Ei Publican Partnerships is toasting yet another successful year for eilive – its annual series of nationwide trade shows.
Designed to support and update publicans on the latest trends, developments and offers in the sector, this year’s shows welcomed some 3,500 visitors across five locations during February and March: Leeds, Birmingham, Manchester, London and Bristol.
Despite the inclement weather affecting large parts of the country, this figure was an increase overall on the previous year with publicans offering positive feedback on the events.
Publicans visiting the shows benefitted from exclusive deals and vouchers, alongside a dedicated eizone offering expert advice on a range of topics including: digital marketing services; online ordering; property services; recruitment and training and the Beacon managed tenancy model.
The shows also saw the launch of Ei Group’s Barrel Top pizza concept, an exciting new offer specifically designed to help publicans get a slice of the lucrative pizza market. There were high levels of interest from publicans in finding out how the new package could work for their pub.
New features for the 2018 shows included the Molson Coors Food and Beer Theatre, hosted by leading beer sommelier Annabel Smith; a World Cup entertainment area courtesy of AB InBev; and premium whisky tasting with Chivas Regal.
Nick Light, Ei Publican Partnerships MD, said, “We’re delighted with how well received this year’s eilive shows were by both our publicans and suppliers. We continue to work hard to increase the support and business-building tools we provide our publicans and eilive enables us to showcase some of the latest innovations and products that will help them run thriving and profitable businesses.”
Publicans Peter & Nicky Brown of The White Horse, Poppleton, York, said: “We were very impressed with firstly, the professionalism and organisation of the event and, secondly, all the offers and ideas we brought back with us. We came away inspired and with a bag full of ideas for the pub.”
Gavin Dell, Key Account Manager, AB InBev, added, “The eilive2018 events gave us the opportunity to come face-to-face with a fantastic number of publicans and present all the exciting things we have coming up.
'For us, one of the most valuable outcomes of this year’s shows was the conversations we had with publicans; finding out what is going well, what the challenges are, and unearthing plenty of opportunities to support these customers in trade.”