BrewDog

We interviewed Will Brown, Head of Projects and Maintenance for BrewDog. Will is responsible for maintaining the high standards set by BrewDog across each of its locations and overseeing the delivery of strategic projects including, among other things, ensuring BrewDog’s production and retail facilities remain free from the risk of pest infestation.

What does BrewDog do?

BrewDog is a multinational brewery and pub chain, founded in Ellon, Scotland, in 2007 by James Watt and Martin Dickie, with a mission to make other people as passionate about great craft beer as they were. We now employ 1,000 people and are the fastest-growing food and drinks company in the UK.

BrewDog has established 81 bars around the world, with 50 in the UK, five in the United States, and 26 in the rest of the world. We opened our first bar in Ireland in December 2019, at the Capital Dock development in Dublin.

Why is pest control so important to BrewDog?

The challenge we face is no different to any other company in the food and beverages industry – the most important thing is to mitigate the risk of infestation. And in our business, that risk is incredibly high.

Considerations include the health and wellbeing of customers and employees, physical damage to property and assets, and reputational damage, as well as the risk of prosecution. For popular, growing brands like BrewDog, an infestation could result in loss of customer trust, loss of revenue, failed audits and, ultimately, closure.

We are a fast-growing company, in a high-risk industry, and are protective over our brand reputation, so it is important BrewDog takes a proactive approach to pest control.

Why did you choose Pest Pulse?

We felt that Pest Pulse was a good fit, both in terms of culture and capability, as an ambitious, high-growth start-up with an innovative product. What set Pest Pulse apart for BrewDog was its responsiveness – which was a key factor in the decision to award Pest Pulse the contract.

Effective pest management should prevent the introduction of pests to mitigate the risk of infestation before it happens.

As a smaller, start-up business, Pest Pulse was able to offer the right blend of a market-leading, technology-driven solution, with personal service delivery and a tangible focus on BrewDog as the customer.

What has Pest Pulse done for BrewDog?

Pest Pulse was appointed as a partner to BrewDog in June 2019 and immediately took a consultative approach to understand BrewDog’s requirements and risk profile, enabling the delivery of a proactive pest control solution that fills me and the BrewDog management team with confidence.

This included detailed discussions, site surveys and on-going audits to establish Pest Pulse’s risk-based approach to pest control and position smart traps across BrewDog’s estate, providing 24/7 monitoring and real-time alerts. We can view real-time analytics via cloud-based software and will receive notifications as soon as a trap is activated, so Pest Pulse can investigate and execute corrective actions before an infestation happens.

What does the future hold for Pest Pulse and BrewDog?

Despite BrewDog and Pest Pulse having only worked together for six months, we remain completely free from the risk of infestation and look forward to a long and successful partnership. In a way, the best thing a pest control provider can do is be seen and not heard. With real-time analytics and alerts set up, no news is good news and the less BrewDog hears from Pest Pulse, the better!