Heineken makes 'bar experience' a hiring credential to refill bars' empty chairs

The pandemic emptied bars twice: first of customers, then of staff. When hospitality reopened, a new crisis appeared across the industry — the whole trade went from not enough guests to not being able to serve them, because young people no longer saw bar work as a path to anything. For Heineken, which sells through exactly those bars, an unstaffed HORECA channel was a direct threat to its business.

Instead of another recruitment campaign competing for the same reluctant pool, Heineken changed the value of the job itself. The company officially declared that bar experience counts in hiring at The Heineken Company — one of Europe's most attractive employers — and said it loudly: if you want to work at Heineken, start working in a bar. LePub built an on-trade platform and an integrated campaign spelling out the transferable skills — sales, communication, team management — and other major companies were recruited to recognize bar experience in their own hiring.

The credibility came from self-example: a brewer that claims bar work builds careers can only make that claim stick if its own recruiters act on it. The One Show gave the work a 2024 Gold Pencil for PR/B2B and D&AD a 2024 Wood Pencil across four categories, and the platform ran across the Netherlands and Ireland — an attempt to end the HORECA staff shortage by turning bar jobs into one of the most sought-after experiences preceding a career in a big company.