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‘It Feels Like We Have Moved Into The Future’: Parklife Festival UK Shares Results Of Automated Bar Trial
Parklife Festival in Manchester, England, offered automated self-service bars at this year’s edition, June 8-9, in partnership with Boxbar. The results of this trial run are now in.
Boxbar offered two locations on the Parklife Festival grounds: one main bar location serving beers, ciders, spirits and mixers at 30 terminals, as well as one VIP bar with five terminals, serving prosecco and cocktails.
The key figure from this trial run: by reducing bar infrastructure, staffing and overhead costs, the partnership generated a 145% return on investment.
A press release sharing the results also states, that Boxbar increased bar service speeds by up to 258%. That’s in comparison to the average time taken to serve customers on site at the festival at the normal bars, Pollstar was told upon request.
Age verification can be handled in different ways. At Parklife, festival security staff were placed at the entry to the queue for each Boxbar location, to carry out ID checks. This meant, guests in the queue had already been verified when they got to a terminal, resulting in no further delays to their order.
Boxbar had already installed its beverage dispensers at The Warehouse Project events series in Manchester in autumn and winter of 2023. Parklife Festival, promoted by The Warehouse Project and Live Nation, has now taken the lead amongst festivals in offering a complete drinks menu utilizing automated self-service technology.
Parklife Festival, taking place at Manchester’s Heaton Park, has grown into the largest metropolitan festival in the UK, attracting some 60,000 daily visitors by its own admission.
“With Boxbar, we feel like we’re ahead of the game,” said Dan Pirie, head of bars at Parklife. “We were keen to be the first festival to take the leap into replacing a high volume bar with self-serve terminals. The bar looked fantastic and it really feels like we have moved into the future with this installation. The queue was moving rapidly, and the entire flow of the operation felt very smooth. There is real potential to significantly increase transaction speeds and make cost savings with Boxbar.”
Andrew Thubron, COO and co-founder of Boxbar, added, “To gain the trust of such a heavyweight of the UK circuit fills us with great pride. It’s no secret that we’re in a very challenging time for festivals, but the opportunity automated, self-service drinks technology offers for operators to reduce costs and become more profitable is genuinely game changing. It put a big smile on our faces to see the Boxbar effect on such a large scale at Parklife. Faster service, less queues, happy fans and the end of flat, warm drinks at festivals!”