Heineken has been criticised by retailers for limiting the rising sales opportunity of beer kegs in convenience.

Bolton Premier retailer Vas Vekaria has seen sales of torps – 2l beer bottles – rise from 200 to 455 per week. The bottles are placed into a draught beer dispenser called The Sub, made by Heineken and distributed by its subsidiary Beerwulf.

Vekaria said Heineken has restricted torps distribution. “Torps sales are up by 6% month on month. There’s a huge opportunity for other shops, but the supply chain needs fixing.

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“Since the pandemic started, discounts for large orders and cashback deals stopped. There’s an order cap of 16 torps. I’m selling 65 a day,” he explained.

Vekaria added that, during a delivery, a driver was told to load a torps order back into their van, despite Vekaria having already paid.

The restrictions come as Unitas Wholesale sales and marketing director John Kinney warned that the reopening of hospitality businesses would put pressure on alcohol supply into convenience.

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A Beerwulf spokesperson said: “During these challenging times, we have noticed that demand has increased immensely, and we want to ensure we can serve as many people as possible.

“This is why we have decided to put a cap on the number of sub kegs businesses can order. We are sorry to hear about the issues Mr Vekaria has encountered and welcome him to contact us to further clarify matters.”

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