Craft brewer Brewgooder’s initiative to buy NHS staff a round of drinks in gratitude for their efforts during the pandemic has got off to an impressive start with more than 3200 packs of the company’s Clean Water Lager being served up to frontline workers.
The Glasgow-based beer brand and social enterprise, which channels all of its profits to clean water projects in Africa, is offering people the chance to show their appreciation by ordering a four pack of beer for anyone working in the NHS in any capacity. Buyers can also personalise the gift with their own message of appreciation.
Brewgooder is donating the beer at cost price in what is a zero-profit initiative supported by several other partners, including 5pm.co.uk and Karma Drinks.
Founder Alan Mahon said the social enterprise was having to increase its storage capacity to cope with the demand: “It’s been really well received. People might be at a bit of loss as to how to thank those who are working on the frontline during the current crisis, so this offer gives them the opportunity to do something similar to buying them a pint in the pub.
“It’s not going to solve anything regarding the pandemic, it’s just each of us saying thanks for doing all that work and risking your life with a really infectious disease.
“I love the NHS as an institution, my mother was a nurse for almost 30 years and I have close friends who are doctors and physios so we want to push this out to as many workers as possible which is why we need the support of the public.”
Visitors to the Brewgooder website can order packs of beer via the ‘One on Us’ option, then simply donate the amount that covers the cost of the brewing, packing and delivery of the beer. NHS employees are asked to then register on the website and claim their pack together with a message on a card. There is also a non-alcohol option in the form of Karma Cola.
Mahon said, ideally, they would like to have the public buy a round for all 1.5 million NHS staff and is hopeful Brewgooder can work with partners to scale up the operation and reach out to other key workers.
“Going forward we would like to open this up to more workers such as people in supermarkets or other essential services. They are all on the front line in this pandemic.
“We would welcome the chance to work with other industry partners on this. It’s not something that we want to keep as our own or to dominate that space. It’s something we want to try and learn from so we can give those learnings to others.”
Brewgooder was established in 2016 by Mahon and Social Bite founder Josh Littlejohn with a target of providing one million people across the globe with clean drinking water. Utilising the slogan ‘Drink Beer Give Water’ the company has successfully tapped into the desire of millennial consumers, in particular for products that come with a societal or environmental benefit.
For the past four years the social enterprise has been working on the ground with charities in Malawi to deliver clean water supplies to communities and schools. That work was interrupted last month by the arrival of the pandemic. The hiatus has enabled Brewgooder to explore potential projects in the UK, such as the NHS campaign.
“We now have a window of opportunity. When the team sat down, someone said ‘we’d love to buy everyone a beer at the end of this pandemic’, so we thought … why not do it during the crisis?
“It shows that what we’re really fundamentally about as a brand is enabling really nice stuff to happen through our beer.”
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