InBev to expand Belgian Beer Café chain to Poland for Euro 2012

AB InBev, brewer of Belgian beers like Stella Artois and Leffe – but
also of international household brands like Budweiser, Beck’s and Brahma
– hopes to open up to ten Cafés “in order to keep our project unique”,
said Magda Gabryelska to Puls Biznesu. It is as of yet unknown when and
where the Cafés would come, but an obvious guess would be the host
cities Warsaw, Gdańsk, Poznań and Wrocław.

Spreading the Belgian culture

The Cafés are more up-market than ‘regular’ pubs, serving up to 45
Belgian beers, plus Belgian cuisine and – of course – Belgian chocolate.
With the new chain, InBev aims for another market segment than most of
the other brewers competing for football fans’ attention, like the
tournament’s official sponsor Carlsberg.

The first Belgian Beer Café opened in the Netherlands in 1998, and the
chain is currently active in 16 countries – including Belgium itself.
Most of the Cafés are located in Europe, but the chain has also spread
as far as Japan and New-Zealand. The Ukraine, co-host for Euro 2012,
already has had Belgian Beer Cafés for years: three in the capital Kiev
and one in coastal Odessa.