Sober brewing Heineken Hungary

sobEr brEwing

Headquartered in Budapest, Heineken Hungary is the second biggest brewer in Hungary with two breweries located in Sopron and Martfű. Heineken is a company with 140 years of heritage through its flagship brand, Heineken. But even with this remarkable legacy, the company is still making continuous efforts to stay modern and relevant to our times and responds well to the challenges of the fast changing market.

Heineken Hungary is proud to be one of the few breweries in the world certified to brew Heineken. The high-quality Heineken produced in Sopron is exported to six countries including Germany, Austria or the Czech Republic. Through its local sourcing initiatives on its Soproni and Strongbow brands, Heineken’s export activities provide indirect export opportunities to Hungarian barley and apple farmers.

Creativity across all platforms

Beer consumption in general is declining, while big brewers face challenging regulatory environments with a very high profitability pressure. Market leading segments are declining to the benefit of economy and premium brands, led by the very dynamic growth of the Czech beer segment. Consumer trends are also changing. People make conscious choices, prefer convenient and portable packaging and recognise the value of a great customer experience. In order to face these challenges, Heineken Hungary uses its key strengths: marketing and innovation.

Whether it is a new product or a process development or the way it communicates with consumers, creativity is integrated across the ‘DNA’ of the Heineken company. This year Heineken Hungary extended its Radler portfolio with Gösser NaturRadler 0.0 per cent PET in a re-closable plastic bottle and Gösser NaturRadler 0,0 per cent Grapefruit with Stevia, containing 33 per cent less sugar than an average Radler. At the beginning of 2016 the firm overtook the well-known Czech brand, Krusovice, and scaled up its distribution. Thanks to its quick and agile response to consumer feedback, Heineken relaunched the 0.5l cans instead of 0.4l for both its Soproni and Heineken brands.

Sustainability is our generation’s biggest challenge, and sustainable innovation is our biggest opportunity to ensure a better future for our children. The world is finally listening, and so is Heineken. The firm has made some major inroads, and sustainability has become a business imperative – a key strategic priority globally. Now halfway through its sustainability programme ‘Brewing a Better World’, Heineken has substantially reduced water consumption and CO2 emissions, increased the number of local suppliers to 86 per cent, supported local communities with more than 250 million HUF and reached more than six million people with programmes promoting responsible and moderate alcohol consumption.

Connecting with local farmers

As part of its commitment to supporting local suppliers, as of January 2016 Heineken Hungary has announced that Soproni Klasszikus and Soproni A.P.A. beers are to be made of 100 per cent barley purchased in Hungary. The agreement it has signed to this end provides sustainable business opportunities for more than 100 barley farmers in Hungary. Heineken Hungary was the first among the large beer

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brewers in Hungary to make such a commitment to supporting local barley cultivation, in line with the strict quality assurance policy of the global company. Moreover, 80,000 tonnes of Hungarian apples are being processed for its Strongbow ciders, which is more than 10 per cent of the total apple crop in Hungary.

High-tech logistics

To maintain excellent product and service quality while meeting the rigorous expectations of consumers and customers, investing in new developments is vital. As a result of the latest logistics investments made last year, Sopron Brewery’s storage capacity has doubled; the 6000m2 facility has been implemented with technical innovations. Heineken was one of the first companies in Hungary to implement a new truck call-up system, which enables the incoming trucks to receive information via a phone application about the cargo and expected loading time. It is a very safe solution to replace pedestrian traffic with online communication tools.

Heineken Hungary is one of the biggest employers within the beer market in Hungary with 520 employees. Besides its permanent staff Heineken provides indirect job opportunities to around 24,000 people in other phases of beer production such as material and packaging procurement or hospitality, and if we take into consideration the forward multiplier effects related to beer consumption, Heineken contributes to the retention of 6000 jobs on average each year.

Defined purpose to thrive

Heineken’s aim is to ensure people learn that when beer and cider are consumed moderately, they can be an integral part of a fulfilled healthy lifestyle. Each year Heineken makes tremendous efforts to

promote responsible alcohol consumption. In 2016 it launched the ‘DETOX ain’t cool’ programme with Hungarian celebrities to engage with millennials and promote the message that binge drinking, besides being dangerous, is perceived very negatively by their peers.

Moreover, Heineken intends to further strengthen its great relationship with Hungarian suppliers and aims to widen its local material procurement to bring new opportunities to Hungarian farmers. Last but not least, Heineken is constantly working on being a great employer. It emphasises that in order to remain competitive and still be a great place to work, a multinational company has to be very people-oriented.