A company is offering a same-day delivery service for beer gas cylinders, aimed at providing a more flexible gas supply for London hospitality and stopping pubs and bars from having to turn off taps when gas runs out.
The company will supply CO2 and beer gas for draught systems and soda guns to pubs, bars, restaurants, hotels, West End theatres and event spaces across the capital.
CO2 You said the launch will give operators a “new choice in a market long associated with legacy suppliers” whose lack of flexibility and customer support often ends up with pint glasses put on to the top of pumps and lost sales when gas runs out.
It will be using the doorstep swap model already serving more than 18,000 customers and over 100 offices: deliver a full cylinder and take the empty away in the same visit.
Marcus O’Donovan, founder of CO2 You, said: “Running out of gas in a pub is a nightmare. It always seems to happen when you’re full, the football is on and the bar is three deep.
Suddenly your lager is off, the team is apologising and somebody is ringing round other sites asking if they can grab a cylinder.”
“That’s not a small inconvenience. You’re watching sales walk out of the door because a completely avoidable supply problem has shut your taps.”
The gas refill industry has changed little in decades. With only a handful of large suppliers, CO2 YOU believes operators have had too little choice and suppliers have had too little reason to improve the experience.
“The gas market is prehistoric,” O’Donovan says. “Like the dinosaurs, the big suppliers have had the market to themselves for a very long time, so nobody has really had to make it easier. If the only answer available when you run out is ‘borrow a cylinder from the pub down the road’ or ‘wait a few days’, the industry isn’t really working around the customer.”
“Most people don’t want much in these situations. They just want the gas to turn up when they need it. That’s what we do for our home delivery customers and that’s what we’re here to do for hospitality.”
