SIBA has been campaigning for Direct Delivery to Retailer outlets for many years.

Direct Delivery means your ability to solicit trade with selected pubs owned by pub groups within a prescribed format; to receive orders, documentation and payment via SIBA; to deliver direct to the pubs using your own transport; and collect the empty casks from the pub.

Multiple Retailers are now responding to SIBA’s campaign for Direct Delivery of small brewer’s brands to their outlets.

Some Pub Groups are now willing to test SIBA’S claim that small brewers’ beers add significant value to their retail operations. Also to date Pub Groups have relied on exclusive delivery contract with distributors such as Scottish Courage, Carlsberg Tetley and Trade Team. These distributors are realising that the hassle involved of delivering ’small packs’ outweighs their exclusive rights of distribution.

Pub Groups insist that SIBA acts as the facilitator to any direct deliveries and will act as the hub of all administration.

Pub Groups head office administration is extremely well structured and inflexible. They cannot cope with individual relationships with scores of small businesses. Likewise, small brewers find it difficult to dovetail into complex administrative systems. Pub Groups have very few staff and wish to keep their costs to an absolute minimum, especially when they doubt the profit return on small brewers’ brands. They are relying on SIBA DDS to act as the interface between big and small business cultures and to coordinate all operational and financial control.

Pub Groups demand that electronic interchange of data is at the core of operations.

Pub Groups capture orders via their telesales teams, recording details on computers. Pub Groups are contracted to deliver within certain delivery parameters so they delay between receiving the order and delivery must be kept to a minimum. Order will be transmitted to SIBA daily and SIBA needs to sort this data and redistribute the orders to brewers as fast as possible. Due to contractual requirements Pub Groups must ensure continuity in the format of documents used on delivery. Electronic transmission of orders and delivery notes is essential to achieve this. Computers reduce costs, speed things up and ensure conformity of documentation – if they work properly!

Pub Groups need a database of all brewers and their brands and require brewers to register with SIBA.

Pub Groups may wish to allocate brewers to pubs or they may not. Brewers may wish to deliver to certain pubs and not to others. Brands change from month to month, year to year. It is vital that a database is updated regularly to reflect accurately what beers are available and when, in whatever part of the country. As the core of operations is electronic, the registration must be completed electronically.

The whole operation must be streamlined and robust, leaving as little room for error as possible by all parties.

By far the most fragile part of the operation is the ability of the brewers to conform to procedures on time. Brewers must bring their computers, software knowledge and skills up to scratch and certainly need to be confident in dealing with all electronic communication from SIBA. As this operation is so innovative, SIBA has to develop software in order to communicate with brewers and, inevitably this will have teething troubles. SIBA and brewing members have to make an extraordinary effort to make the operations work.

The retailer is an important beneficiary and a delivery charter is an essential code of practice.

Pub Groups have contractual arrangements with retailers in order to maintain commercial and health and safety standards. Brewers during Direct Delivery are expected to enter into the spirit of the Delivery Charter and should make common sense reactions in response to isolated or idiosyncratic circumstances. There will not be initially a charter to include all eventualities, so we all need to contribute to a common sense approach.

SIBA DDS as an organization needs to keep its workload as low as possible.

SIBA DDS is a non-profit making and non-partisan company. It must keep its costs as low as possible to ensure the maximum profits for brewers, retailers and Pub Groups. Brewers as suppliers, must treat SIBA as a customer and be prepared to do as much work as possible for SIBA DDS. Brewers must log on to email regularly, respond to instructions efficiently and give SIBA DDS a sympathetic hearing when problems occur.

Multiple retailers may insist prices are standardised in a matrix by ABV.

In order to save significant administrative costs incurred by retailers and SIBA DDS, individual brewing companies’ price structures have to be avoided. Multiple retailers’ relationships with their lessees may demand such standardisation. It also allows for Technical Service charges to be built into the price structure for filling brewers’ obligation to provide and service dispense equipment in the appropriate outlets.

Any SIBA member may register to join SIBA ATM.

Whatever the specific requirements of the Multiple Retailer, any SIBA member may join by completing the required form electronically. Registration does not guarantee participation. It is important for brewers to consider the extent of their ‘local’ area as some brewers may be prepared to deliver further a field than others. This can be made quite clear to SIBA DDS on the registration form using the post code selection box.