WHY: Fast track to better service from sales staff
For years, bars and restaurants have had a significant effect on sales after a visit from a representative from Carlsberg providing them sales training. Unfortunately, there is a natural limitation to have many venues can be visited every year, and due to high employee turnover in many bars, the effect of the training wears off over time.
Anytime, anywhere: With Carlsberg THE EXPERIENCE, a VR training solution developed in close collaboration between Carlsberg and Virsabi, the training can be scaled to an almost unlimited number of bars and restaurants every year.
Interested in trying it yourself? Let us know
Bars and restaurants no longer have to gather all employees at a specific time and place. In theory, a new member of the staff can walk in from the street, spend 10 minutes with a VR headset on, and be ready to serve a perfectly poured beer.
Increasing volume: Of course, the overall purpose of Carlsberg THE EXPERIENCE is to sell more Carlsberg beer. But all the steps leading towards this ultimate goal are beneficial to bars and restaurants as well as to all the people around the world who likes a well-served beer.
The perfect service experience: As customers, we will meet staff with a broader knowledge about beer to guide us towards the best drinking experience, as well as staff capable of pouring the beer perfectly. Expect future suggestions and servings to be delivered with the same respect as a good glass of wine.
Bars and restaurants will have better trained staff capable of up-selling and cross-selling and with all the knowledge and confidence required to engage in in-depth conversations about different types of beer – to match the food or the required taste of the individual guest.
Flexible training: Bars and restaurants will free up time to let staff train in a flexible schedule, they will ensure all employees get the similar training, and they will raise team-spirit with this engaging and motivating kind of training with elements of immersive gamification provides.
HOW: Easy distribution, flexible training
Carlsberg’s on-trade customers can choose to buy their own headsets and have THE EXPERIENCE installed and ready to provide training to any employee at any time. Or they can order a training kit from the Carlsberg online platform and have it delivered as VR-in-a-box.
The latter comes with instructions and suggestions for lead-in and lead-out activities to create engaging and motivating team-training sessions.
With both options, the training is easy to fit into a busy schedule, either as a team event or as individual training when employees need it.
WHAT: Engaging modules covering various topics
When the employees put on the VR headset, they are immersed in an on-brand Carlsberg universe. Here they can choose between different modules with different learnings.
First module – The Perfect Pour
The first module we delivered is called The Perfect Pour. Here, the staff learns to pour a craft beer to perfection; how to spot if the glass is clean, how to handle the tap correctly, the perfect angle of the glass, and a few other tricks that make all the difference.
Using physical interaction with a full imitation of the actual movements, they poor beer. Beer and foam act completely as in the real bar, and after a few training sessions, the gamification starts. Now, the user has to pour five perfect beers within a given timeframe. Following the experience, everyone has had a fun experience and are ready to pour the perfect beer.
“It is a gift to the entire industry.” This was the first feedback we got from a prominent restaurant manager in Copenhagen, when we showed them the prototype. Because if you think pouring a perfect beer is just something you do, then you will be surprised how often you see bartenders making even unhygienic mistakes after you know how a beer is supposed to be poured. And since learnings in VR stick better in our memory than most other types of training, Carlsberg THE EXPERIENCE will provide better beer for all of us.
Second module – The Art of Beer Brewing
The details of the second module, The Art of Beer Brewing, will soon be revealed. But rest assured that once the module is completed, staff members can guide all guests with knowledge and storytelling to provide respect for the beer – and perhaps motivate them to try new and exciting brews.
Why VR
Carlsberg was looking for a new and more scalable training solution.
Where one Carlsberg supervisor can only visit one venue at once, multiple VR headsets can be distributed to multiple venues at the same time.
With conventional learning methods, people tend to forget what they have learned. Training in VR has proven that learners are:
- More focused
- Create higher emotional connection to what they learn
- Remember the learnings better
- More confident in executing what they just learned.
For bars and restaurant, the training in VR with Carlsberg THE EXPERIENCE will mean less time and money spent on training of staff and lead to increased volume and value.
Virsabi’s role in Carlsberg THE EXPERIENCE
Virsabi helped Carlsberg identify the potential in VR training and define the business case. We developed key objectives for Carlsberg and the on-trade customers and following an extensive ideation phase, we zoomed in on the first modules.
Virsabi has developed the software for the VR training program as an immersive module-based experience that take advantages of efficient learning methods like engaging UI, gamification elements, and team challenges.
To ensure the authenticity and legitimacy of the educational content, we are collaborating with specialists in the art of brewing and staff training, and we continuously test new developments on selected customers.
