You Can Stock Draught Non-Alcoholic Beers For Your Venue. Here's How

How pubs, hotels and cafés can serve draught alcohol-free beer alongside their regular range, from dedicated keg taps to gravity-fed pins on the bar.

When a round comes to the table, why should the person who’s driving be the only one who couldn’t order a pint from the tap? 

Pubs, hotels and licensed cafés can give customers that choice by putting a no- or low-alcohol beer alongside their usual lager, bitter and stout.

Start with one draught beer

A crisp lager is a sensible first choice for a hotel bar or a café that does a busy lunch trade. A pub with a following for hoppy beers might try a pale ale. Lucky Saint’s 0.5% lager is available on draught, and Welsh brewer Drop Bear has offered its New World Lager, Yuzu Pale Ale and Tropical IPA in kegs. Ask your wholesaler what’s available locally, which keg sizes they can supply and how quickly the beer needs to sell once connected.

Could you put a pin on the bar?

Yes, if your brewer can supply a beer made for cask dispense and confirm how to keep and serve it. A pin is a small cask holding 4½ imperial gallons, or 36 pints before losses. A firkin holds twice as much. With a secure cradle, a suitable tap and temperature control, you can pour straight from the cask by gravity. That makes a pin an interesting option for a beer festival, a wedding or a busy weekend where you can judge demand in advance.

There’s a precedent. Big Drop took a 0.5% cask version of its Paradiso Citra IPA to the London Craft Beer Festival in 2022. That was a festival special, so ask your brewer what they can supply today. Before ordering, get their instructions on cooling, tapping and how long the beer can be served once opened. Even a pin is a lot of beer if you only sell a few halves a day.

Make it easy to order and easy to get right

For keg beer, ask your supplier or dispense installer about a dedicated, clearly marked line and the cleaning and cooling regime it needs. Give the beer a visible tap badge, list the exact ABV and price on the menu, and make sure staff know which glass is which when they bring over a mixed round. A guest asking for 0.0% should be able to see at a glance whether that’s what you’re serving.

Offer halves as well as pints, and see how the first keg or pin sells. The simplest test is whether customers come back and order it again.

https://bigdropbrew.com

http://www.dropbearbeers.com

https://luckysaint.co

Why Every Food Business Should Require Recognised Food Safety Qualifications for Employees, Staff

Discover why recognised food safety and hygiene qualifications are essential for every food business, protecting customers, staff and business reputations.

Whether you're grabbing a sandwich from a café, enjoying a meal in your favourite restaurant or picking up a cake from a local bakery, or grabbing fish and chips after a hard day's work, you expect one thing above everything else, that the food you're buying is safe to eat.

Behind every successful food business should be a team that understands food safety, hygiene and their legal responsibilities. That's why recognised food safety qualifications shouldn't be viewed as an optional extra. They should be a basic requirement for everyone involved in preparing, handling or serving food.

Food poisoning affects millions of people every year. While many cases are mild, some can lead to serious illness, lengthy hospital stays and, tragically, even death. The vast majority of these incidents are entirely preventable through good food hygiene practices.

Proper training teaches staff far more than simply washing their hands. Recognised food safety courses cover essential topics including preventing cross-contamination, safe food storage temperatures, cooking and reheating procedures, allergen awareness, cleaning and sanitising equipment, pest prevention and maintaining accurate food safety records.

These are practical skills that help protect customers every single day.

Food allergies make training even more important. A simple mistake, such as using the wrong utensil or failing to understand ingredient information, could expose someone to an allergen with potentially life-threatening consequences. 

Well-trained staff are far more likely to ask the right questions, understand allergen controls and follow established procedures.

For business owners, investing in staff training is also good business sense. Environmental Health Officers expect food handlers to have appropriate knowledge of food hygiene. 

During inspections, evidence of staff training demonstrates that a business takes its responsibilities seriously and is committed to maintaining high standards.

Training also boosts confidence among employees. Staff who understand why procedures exist are more likely to follow them consistently rather than seeing them as unnecessary rules. This creates a stronger food safety culture where everyone feels responsible for protecting customers.

Customers notice professionalism too. Clean premises, knowledgeable staff and confidence when answering questions about ingredients or allergens all help build trust. In an increasingly competitive hospitality industry, reputation is everything.

It's worth remembering that recognised food safety qualifications are available at different levels, allowing businesses to match training to each employee's responsibilities. Kitchen assistants, chefs, supervisors and managers can all undertake courses appropriate to their roles, ensuring everyone has the knowledge they need.

Food businesses work incredibly hard to earn their customers' trust. That trust can take years to build but only moments to lose.

Investing in recognised food safety and hygiene qualifications is one of the simplest and most effective ways to protect customers, support staff and safeguard a business's reputation. Safe food isn't just good practice, it's the foundation upon which every successful food business should be built.

The following resources will, we feel, be of benefit to you:-

https://sofht.co.uk

https://essentialfoodhygiene.co.uk

https://www.virtual-college.co.uk

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/food-standards-agency

https://careskillsacademy.co.uk