From Karmeliet to Westmalle, Belgium's craft beers are loved across the world, but in Vietnam, a country with some of the cheapest beers in the world, it can be hard to convince people to pay the craft price.
In 2018, two Belgians named Gauthier Lagasse and Francois Schwennicke imported an entire brewery from Belgium and started Belgo, the only company brewing Belgian craft beer in Vietnam, to bring the country's rich beer culture to the Asian country.
The beer is brewed in-house with fresh ingredients, some of which are shipped straight from Belgium, by the company's brewmaster Gert, who uses equipment from Belgium and traditional recipes to make sure every beer meets Belgian standards.
However, its owners soon noticed that it was hard to convince consumers to take a chance on a more costly artisanal brew when most beer is so cheap and started asking themselves how they could convince the country's residents to take a chance on a more expensive product, and soon realised the answer was simple: Let them taste it.
Beer exchange
The company has now launched a "beer-currency promotion, a creative way to take on the industry's giants by encouraging consumers to try artisanal specialty brews without it having to put a hole in their wallets.
This vending machine-based system allows beer lovers to exchange their regular mass-market lagers and ales for the higher-end Belgo beer without having to pay for it.
A person exchanging a regular mass-market beer in the vending machine.Credit: Belgo
“Belgo is about adding a twist. So, we knew that, in a market where mass-produced beers are widely available, we needed to honour our personality and be disruptive to get people to try our beer," Lagasse, CEO and Co-founder of Belgo, said.
The beer vending machine was originally launched in Ho Chi Minh City’s most prominent pedestrian street, however, it is now also inviting people to come along to one of its three pubs across the city, where they also serve authentic Belgian food, with any regular beer and exchange it for a cold Belgo.
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“We are a small brand, but our ambitions are large," said Magdalena Bialasiewicz, Belgo's Marketing Director. “We believe this beer-currency platform is an excellent concept to show that we don’t need a big budget to stand out and show people Belgo’s quality.”
