The queue for the bar has long been a bugbear for the thirsty sports fan, a gamble that all too often results in a rushed pint, downed just before the whistle for the start of the second-half.
After missing a key try at an international rugby match while waiting for a beer a few years ago, Sam Pettipher decided to do something about it. Studying for an MBA at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen at the time, he dedicated his final project on “technology commercialisation” to finding a better way of lubricating crowds at mass events.
His solution: the EBar. An invention that will either fill your heart with gladness or make you fear for the future of the bartender, depending on how you feel about self-service checkouts and the prospects of robots taking all of our jobs.
Anyone watching the Ashes at Old Trafford this week will have seen the EBars, a wall of mobile vending machines pouring pints at the touch of a button. They were at Manchester international festival last week too, where even those despairing at yet another ancient industry being dehumanised by technology couldn’t resist a pint of Amstel for £4.
There are 40 automated EBar kiosks in the UK, popping up regularly everywhere from Murrayfield Stadium in Scotland to Twickenham in London. When Sam Fender played a series of huge homecoming gigs last month at St James’ Park, Newcastle United’s home ground, the EBars were deployed to quench the thirst of thousands of his fans.
Nick Beeson, a former oil industry executive who co-founded EBar with Pettipher and is now the chief executive, is planning to take the EBar to the US as well as elsewhere in Europe. He insists he is not trying to take jobs away from humans, but simply helping to ensure that anyone who wants a pint at a large-scale event can get one.
Thanks to a combination of Brexit and Covid, all hospitality venues are experiencing a “fundamental shortage of people who are skilled at pouring pints,” said Beeson. “We spoke to a couple of the biggest venues and one of them thought they were missing 30 to 40% of their potential sales because they don’t have the staff to meet demand.”
Each EBar can pour between 120 and 150 pints an hour, using a patented method of filling up each cup under pressure, which avoids an overly foamy head, claims Beeson. “In a regular bar you’d need at least a couple of members of staff to keep up with that.”
To comply with licensing regulations, the EBar does require a certain amount of staffing, mostly to check IDs if necessary, although one person can oversee multiple kiosks. And the machines don’t have to comply with any working time directive. “It’s designed to pour the perfect pint every time and it can do it from 11am to 1 o’clock the next morning. It doesn’t need a break,” said Beeson.
A few other companies, such as Drink Command in the UK and Pour My Beer in the US, are also experimenting with self-service bars, although they require customers to pull their own pints rather than simply press a button. Arguably more fun, but not something for which everyone has the knack.
Within four months, the next iteration of EBar will be capable of producing 180-200 pints an hour, hopes Beeson, and double that within a few years: “That’s why our slogan is: ‘Changing the way the world is served.’”
Tim Sheahan, the editor of Brewers Journal, doesn’t think beer vending machines will threaten the traditional pub. “I’m a bit reticent about everything now being automated. It would be like only ever using Deliveroo or Uber Eats and never going out for a meal in a restaurant.
“But I don’t think people go to stadiums for the beer experience. You pay £100 to see a band or watch a sport and you have to compromise, to get something cold and fizzy in your hand. It’s a convenience thing. You’re not going to say: ‘Hey, shall we go to Wembley Stadium for a couple of pints?” Just like you wouldn’t go to most cinemas for a gourmet dining experience.”
