How a button brewed up a big success in business

IF there is a better way of doing things, don’t ignore it, listeners to the Go Radio Business Show With Hunter & Haughey heard.

Entrepreneur Lord

Willie Haughey, who is a refrigeration and air-conditioning engineer by trade, related the story of a simple innovation that saved brewers hundreds of thousands of pounds and was a key catalyst in the growth of his business.

“The brewers had had a specification for 50 years about how you would install a [beer] cellar cooling system,” said Lord Haughey, who thought there might be an easier way of doing things. He was told: “Here’s our spec, just do what we say.”

Lord Haughey said he later discovered that brewers were losing around £500,000 a year because the draymen delivering their beer would accidentally forget to switch beer cellar cooling systems back on when they left the premises.

“I only know it’s not working when I go to pour a pint four hours later and all I get is froth,” he said.

In response, Lord Haughey, who founded City Refrigeration Holdings in 1985, asked his electrician to design a simple electronic panel fitted with a delay button and warning lights. This would automatically switch the cellar’s cooling system back on after the draymen had left.

Lord Haughey joked his electrician’s diagram was so valuable “I kept it in my safe.”

This ingenuity saw the company supply all Scotland’s brewers with cellar cooling systems.

The Go Radio Business Show features business advice and insight from Sir Tom Hunter and Lord Willie Haughey from 10.30am to noon on Sundays.