Glossary: Trade and logistics

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Barista: A professional who prepares and serves coffee drinks, especially espresso-based specialities.
Tied house arrangement: A contractual tie of a hospitality business to a brewery as its beer supplier.

Batch: A quantity of a product made or filled under the same conditions and carrying a common identifier.

Flow cooler: A device that runs beer through a chilled line while tapping and brings it to serving temperature.

EAN / GTIN: A globally unique article number printed as a barcode on the package and scanned at the checkout.
One-way bottle: A bottle intended for a single filling that goes to recycling after use.
Euro pallet (EPAL): Standardised wooden pallet measuring 1200 × 800 mm, used as a load carrier in the beverage trade and exchanged in a pooling system.

Keg / cask: A container for draught beer and other drinks that is dispensed through a tap system.
FIFO / FEFO: Warehouse principles: FIFO picks the oldest stock first, FEFO the stock with the earliest best-before date.

Pack unit: A sales or delivery unit of a drink such as a crate, keg, carton or six-pack.
Beverage wholesale trade: A wholesaler that supplies restaurants, retailers and event organisers with beverages in bulk and takes back empties.
Beverage retail: The sale of beverages to end customers, for example in a beverage store, a specialist shop or via a delivery service.
Beverage supply contract (beer purchase agreement): A contract in which a business commits to buying drinks from a particular supplier over a longer period.
Beverage store: A store with a wide range of drinks in crates and multipacks, usually with deposit return and self-collection.

Home delivery service: A delivery service that brings crates of drinks to the door and takes the empties away in return.

Proprietary bottle: A reusable bottle with its own shape that only one bottler or brand fills and takes back.

Crate: A sturdy carrier for usually 12 or 20 bottles, issued with a deposit in the reusable system.
Order picking: Assembling ordered items from the warehouse for delivery or collection.
Terms: Agreed price and delivery terms between supplier and trader, such as discounts, payment period and minimum quantities.
Cold chain: Uninterrupted cooling of a product from filling until it reaches the customer.

Empties: Empty deposit bottles, crates and kegs that are returned to be reused or recycled.
Empty-container sorting: Separating returned empties by bottle type, manufacturer and crate type for return to bottlers and breweries.
Rental equipment: Equipment offered for rent for celebrations, such as tap systems, cooling units, glasses and festival furniture.
Supply chain: The path of a drink from raw material via bottler, wholesaler and retailer to the customer.
Delivery note: A document recording the type and quantity of delivered goods and any empties taken back.
Listing: Inclusion of an article in a trader's range or a supplier's article list.

Reusable bottle: A bottle that is cleaned after return and refilled many times.
Returnable crate: Deposit-bearing plastic crate for returnable bottles that stays in circulation until returned.
Best-before date: The date until which a product retains its specific qualities when stored properly.

Pallet (Euro pallet): A standardised wooden load carrier on which drinks are stacked for transport and storage.
Event beverage supply: Supplying celebrations and events with drinks and equipment, including return of unused goods.
Deposit: An amount charged on top of the price when buying a container and refunded when it is returned.
Deposit system: The whole of deposit collection, take-back, settlement and return of containers.
Pool bottle: A uniformly designed reusable bottle shared by many bottlers and exchanged among them.

Remaining shelf life: Time remaining until the best-before date at delivery or sale.
Rebate: A subsequent refund or credit from the supplier, usually depending on the quantity purchased.

Product range: The totality of articles a trader carries.
Drop shipment: A sale in which goods go directly from the producer to the customer without passing through the trader's warehouse.

Route planning: Planning of delivery trips in which customer stops, time windows and vehicle capacity are combined into efficient routes.

Packaging unit (VPE): The smallest quantity in which a supplier sells an item, for example one crate or one carton.

Goods receipt: Acceptance and checking of delivered goods against the delivery note and the order.

Draught system / dispensing system: Equipment that cools, pressurises and dispenses draught beer.