saw this issue first hand over many years when I was in the trade, but it remains unresolved. We are now at the point whereby a unit, that provides results at lightning speeds, can really benefit a business.

 

What are the benefits for a venue to use your product?

There are loads for both the brewer and publican. These include:

  • Increased customer satisfaction
  • Reduced waste amount (carbon footprint and cost savings through returned drinks)
  • Improved brand image
  • Reduced glassware due to wet glasses being turned around so quickly
  • Very compact – non-intrusive size and design means they can be mounted behind the bar without eating into space
  • Can be mounted next to each work area behind the bar

Going out for drinks is expensive and people demand higher quality for their money. The draught market is fighting against the increase in popularity of the Wine, Gin and Vodka bars as well as off-licences. Brewers in the lager market have invested a huge amount of money in developing the best glasses to deliver the perfect pint. Dryphoon compliments lager and cider in delivering the pint as it is intended which is a contributing factor in the fight for market share in the constantly dwindling licenced trade. There are also benefits that cannot be calculated accurately. How many people do not complain yet simply go somewhere else? How many of their friends and family are then swayed by that person’s opinion? How many people are then swayed by reports on trip advisor or social media? It is difficult to put a number on that, but if you suddenly had a pub in your area that had a cast iron guarantee of a good pint then this should be a great marketing tool for that business and a sure fire hit for the consumer.

 

What are your future plans?

Product launch is October 2nd, at the Bar and Pub Show in London. Dryphoon is launching to the trade over the 3 days from stand WG51 where the prototype models will be on display. Free beer and nuts are available as part of the demo so come and see what it is all about. Going forward, there will be 2 model variants, with one of them incorporating a rinse as well as a dry.

To see an example of how the unit invigorates drinks, visit www.dryphoon.com.