Oakademy success for award winning brewery

Beer connoisseurs from across England and Scotland flocked to Peterborough yesterday as award-winning brewery Oakham Ales invited staff from stockists nationwide to take part in a gathering of the Oakham Oakademy.

The event at the Brewery Tap drew around 300 attendees, who were treated to a selection of the brewery's products as well as a chance to meet Oakham staff and learn more about the best-selling brews and the people who make them.
"Events like this are wonderful because they really help strengthen the relationship between Oakham and our stockists," said the company's managing director Adrian Posnett.
"The Oakademy is an academy of excellence – stockists must pass a quality test and meet certain standards so we know that people selling our products are doing so in the right way, and in return they are given help with things like promotions, but most importantly they establish personal connections and feel part of the Oakham family.
"The personal touch is very important for us – we have 10 sales people out on the road which is a lot for a company our size, but we want to be out there as much as possible, talking to the people selling Oakham beers and helping them do that job as well as they can. Happy stockists make for happy customers, and ultimately that's what we're aiming for."
The Oakademy gathering drew stockists from as far away as Edinburgh and St Albans, many of whom have long-standing relationships with Oakham, and some of whom are relative newcomers, like Liam Morrow from The Filling Factory Number One in Chorley.
"We're a new bar and we knew from the outset that if we wanted to be selling the best beer in the best way possible, we had to have Oakham, so what the Oakademy offers is great," he explained.
"As a company, Oakham's attention to detail is second to none, they're incredibly easy to deal with and extremely proactive. The quality of the product matches the service too – in Lancashire there's not a huge Oakham presence, so I know people will make a point of coming to our bar specifically because we're selling it."
The Filling Factory Number One opened in December last year on the site of an old Army ordnance factory, and Liam said being part of the Oakademy could help the bar to grow.
"A lot of our staff are younger people so we want to give them the knowledge to do the job as well as they can, and to serve the beer properly, which will make for a better customer experience, as well as giving them better bar skills," he explained.
Recent deals with Waitrose, Marks and Spencer and the Gourmet Burger Kitchen chain have raised awareness of the Oakham brand nationwide, and Adrian Posnett said he hoped the Oakademy could play a role in strengthening that presence.
"We're really nationwide now, so we hope that having seen it on the shelves, people will try the product, like it, then go to their local pubs looking out for it," he explained. "Events like this, where we can meet and talk to the people in those pubs, really helps back up that effort."