The wrong supplier costs more than the right one

A wholesale price list is easy to compare. Everything else — whether the van actually turns up, whether the keg that arrives is the keg you ordered, whether a person answers the phone — is where a cheap list becomes an expensive one. A missed Friday delivery costs a pub far more than the pennies per case it saved.

These are the questions worth asking before you open an account, and the answers we give to each of them.

Does the stock exist, physically?

Some "wholesalers" are marketplaces: they take your order, then buy it from someone else. When two pubs order the last pallet, one of them finds out on delivery day. Ask whether the supplier owns and warehouses the stock it sells.

We do. Universal Beers is an independent wholesaler, not a buying group and not a marketplace — the stock is ours, the vans are ours, and availability on the site is what is physically in the warehouse this week.

Is the range the one your venue actually pours?

A long price list is not a range. What matters is whether the lines you reorder every week — your lager, your cider, your spirits well bottles, your soft drinks — are consistently in stock, and whether the awkward-but-necessary lines are there too: cellar gas, cleaning chemicals, glassware, snacks.

Look for a supplier whose range covers beers, ciders, wines, spirits, RTDs, soft drinks, water, energy drinks, kegs, cellar gas and bar supplies in one account. Every extra supplier is another minimum order, another invoice and another delivery window to be in for.

What happens when something goes wrong?

Every delivery, everywhere, has a shortage or a breakage eventually. The difference is whether it costs you a phone call or a fortnight of emails.

• At the door: tell the driver before signing. What is signed for is what is invoiced, so a shortage recorded at delivery is settled without a chase.
• After the door: report it from the order in your account, so it reaches the warehouse with the order attached — not as a free-floating email.

Ask every supplier how their process works. Vague answers are the answer.

Delivery: own fleet or third-party courier?

A courier who treats a keg like a parcel will treat glassware worse. Our deliveries run on our own fleet, 6 days a week across the West Midlands, the North West and the South West, and because the same run that drops your stock is the one that takes your empties away, kegs and returnable containers never wait for a second collection.

Order before 4pm and your order goes out on the next delivery day for your area. The basket tells you which day that is before you confirm.

Credit, invoices and paperwork

Trade terms are part of the trade. Before you commit, check:

1. Whether prices are shown per account once you are approved, rather than a public price list that changes quietly.
2. Whether invoices and statements are available in your account, so your books reconcile without printing PDFs.
3. Who to email when a query is about money, not stock — invoices and credit go to a named inbox, not a generic form.

How joining works

We supply the licensed trade only — pubs, bars, restaurants, hotels, clubs and retailers. That is why accounts are reviewed before approval: prices show once your account is open, not before. The application takes around ten minutes, and a manager usually reviews it within one working day. If it is taking longer, email info@universalbeers.co.uk with your business name and we will tell you where it is.

The cheapest list is rarely the cheapest supplier. Pick the one whose van turns up, and whose phone is answered.